Limekiln Monorail - Cienega valley, California
Posted by: hotshoe
N 36° 41.521 W 121° 18.313
10S E 651407 N 4062046
Monument marking a never-successful rail project south of Tres Pinos
Waymark Code: WM4MA8
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 09/06/2008
Views: 10
This monument has extensive bullet damage which has removed the brass plaque to reveal the rock underneath.
The text of the plaque reads:
BUILT IN 1894 BY J. J. BURT TO CARRY "DIAMOND BRAND" LIME FROM HARLAN MT. TO THE S. P. RAILROAD AT TRES PINOS.
THE TRACK WAS A SINGLE WOODEN RAIL. THE LOCOMOTIVE WAS WOOD FUELD STEAM OPERATED. ON ITS MAIDEN VOYAGE THE ENGINE EXPLODED WHILE TAKING ON WATER FROM PESCADERO CREEK THUS ENDING THE OPERATION FOREVER.
For more information on the train's operation, which slightly contradicts the Clamper's plaque, see this article on the Monorail Society website - excerpted from the March 1958 printed issue of The Western Railroader:
(
visit link)