SFX Whistle Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, a Mexican restaurant serving the Phoenix area since 1990.

Raildreams, a designer and builder of custom model railroads since 1994.

Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, we'll visit a high rail S gauge layout that is the culmination of a thirty year dream, drop in on the family farm in southwestern Wisconsin, where we'll find something other than livestock, and we'll explore the history of an almost forgotten narrow gauge line in Iowa.

Let's venture into California gold country where we'll find a state historic park, dedicated to the preservation of the Sierra Railroad.

Annc: Meet the locomotives of the old Sierra Railway.

They are the stars of the silver screen.

No ego.

Just good looks.

You'll find these beauties in Railtown, 1897, a California State Historic Park in Jamestown.

The old Jamestown train shops, partf the old Sierra Railway, were transformed into what is now called Railtown, about 25 years ago.

And when Hollywood found Railtown, it discovered gold.

Known as The Movie Railroad, this 26 acre park is located along the main highway to Yosemite.

It's been used by directors for more than 200 TV & movie projects and old number 3 is the most photographed locomotive in Hollywood history.

The beauty is more than 100 years old, and has been seen with her costars in dozens of big time pictures.

Joe: Hollywood discovered the Sierra Railway in early 1920, the 1920's and discovered they could use the railway to produce films to give them the backdrop and equipment they need to replicate any area of the country, including Kansas or Wyoming, great plains, foothills and in some instances, the Sierra Mountain shots.

The Sierra Railway could also provide the rolling stock, the engines, the passenger cars, the freight cars that could be used for any of the applications.

And of course it was steam and used in great movies today.

The name Railtown came into existence in the 1970s, in 1971, when the Sierra Railway recognized the ability to sell passenger tickets and conduct dinner trains.

So in the great era of nostalgia, the 70s, the name Railtown came into existence to promote this place as a tourist destination.

A lot of the buildings at Railtown date from a hundred years ago.

And of course being an industrial facility, they built structures and buildings as they needed them.

Pretty much all the buildings here have survived fires and different changes in the industrial use of this place.

The buildings here today are found pretty much as they were built over the past 60, 80, or 100 years.

Our locomotive number 3, was brought here, was built in 1891, and spent it's first few years in Arizona.

It's said to have brought the first passenger train, the first revenue passenger train into Jamestown.

It's been on the property ever since.

It was built in a time when technology was changing in the railroad industry.

So it's got the looks and the lines of the late 19th century equipment, but began performing like 20th century locomotives.

So it can be used for any era in the 1800s and 1900s.

The Sierra Railroad had it's first trains coming into Jamestown in November of 1897.

And it was not to long before they realized that they needed to extend their line.

And they extended it basically north into Calaveras County across the Stanislaus River Gorge, trying to tap into the lumber reserves that are on that side of the river.

Our number 5 and 6 coaches, number 5 being a coach combine, able to carry baggage, were built around 1903 to cross that Stanislaus River Canyon.

They were built short so that they could make the switchbacks with a small engine.

Hollywood particularly liked these cars because they were shorter, and when coupled into a train, it made the train look like it had more cars in a shorter picture.

The number 28 has a good relationship between speed and power, which was intended for this railroad.

It had tight turns and heavy grades.

It is used today in our passenger operation because of its nice lines.

The movie industry in particular likes this locomotive because it can be made to look like a mainline locomotive in the films.

Or a nice short utility locomotive.

Annc: When you walk through Railtown, you'll be tracing the steps of some of the stars who worked here, including WC Fields, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, and Ronald Reagan.

You can look at the old roundhouse, the working turntable, And you'll step back in time when you see the old belt driven machine shops.

Railtown is run by the California Parks and Recreation Department.

The same folks who operate the prestigious State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

George Sapp is train engineer, tour guide, movie buff, and occasional resident of Hooterville.

George: When we leave the station here the first thing we'll come across is our world famous water tank, made famous by the Petticoat Junction TV series in the late 60's.

People still want to know where the water tank is, and by golly, it's still here.

And then we head out along the tracks through the rolling hills of the gold country.

We actually pass right over the mother lode deposit, right out there by Rogers' cut on our way down to Woods Creek.

Woods Creek is where gold was first discovered in this county in 1849.

Called a small gold strike, a lot of settlements came out of that and Jamestown was settled by 1849.

Annc: When the Sierra Railway first started rolling way back in 1897, the first train arrived carrying lumber.

And believe it or not, the Sierra Railroad itself is still very much alive.

It's an active freight line with big plans for the future.

Mike: The Sierra Railroad was founded in 1897 by three men.

Thomas Bullock, Prince Andree Poientowski and William H. Crocker.

Their intent was to reach the mining interests that they controlled in the Sierra in addition to supporting the growing lumber industry.

The interesting thing is that in 1897 they began shipping lumber and mining products for 4 dollars a ton.

