posted
I have saw a map book with all the Railroads from the pass to the present. And I saw an old SP narrow guage track tha went from Bishop to Tonopah Jct. I would like to know how long has this right-of-way been out of service and can it be easy to reactive the line to a standand US Railroad guage? If it can. It would make a new route to check out. I am interest on the SP Mina Line from Hawthrone to Tonopah Jct too. I think if this old line can be reactived it would make a great Amtrak route LA-Reno without going to Oakland and changing trains in Emeryville.
Posts: 40 | From: Tarzana, CA-USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
The right of way north of Bishop, into Nevada, has been out of service for over 50 years I think. There is a railroad museum at Laws (near Bishop); the SP narrow gauge south of there (to Keeler) closed in 1960. This SP line was known as the Slim Princess, and there are books and videos on the subject. I don't think there is any way that this line will ever return. There was a standard gauge segment that ran as far north as Lone Pine, but it closed in the 70's I think. As recently as 1997 track existed as far north as Bartlett, but it was out of service and several segments were removed, including where it crossed US 395. A recent item in Flimsies West! magazine mentioned that the UP finally started removing the rails from these segments, between Inyokern and Bartlett. It was not feasible to rebuild the line. The line does not go close enough to tourist destinations (Mammoth, June Lake, or the other lakes) and the landowners in the area probably would not want to see the line rebuilt.
Posts: 874 | From: South Bay (LA County), Calif, USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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