rails
to
trails
u
spring/summer.14
25
Steam Into History had more than
20,000
riders. “We had a lot of ridership
during the summer,” explains Gotwols.
“
And, when the leaves started to change,
we sold out every weekend.”
Beginning mid-April 2014, the train
will operate Tuesday through Sunday,
with two to three runs a day. Basic tickets
for adults are $22 (occasionally more for
special events); children’s tickets are $14.
Bicycle riders can enjoy the experi-
ence, too. Heritage Rail Trail County Park
adjacent to the tracks winds for more than
22
miles from York to the Maryland state
line. By spring 2014, Steam Into History
plans to offer train cars that can accom-
modate bike storage, so riders can enjoy
both a trail and train experience.
For more information, visit
steam
intohistory.com
.
California
Defending the Depot
From its modest appearance, one wouldn’t
guess that the Susanville Depot, nestled
among the Sierra and Cascade mountain
ranges of northeastern California, was
once the subject of fierce debate.
In the early 1900s, the surround-
ing alpine forests spurred a burgeoning
timber industry and development of
the Fernley & Lassen branch of the
Southern Pacific Railroad. Susanville’s
passenger and freight depot was built
in 1927 to serve the line. It was a small
stucco building with a ticket counter
and waiting room in the front, and a
station manager’s office and small freight
room in the back. An adjacent wooden
freight shed had been built in 1913.
When the town’s major mill closed in
1956,
the railroad began using the depot
for storage, but even that use ended
in 1978 when the railroad prepared to
abandon the line.
Nearly a decade later, the railroad
was getting ready to sell the depot to the
city and suggested that the building be
burned down as practice for the local fire
department. The community jumped
into action to protect the depot. Only a
quarter of a mile away, a new rail-trail,
the Bizz Johnson National Recreation
Trail, was forming on the old railroad
bed. The depot seemed an obvious choice
for a trailhead, and a “Save the Depot”
coalition was formed to preserve it.
Not everyone supported the idea,
though. “A highway bypass was under
consideration at the time,” says Stan
Bales, an outdoor recreation planner for
the Bureau of Land Management, which
was spearheading the rail-trail conversion.
“
Some thought a highway bypass around
town would make sense, and they had
strong feelings about it. The depot was an
impediment for the bypass because it was
a historical structure that was in the way.”
In 1987, the Lassen Land and Trails
Trust, a new conservation organization,
stepped in and became owner and man-
ager of the building and two short sets
of parallel railroad tracks remaining on
the property. A suspicious fire in 1989
completely destroyed the shed and dam-
aged the depot, but, eventually the effort
to save the building prevailed.
“
The project that gave the Trust its
birth was saving the depot,” says Louise
Jensen, Trust executive director. “The
depot is our flagship and makes us vis-
ible to the community.”
Under trust leadership, the depot was
restored. The work took seven years and
could not have been completed without
the stalwart help of the community’s vol-
unteers. In 1994, the building reopened
as a museum and visitor center for the
region’s trails. Those short tracks are
used, too; set side by side as they are,
they’re perfect for handcar races, a popu-
lar activity at the trust’s Rails to Trails
Festival each October.
For more information about the
Susanville Depot, the Rails to Trails Festival
and the Bizz Johnson National Recreation
Trail, visit
lassenlandandtrailstrust.org
.
Event at the
Susanville
Railroad Depot
New Freedom and Hanover Junction is
different; riders may encounter narra-
tors sharing the history of the area, re-
enactors in period costume (look for Old
Abe on special occasions) or musicians
playing 19th-century tunes. A stop at
Hanover Junction allows time to explore
the museum inside the refurbished train
station, the very place where President
Lincoln changed trains on his trip to give
his famed “Gettysburg Address” in 1863.
For friends William H. Simpson and
D. Reed Anderson, it was this rich his-
tory that sparked the train idea. They
envisioned Steam Into History as a non-
profit organization that would benefit
the community educationally and eco-
nomically. “The idea came from a couple
of York businessmen who were history
buffs and rail buffs who wanted to leave
something for the community,” says
Gotwols. “Nobody gets rich from this.
The only folks to benefit are the commu-
nities along the line.”
Indeed, according to Carl Knoch,
trail development manager for RTC’s
Northeast Regional Office, “The local
businesses in New Freedom are thrilled
with the train. They’ve seen an uptick in
business since the trains started running.”
In its first six months of operation,
Visitors at Heritage Rail Trail County Park
watch the Steam Into History train.
John Gensor
Photo courtesy Lassen Land and Trails Trust