Today, 104 years later, we ship for $3.50 a ton.

The Sierra Railroad today has three principle elements.

One is we're still a freight railroad hauling thousands of cars a year of lumber and wood chips.

We're also developing mining interests, to haul limestone, sand and gravel from the Sierra Railroad to the Bay area.

Secondly is the passenger business.

We've started a gourmet dinner train, called the Golden Sunset Dinner Train operating out of a new train station we've built in Oakdale, California.

So that is a growing element of the railroad.

Third we are now going into the power industry using locomotives to create electricity.

Annc: The excusion ride will give you a little history.

You'll see that this historic railway has always been mining for precious natural resources and providing very rich natural memories.

"All Aboard" Gold is still being found in the streams around the park.

Most of us started our passion with trains in childhood, and the builder of our next layout is no exception.

But he has had the advantage combining his passion with his job.

Annc: David Baule has probably seen more trains in his life than any other individual we know.

While that's a strong statement, let's just say that David has visited more railroads than most enthusiasts ever manage to see.

And there's a good reason for his checking out dozens of toy and scale model layouts, along with Class 1, narrow gauge and tourist railroads around the world.

Since 1987, he has served as the executive producer for Tracks Ahead, the popular series on public television that highlights every aspect of railroading.

David has traveled endlessly to show viewers the exciting elements of railroading, not to mention the finest layouts in every size.

And along the way, he has taken endless notes on what he might like to incorporate into his own layout.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

David: I grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, right at the end of WW2, and it was a great time to be a kid, especially if you were interested in trains.

Those were pre-television days, and for recreation the family would all pile into the car and we'd go for a ride after dinner.

That usually ended up at the rail yards.

It was really great for me to see all the steam locomotives, and every once in a while one of the new diesels.

So buying a Christmas present wasn't really very difficult for my parents.

I started off with a Hafner windup set, which I still have, progressed to Marx electrics.

But those were the days of American Flyer and Lionel.

And I wanted a "real toy train."

So in 1950, I got my first real toy train set.

It was an American Flyer circus set.

And I never really realized how fortunate I was until I started collecting.

Annc: And collecting became a hobby in later life.

While David started in N gauge in the 1970's he found it too frustrating to work in something that small.

Fortune again smiled.

David: My wife was working for a local bank, and one of her co-workers came in with a Sunshine Special set.

He'd had it as a kid and he really didn't have any interest in keeping it and asked if I wanted it.

I think I paid like $25 for the whole thing.

Once I started to unwrap it, I realized how much I'd missed these American Flyer trains.

So I set out to see what else was out there.

Annc: Haunting the swap meets and local shows, David soon acquired a collection.

David: I knew I had to set some parameters, because once I started collecting, I just wanted everything that Flyer made!

So I started out to collect representative sets from 1946-1966.

Annc: The boxes of trains just kept expanding in the basement, and there was always the desire to build a layout.

Finally, with his children out on their own, David found the space to begin construction.

He had seen exemplary layouts in all gauges.

Just what direction should he take?

David: I decided on a high rail layout.

These trains were toys and I like to think of them as kinetic art displays.

So exact scale really wasn't as important to me as just showcasing the color and animation of the toys themselves.

Annc: The resulting layout is on two levels, and built so that a person can walk on it.

No portion is more than an arm's length to provide easy access.

David wanted to showcase all seasons.

David: My vision was to have the trains start in the big city, go through Autumn to a winter village.

Actually, I had an ulterior motive here.

I figured if I used Dept 56 buildings I could get my wife interested and thus have a better cash flow for the construction of the layout.

I hired a local decorative painter to do the backdrop.

While I can do OK with an airbrush, I just really didn't feel I had the expertise to merge the seasons, draw the buildings, do the clouds, blend the seasons together, do all that.

So I hired an outfit called Off the Wall Paintings to do it.

It took a year for the owner to paint it, and it was all done on canvas, so we just put it up like wallpaper.

At one end of course you've got the Big City, and the scene progresses through a rural area, and then into autumn, and finally night in a winter village.

Annc: With all the years spent collecting, there are some fine train sets to put on the rails.

And there are even a few that American Flyer didn't make.

David: If I liked the color scheme of a particular line, I just pulled out the airbrush, some old junkers, and made them into something that might have been.

Annc: The scenery is a mixture of traditional hardshell, crumpled ceiling tile, and the new, resin cast rock molds.

The latter were important to convey the impression that the layout had high-rail pretensions.

So what's next for this S gauge enthusiast?

David: I may add to it, I may tear it down and rebuild it.

The only certainty is that it will still be S Gauge, and it will still have toy trains.

Dave says that he is already planning a new layout with more room for operating trains.

Narrow gauge railroads weren't just found in the mountains and the western United States.

In a moment, we'll explore a little known line that struggled in eastern Iowa.

