Thanks guys. I will work on something new. Sorry got long. I tried separating into sections.

The comment about the water system was spot on. We have been pushing for a reliable water system for years. Not just us but the Swanton Ranch manager as well. The current water system can't support even the irrigation system without careful timing so having sprinklers in a building or on a building has not been feasible. There has been a plan for many years to build a very large water tank up on the hill to supply gravity feed water to the entire ranch and railroad buildings and not rely on a positive pressure pump to supply the water from the well and smaller storage tank. Cal Poly had just finished installing that large tank up on the hill but it had not yet been plumbed into the system or had the new water treatment system installed yet. Before the fire power has always been required to even just flush the toilet. Power was out in the area after the big wind storm and then again after the lightning storm and through the entire fire so no water had been available for almost 3 weeks before the fire and of course about a month after the fire with many of the areas still without power since the buildings that fed power to the next section of buildings burned.

With Covid not many people had been living on the property. All of the Calpoly classes had been canceled so there has been a limited staff all year. When the fire turned direction CalPoly evacuated everyone and the remaining cattle that were there.
Some of us talked about going up quickly and pulling equipment out of the buildings but it was hard to figure out where to put them since the rails have been pulled for the washout repair. There is only about 3 of us that live locally. We figured we would go up the next morning but unfortunately the fire came into the area so fast and into the Swanton area so fast that it was all over with that morning. The one death from that entire fire was off of Swanton Road. The fire grew so quickly that night and drove basically straight at Swanton causing emergency evacuations so quickly it truly was a Get Out NOW leave everything and go NOW. The single fire engine that was up there was not able to pull any water lines they had to focus on getting people out. Life and safety first. There are some photos that pop up from time to time of fire being all around both sides of the road as people were rushing out.

So some back story for people that don't know. February 2017 the railroad experienced a washout to the tracks during the 2017 flooding not far from the station which left us unable to access the rest of the railroad. Permits to do the repairs have taken forever. Scotts Creek that the railroad runs along side of is one of those rivers that is federally monitored due to the types of fish that are in it. With that comes lots of extra restrictions and long drawn out permitting to fix anything. If I remember right there are 14 or 15 different agencies that all get involved when you need to do work near the river.
Our permitting was just finishing up right before the fire started. Due to the location of the washout and the permit process we can't do the work ourselves. We do have to go out to bid for a certified contractor that has experience working along side a restricted access river. Bids will take place early 2021 since the work window for being along the river is late spring to September or October depending on river flow and rain amounts.
In preparation for the work all the rail and ties needed to be removed so heavy equipment can drive up and down the right of way and not be restricted with the rails there. Time is money with these kinds of projects. So the rails between the washout and the station were removed. Photos and video of that are on the Swanton Pacific Railroad web site.

While waiting for washout repairs our members took on a very long and hard process of rebuilding passenger cars, doing some upgrades to the brake system adding an emergency breakaway system and repainting all of the passenger cars. The last car was being worked on just before the fire and was almost completed. It just needed some final lettering and trim paint and it would have been done. We did loose all of the passenger cars in the fire. Their frames and Trucks are all the remain and are being salvaged now.

Also not long after the washout happened the mechanical department decided it would be a great time to teardown the 502 diesel engine. We were nearing time to do air tank inspections anyway with a planned replacement of the air tanks and so it was decided to keep going deeper and deeper in to the 502. The shell was removed from the frame allowing full access to the engine, air pumps, a few very hard to get to air tanks and everything really. The shell was placed in the roundhouse and the 502 has been on blocks in the Machine shop. The full list of all the work that was and still is being done on the 502 is on the website and can be found in the newsletters.

Steam locomotive 1500 0-6-0 was in the roundhouse stored not assembled not serviceable.

Steam locomotive 1914 4-6-2 was in the roundhouse stored complete needing a boiler re-certification.

Steam locomotive 1912 4-6-2 "Off Site" was in need of a new boiler and was sent out of state to receive a new boiler. It was decided to have that contractor do the full rebuild at their shop so all of its parts went with it.

Steam locomotive 1913 4-6-2 was in the roundhouse being reassembled from receiving a new boiler. This locomotive was the most original locomotive and a lot of time was spent by our steam department trying to keep it that way during the rebuild. The first steam up test to 20PSI was performed just a few weeks before the fire. I do have video of this test however I decided not to send it to the webmasters after the fire. It will get posted at some point but the locomotive now has to be taken back apart.

Motor Car 0-0 Was in the roundhouse.

Ore Cars. Battery powered car was in the Car Barn.

Hand Car was parked at Cosgrove since our track team was using it to move water and tools for brush clearing. That is the only piece of equipment that is down track past the washout. It is untouched by the fire.


AFTER The Fire.

I was able to inspect the railroad not long after the fire passed through. I am going to skip over the main buildings stuff since you have all seen many photos of it. This last week the Car Shop and Car Barn did get removed. There are photos of that on the facebook page which I will link to at the bottom. I am not a fan of facebook but that has been the easiest way for us to share photos and try to bring in more interested volunteers. No login is required. You can just close the stupid log in window that pops up ever 10 minutes.

The BBQ area is untouched. Grass was even green till about November.

Going down the railroad all the hills burned. Some spots somehow didn't but most of the area did. There is damage to the logs that protect the bridge from the river. That is our main concern about high river levels right now.

There is very little damage to the railroad. A few ties here and there did burn but it really isn't as bad as it looks. We did loose all of our spare ties though. There is a section that was planned to receive new ties which of course now really needs new ties but that is from age not the fire. One section that got new ties did burn some so those ties and the rails will need to be properly tested.
Past Windy Point that very large bay tree burned at the base and fell over onto the rails and will be a pain to clean up. That entire field did burn along with all the Christmas Trees. Some are still standing but they are dead.
We lost all the ties that were stored at the end of the track for use down there. One of the switches that was damaged in the 2017 flood burned and lost all of its ties.

Other then that weed control is our main concern since that is the quickest way to loose ties and the sub grade.


This last big rain storm did bring some additional damage with a few small landslides onto the right of way and 2 really big trees onto the rails before windy point. Luckily things are so dry that all the rain mostly soaked in and the river levels didn't get anywhere near where they should have been with that amount of rain.




Here is a post from this weekend talking about the clean up that happened in the last couple of weeks. I didn't write this. If you go to the facebook link there is new photos. This is the best place to find new photos.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/SwantonPacificRailroad/posts/


Recovery is progressing forward at SPRR!

The first phase of the Roundhouse cleanup is complete and the loose locomotive parts moved into storage. In the coming weeks, the 1913, 1914 and 1500 steam locomotives will be lifted onto the fabricated dollies and moved into cargo containers. The concrete floor of the Roundhouse was heavily damaged during the fire, it will be removed and replaced.

A group of about six volunteers have moved and sorted parts from the Car Shop. The metal structure has been removed from the concrete pad. It will be determined later if the pad will be repaired or replaced. The remaining roof of the Car Barn was removed to gain access to the passenger cars and other rolling stock. Once the remaining parts are moved out of the Car Barn the concrete pad will be inspected.

We are still only allowing a small group of volunteers on the premises at this time. Updates will be posted here when scheduled workdays begin.

Please consider donating to the railroad recovery effort at:
https://crowdfund.calpoly.edu/project/22001/donate…

And become a member at:
https://sprr.calpoly.edu/calendar-and-events
Memberships and Donations to the Swanton Pacific Railroad will be used to reconstruct facilities, restore locomotives, and fabricate/restore rolling stock.