Roaring Camp Railroads – “Where Hisssstory comes to Life” (Roaring Camp Railroads)

Member Name: libertybell

Product:	Roaring Camp Railroads
Date:	19/05/01 (552 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A proper little railway, unique climb through redwood forest, great scenery

Disadvantages: Car parking charges, limited attractions whilst waiting for train service

I can hear the groans from here! Oh no it’s that Libertybell with yet another opinion on trains from California. Well I’m sorry…..not really. If you’re on holiday with wee ones, there is no better way to indulge your interest in things steamy – than to travel on a steam train through a forest of redwoods.

We came across this railway (or railroad as the Yanks call them) in the Californian edition of the Dorian Kingsley Travel Guide (£16.99 – absolute must for holidays – buy or borrow one). We planned a trip up the coast from LA to San Francisco and were going to stop at Monterey. A quick perusal in the Motel breakfast area at Monterey and I noticed the leaflet and it seemed an ideal way of spending some time on the last leg of our journey.

Its not difficult to find and the scenery is pretty impressive – hilly with lots of redwood trees. From Santa Cruz (between Monterey and San Francisco in central California), you head north and take the SR17 road. Follow the signs and exit onto Mount Hermon Road. The centre has a huge wooden sign near the road.

And guess what….parking is $5 per car. I so love how American capitalism rips off the poor British traveller. It’s bad enough having a poor £/$ dollar exchange which makes the cost of holidaying more expensive – these extra charges just take the p……..

Anyway, having arrived, it was very sunny and warm. We slapped on the suntan lotion and headed trainwards.

What the Roaring Camp owners have done is to recreate an 1880’s logging camp with a general store, ticket office, schoolroom and hall. There is also one of those covered bridges (as found in the Madison County film) albeit a small one which takes you from the car park into the centre. Plus they have all the 21st century luxuries like proper non-chemical toilets and hamburger stall. In their favour, it’s all quite low key – very remini
scent of British steam railways rather than large American corporations.

The camp has 2 railway lines. The first is a narrow gauge taking you up a hill into a forest. I’ll describe this later. The other one is a standard gauge affair taking you to Santa Cruz beach. You can do both on separate tickets. Except we couldn’t. The beach train wasn’t scheduled to start operating until May 13. Something else I can’t understand. It was the Easter holidays, hot and sunny yet it was too early in the season to run a service. Sorry.

We arrived just in time to miss the 11am narrow gauge service. It was packed with school kids who had arrived on one of those big yellow school buses. However there were another 2 services – one at 12.15 and another at 2pm. This is the off-peak season service – at full pelt they run 5 trains a day. Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for children over 3 but under 12. These are roundtrip prices. We bought them from a pleasant middle-aged lady in a well-stocked gift shop, in Victorian dress.

We then sat in the shade of the ticket office, ate some lunch and watched Josh playing Cowboys in his newly purchased hat with some other kids.

At about 12.15, we piled onto the train. There were 3 uncovered coaches together with a covered one at the rear. Each train had 2 Guards who took a tremendous amount of trouble to point out all the sights.

I must say something about the locomotive. This was an oil-burning machine built in the early part of the 20th century designed to climb steep gradients of 1 in 8. For the uninitiated, trains aren’t very good at climbing gradients – but this one carried on up the hill for about 20 minutes – working very hard at about 5mph. The Guard with the PA pointed out a number of trestle bridges, the history of the line, the biggest redwoods and the reason we had to navigate a switchback.

Upon reaching the summit of Bear M
ountain, we disembarked into an area whilst the driver checked out the loco (they always do this because of the stresses these things go though on the way up). We stood in an area named ‘Cathedral Grove’ and the Guard told us of the dangers of ‘poison oak’ (apparently its very itchy!). The area was called Cathedral Grove because some British visitors many years ago though the collection of redwoods gave the impression of a cathedral. It was very peaceful at the top of Bear Mountain – you can even picnic up there and catch a later train back. The Driver tooted the whistle 4 times and we left. Wo betide anyone left up there after the last train of the day!!

The journey back was less stressful for the engine and by the time we returned we had completed 6 miles in 75 minutes.

Roaring Camp hold special events throughout the year. These include a Civil War re-enactment in May (can’t ever remember the Civil War being fought in California!), great train robberies in March and the summer gathering of the mountain men in August. It keeps the punters happy and brings in the dosh. And it makes a change from Thomas the tank engine days!

For further information, visit the Roaring Camp web site at: www.roaringcamp.com

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Roaring Camp Railroads. Unless you take in both lines, there isn’t enough to do to spend a complete day there – but as a means of combining a trip on a steam train with a visit to see some Californian redwoods – its well worth considering.

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