Re: Quincy RR
Author: Jeff Moore
Date: 01-06-2010 - 20:43
The ex-SP #1100 was the original locomotive Quincy used on the line. After the Amador Central closed (1997?) Sierra Pacific brought their two EMD switchers north...I want to say the SW-1200 went to the Quincy division, while the SW-7 joined the #1100 in Susanville.
SPI's Susanville mill was one of their last large log only mills, which essentially doomed it.
If I'm remembering things correctly, and let me know if I am not, SP actually obtained permission to abandon the line back around 1985. SPI stepped in and leased the line to preserve service to their mill and ran the operation as a private carrier. Thus, when SPI closed the mill there was not a formal abandonment process, and UP was able to salvage the line. I remember this became an issue of some sort as somebody tried to step in and preserve the grade as a trail, only to find out they were two decades too late to get what they asked for.
Jeff Moore
Elko, NV