First, let's go to a quiet farm in Wisconsin.

It may look peaceful, but the old barn hides quite a secret.

Let's take a look Annc: From the road, the Guthrie Family farm looks like any other.

But take a closer look, and signs point you in a different direction.

Here in Southwestern Wisconsin, we'll visit Buck Guthrie - a former railroad engineer who is still working on the railroad, but in a slightly different scale.

His inspiration for a toy train museum came about at an early age when his family visited the Pennsylvania attraction Roadside America.

One day Buck and his wife Jan happened by the old homestead.

And they had a vision.

Buck & Jan: We bought this place back after it was out of the family for a long time.

And I had been collecting to build a toy train museum all my life.

And as we bought this place and started rebuilding this old barn we thought that this might be a good place to do that toy train museum.

It's kind of unique in an old barn.

And it's a lot more fun than cows.

Annc: The barn is filled with a vast collection of trains.

There are various gauges and periods, all combined to make a colorful display.

Buck & Jan: We've got everything from Z gauge, the little bitty ones, to standard gauge, wide gauge.

They're American Flyer, Lionel.

O gauge Lionel, S gauge.

Pretty much everything.

Annc: And it's not just the running trains.

There is plenty of animation to see as you explore.

Jan: I like the pogo stickers, we have a couple of kid's pogo sticking, and they're made with my toaster.

My electric can opener is now a plane that is flying around the barn.

I asked him to fix my printers a couple of years ago and they're elevators going up and down in a high rise.

Annc: Buck doesn't believe in letting good equipment go unused.

Buck & Jan: When I was younger I couldn't afford accessories.

So the only way I could get an accessory, a log loader, or a sawmill was take something apart, and use the pieces from that.

And it's just gone haywire from there.

VCRs.

Very good for that.

There's several different motors in a VCR and you can get all you want for free.

Because they're throw away able.

Annc: Buck's mind is constantly at work.

Sometimes the solution to a problem will literally appear overnight.

Buck: This race track has been, was a dream.

I had them actually glued down, and I thought, How cool that would be if they actually ran.

And I thought about it when I went to bed and when I woke up in the morning and I knew what I had to do.

I glued magnets on the cars.

Then underneath I made a contraption using the pulleys are electric tape containers.

The motor that spins it is out of a microwave oven.

But this wheel, the wheel with the magnets on it, catches the sandpaper and causes it to turn.

And that's what makes the cars pass.

Annc: Visitors are numerous and come from all over the Midwest.

Buck and Jan love to visit and challenge their visitors to find all the subtle items on display.

Jan: And we have an Eye-Spy that we give you.

It's a list of things to find and that.

Buck: The Eye Spy game is constantly changing because we're always building new things and adding new things, so that's kind of fun.

People do have a very good time with that and there's a prize at the end if you get all the things right.

Jan: I love seeing somebody come in the door and maybe a grandfather recognizing a train he used to play with when he was little and just showing it to his grandkid.

Buck: I have husbands come in and the wife will stay in the car cause she's not into trains.

And it doesn't take 10 minutes before he's running back out the door - You gotta come in and see this.

And boy, they have a good time.

Annc: The action isn't all inside the building.

Outside, visitors will find the Argyle & Eastern Railroad, a one-of-a-kind stainless steel park train.

Buck: That's a neat little train, something that I've looked for since I was just a little guy, when they were everywhere.

You'd see the park train in drive in movie theaters, in town parks and carnivals.

It came out of the museum up in Green Bay, the National Railway Museum.

It had run there for many years.

And it had got torn up and fork lifted to the back and pretty much forgotten about.

Annc: Because there was no locomotive, Buck built one by using a VW Rabbit engine.

The railroad climbs steep grades and winds around the property.

Along the way, visitors will see remnants of past, full scale railroading.

The future could hold much more for visitors.

Buck & Jan: I'm pretty happy with where it's at now.

We've got a whole upstairs to go though.

Lots of room.

Fifty foot ceilings.

It has possibilities, yup Annc: The Toy Train Barn and the Argyle & Eastern Railroad are a mandatory stop for someone of any age, looking for a memory that will last a lifetime.

Music Annc: It was an exciting time in 1879 Cascade, Iowa.

The railroad was coming.

With two mills on the Maquoketa River, Cascade was booming, and the town was looking for a gateway to the outside world.

A spiderweb of steel started to make it's way across the United States.

Each and every town was convinced that their survival depended on the rail road connection.

And this little eastern Iowa town was no exception.

Jim: It really brought them up to the forefront in this part of the country.

Remember that Galena, Illinois, 18 miles to the east of Dubuque, was at one time larger than the city of Chicago.

And then the flow of traffic coming out to that area, crossing to Dubuque.

And everybody wanted a piece of the action.

So they would start their towns.

And there was a lot of graineries, a lot of different things that they manufactured.

