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Railroad Operations in the Owens Valley

Railroad operations in the Owens Valley originated with the Carson and Colorado Railroad, which was incorporated in May 1880. Construction was Started at Mound Hose, Nevada and proceded south. By January of 1883, the tracks had reached Benton, California, and Keeler by July. Passenger traffic commenced in August of 1883.

In March 1900, the Carson and Colorado was sold to the SOuthern Pacific Railroad. It continued to operate as the C & C through May 1905, when the corporate name was changed to Nevada & California Railway. In January 1912, the Nevada & California Railway corporation was disolved, and the line began operation under the Southern Pacific designation. Operations continued until April 29, 1960. Various sections of the line were abondoned over the years, until 1943 when the track north of Laws, California, was removed, making Laws the northern terminus of the line.

In addition to their Narrow Guage line, Southern Pacific also had a standard gauge line (the Jawbone Branch) running north from Mojave to the town of Lone Pine at the southern end of the Owens Valley, completed in 1910. The two lines interchanged at Owenyo, California. Service to Lone Pine was stopped in 1984.

Owens River Valley Electric Railway Company

Although the Narrow Gauge ran through the Owens Valley, it was on the east side of the valley, while the major towns - Bishop, Big Pine, Independence and Lone Pine - were on the west side. To remedy this problem, Harry Shaw and H.N. Beard incorporated the Owens River Valley Electric Railway Company in November, 1910. The route was projected to run between Main Street in Bishop, California, 4 miles to community of Laws on the Southern Pacific line. The company originally planned to use gas motor cars, but later it was decided to use electrical trolley cars. There were also to extend the line 12 miles northwest to the community of Round Valley and 15 miles south to the town of Big Pine.

Initial surveys were started in early 1911 and completed by the end of March. All right of way for the line had been aquired by June, and construction began on June 16, 1911. By the end of August, grading was complete along with a sawmill at Black Canyon. In November, work was suspended for the winter, but in reality suspended permanently - the line was never completed. The company issued a declaration in June, 1912 stating that "large plans are maturing, looking to work on the road in the near future," and apparently that is the last time they were heard from.

Modelling Opportunities

Although the Owens Valley is not often associated with railroading, the actual and proposed operations offer many excellent operating scenarios. The easiest would be to simply model the SP's Narrow Gauge and/or Standard Guage lines. To me though, a more interesting option is to model what could have been. One possibility would be to push the Jawbone Branch north from Lone Pine on through Independence, Big Pine, and into Bishop. My choice is to model a free-lance version of the Owens River Valley Electric Railway Company. Since I'll be using steam engines instead of gas electrics or trolleys, I've decided to shorten the name to Owens River Valley Railway.

I'm modelling in HO with a time frame somewhere in the mid to late 1920's. Equipment will mostly follow Southern Pacific prototype practices. I'm also making some assumptions:

• Management assumed that the SP was eventually going to standard gauge, so they built the line to standard gauge
• The extension south to Big Pine was part of the original plan
• Agriculture stayed big after 1910 (unlike in real life)
• Mining activity in the Tungsten Hills area is a lot more active than in real life

I'm starting with a 4x8 sheet of plywood, so the first town modelled will be Big Pine. After that, Bishop, then a mining district in the Tungsten Hills and a branch to Round Valley. I don't know if I will get around to modelling Laws at all - at least not on this line. Most likely I'll push south to Lone Pine and save Laws for my Sn3 layout that I hope to build some day.