Off the mainline, you never know what you might find. Short lines, small locomotives, light rails and friendlier crews. The ET&WNC's standard gauge still used two ex-Southern consolidations into the 1960s and we catch both in Johnson City at the service area. The Mississippian operated its 24 mile line between Avery and Fulton, Mississippi, with a pair of ex-Frisco consolidations. The Gainesville Midland operated lines out of Gainesville, Georgia, to Athens and Monroe with a group of photogenic decapods. We see great color and great pacing shots of those ancient 2-10-0's.
Wherever there was timber to be harvested, there were tiny railroads to haul it. Among these were the Southwest Lumber Company at Flagstaff, Arizona, Rayonier in Washington State and the most-famed Westside Lumber, whose narrow gauge Shays and Heislers hauled millions of board feet of lumber from the slopes. The Nevada Northern maintained ten wheeler number forty to run excursions. We see a fan trip using Southern Pacific passenger equipment.
Finally, we ride "The Crookedest Railroad in the World" with Thomas Edison's camera rolling. The Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway was constructed on narrow gauge rails that climbed steep grades and traversed sharp curves behind Shay locomotives around the turn of the century. The goal of the line: a large resort at the top of the mountain for which passengers were carried. Join us as we coast - yes coast - back to the base of the mountain.
