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of the SOUTHERN PACIFIC We have asked that any of you lucky enough to do any unusual Railroading this year take pen in hand and send a description along for possible use in this Paper. When we made this request we had no thought in mind of visiting one of the Southern Pacifics earliest expansion lines and one of which little seems to have been written. In 1886 the Southern Pacific incorporated and built the 21 mile San Joaquin & Yosemite Railroad from Berenda. north of Madera,northeast into the Sierra's to Raymond. Madera County History says that the line was built with the thought of continuing on to the Yosemite Valley; while Mr Guy Dunscomb in his "A Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives" states a 20 mile extension was planned northeast from Raymond but never built. Shortly after completion to Raymond the available transportation opened up a considerable market for the best granite to be found on the West Coast and a 2.3 mile extension was built to Knowles where the main Quarries were located but it was still "Raymond Granite". Many of the larger buildings in both Central and Southern California have been built with cut stone from this area. Unfortunately the demand has not been constant or heavy enough to provide business to keep the line in service and it was partly removed in WW2 and the balance in the mid 1950s. Yosemite "Via Raymond" is one Interesting way to go. Miles of winding paved country roads with great Oaks on the hillsides, no traffic, lots of Ranches and livestock; you would think you were back in the 1920s& 30s and are sorry to come out on the main road at Mormon Bar and Mariposa. But for a few miles outside of Raymond the road crosses and re crosses, and is seldom out of sight, of the old Railroad R/W curving and climbing to Raymond. It would seem that the Ranchers obtained every last tie from the line for Fence Posts and they are a study in themselves having really been worked over by the many woodpeckers, you might say that the whole tie is so holey that one wonders what holds the holes together.' Many birds have enlarged the holes to make nests while the rest of the tie is riddled with borings. Raymond itself is a greatly overbuilt shadow of itself having been the "Metropolis" of half a dozen or more mining settlements. Many of the buildings are of Raymond Granite and thus stand long after roofs and floors have found other use. One Warehouse and loading dock still lean precariously over a track site in Raymond Yard. Several miles east the main quarry at Knowles Is very much in business setting up on a high rock shelf close by the Quarry face with its huge cranes. The Southern Pacific Knowles Branch terminated just below this'shelf and the Quarry handled their own switching with a stationary "engine"; a large winch-in later years at least electrically powered; hauled an empty up a short but steep incline into the Rock Shop yard where it was loaded and secured and let back down on another track to await the appearance of an SP locomotive. In late years the Raymond-Knowles Branch had only 2 trains a week but a 1921 Timetable in Jim Wollams collection lists a dally mixed originating from Raymond with a Sunday mixed which did not service the Knowles line. The twice a week service originated from the Valley end of the line, running direct to Raymond. On the return it would run only 1.2 miles to Knowles Jct as a mixed where it would drop its passenger equipment and designation and taking a new train number each way make the 2.3 mile run to Knowles as a Freight and return scheduled for a 40 minute trip. I wonder how many times delays on the Knowles Branch left the passengers sitting in the sun-or cold at the Junction watching for the train to reappear with the rock cars. Next time you go to Yosemite and can spare a couple of extra hours go "Via Raymond" (except in summer heat) and step back into early Calif. |