The problem wagetting the product out of their town and into the main stream.

Annc: So the Chicago, Bellevue, Cascade and Western Railroad was formed to connect the towns of Cascade on the west, and Bellevue on the east, where the 36 mile line would connect with the great Milwaukee Road.

The philosophy of many small railroads of the time was that construction of a narrow gauge operation was the best way to start.

John: You could build a narrow gauge railroad for about a third, maybe a fourth of what it would take to build the same thing in standard gauge.

Now the rails were 36 inches apart.

As a result, you didn't need as much banking, and grading, because the locomotives weren't as heavy, the cars and equipment were a lot lighter and cheaper, lower cost, if you will.

Annc: The builders of these smaller railroads held the firm belief that once completed, they would be swallowed up by the larger, standard gauge railroads, who would then upgrade the line to standard gauge.

In 1880, the plan seemed to be working for the little CBC & Western.

Right on schedule, the Milwaukee Road bought the line.

The citizens of the area were overjoyed.

The future was bright indeed.

But the Milwaukee Road engineers determined that the terrain was too hilly and that an existing 2.8 percent grade would present expensive problems for converting the little line.

So expensive, that the line would never be profitable.

As a result, the railroad remained narrow gauge, much to the frustration of the local patrons.

The railroad had only one major accident in it's history.

John: In 1907 Mary Rowan was riding in the combine, half passenger, half baggage, and she was talking with another lady, and she said how happy she was to get home to her children, she'd been away for a few days.

And they came into the Washington Mills Bridge.

And the last car, which was the combine, jumped the tracks.

And that car went over and fell to the bowl, about 30-40 feet, and closed like a book.

She died, the conductor ultimately died and there were a few other injuries but not that severe.

Annc: By the early 20th Century, trouble was brewing.

The growth of Dubuque to the north, and Davenport to the south, overshadowed little Bellevue.

Shippers could get their goods to the banks of the Mississippi, but items still had to be transferred to the standard gauge cars for the final run to the larger markets.

By 1932, with the Depression in full force, the Milwaukee Road was ready to abandon the little line.

But before the line could be torn up, a savior appeared in the form of Minnesota businessman Earl Bradley.

Bradley purchased the line in 1933, and once the ink on the contract was dry, revealed his plans.

Bradley was eager to test a new concept in railroading - rubber tired wheels riding on steel rails.

The rubber tired vehicles had already been pioneered in France, and were in use by the Texas and Pacific, and Reading Railroads.

But instead of resembling the sleek, chrome cars of the larger railroads, Bradley's first vehicle, painted a bright yellow and dubbed, "The Canary,."

looked like a milk truck.

Not only did it look clumsy, it was under powered to the point that it could only move one or two freight cars at a time.

Bradley was confronted with incredibly bad luck.

The Canary was irreparable damaged by a cracked block in the winter of 1935, when an employee failed to drain the engine.

Record snowfalls hobbled the line in the mid 1930's as well.

By 1936 Bradley had had enough.

A government loan designed to bail out the little line was denied, and Bradley contracted with short line experts William Bell and William Schoenthal.

They were to make the line profitable, or scrap it.

After heavy snowfalls in 1936, and with the snow plow broken beyond repair, the experts opted to scrap the line.

And by 1937, with the rails torn up, the engines and equipment sold or abandoned, the little line became only a memory.

Little remains today of the Chicago, Belleview, Cascade and Western.

There are a few repurposed buildings, and some railway embankments.

The original depot at LaMotte houses a museum dedicated the line.

Rick: Well the depot is the original depot, in the original location.

And we restored that about 14 years ago.

And we just picked up the box car about two years ago and we plan on restoring all that.

Matt: The caboose was built around 1880 by the Ohio Falls Car Company.

It was built for the Belleview and Cascade and was the only operating caboose on that line until 1936 when the line shut down.

The caboose was then purchased by one of the engineers that used to run on the Belleview and Cascade, and used as a storage shed on their farm until Jim Schroeder bought it in Belleview, Iowa.

When Jim purchased the caboose it was in very bad disrepair and started sort of a meticulous restoration, restoring it from the ground up.

We finished the restoration on the car to make it road worthy to pull behind the train to be in use here on the grounds ever since.

And we're happy to have it.

Annc: Presently, Cascade, Bernard and Zwingle are becoming a part of the urban spread of Dubuque.

Of the little line, which held on for better than half a century, the only notable statement is that the railroad was 36 by 36 by 36.

It was 36 miles long, it was 36 inches wide, and sometimes it 36 hours to get there.

The Lamott museum still has some of the artifacts from the original line.

That's all for this episode.

Please join us for the next Tracks Ahead.

Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, a Mexican restaurant serving the Phoenix area since 1990.

Walthers manufacturer and supplier of model railroading products; serving the hobby since 1932.

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