Chad-

To provide some more specifics...the McCloud River River Railroad built this line in 1954/1955, and it is being removed. Yes, the Sierra branch has been ripped up, and as of last Saturday morning the contractor had started some work in the Burney yard. They are going to work from Burney up to Bartle, then get the Hambone-Bartle trackage, and finally work to just east of McCloud.

As for any railbanking possibilities...out of the question, at least under the current political situation. Any sort of railbanking options would require public involvement- private money alone will never do it, as railroads of any size represent far too large of an investment to simply leave sitting there in case they are needed in the future. The state of California has tried to pass legislation in the past that would have provided for some sort of railbanking, but it has always been shot down either in the legislature or vetoed by the governor. And the state really doesn't have any money for things like keeping rail line intact anyway.

At the end the railroad hauled lumber and occassional woodchips out of the Sierra Pacific Industries mill just west of Burney and diatomaceous earth for Dicalite Corp. from a siding at Cayton, north of Burney Falls. This traffic all ended the last day of June 2006. The railroad had hauled hog fuel in to the various Burney co-gen plants in the past, but has not done so since at least the mid-1980's. Every attempt to get the this traffic moving since has reached the same conclusion- the railroad simply cannot make any money on the movement.

The bottom line is that there simply is not enough traffic in the Burney area to support a railroad, and there hasn't been enough since 1978.

For more information on this, see the following link:

[www.trainweb.org]

Jeff Moore (son of Ranger Steve Moore at Burney Falls, if you ran into him during your stay)
Elko, NV