Photo by Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
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About Nevada-california-oregon Railway
A New Chapter for the Nevada - California - Oregon Railway It is with great pleasure that we announce the newest railroad preservation society in the...
📍 ALTURAS, CA 96101
History
This Alturas group is, by its own announcement, the newest railroad preservation society devoted to the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway, the 3-foot narrow gauge line remembered fondly as the 'Narrow, Crooked & Ornery.' Organized in Reno in June 1880 as the Nevada and Oregon Railroad with grand plans to reach the Columbia River, the railroad drove its first spike on May 28, 1881, survived a boardroom gunfight that killed its corporate secretary, and passed to New York's Moran Brothers bank at a court-ordered auction in 1884 before taking the N-C-O name on January 1, 1893. Rails crept north to Madeline in 1902, reached Alturas in December 1908, and topped out at Lakeview, Oregon in January 1912 — 238 miles of the planned route, and no farther. After a peak year in 1913 the line lost traffic to new standard gauge competitors; the Reno headquarters and shops moved to Alturas in 1918, and the Southern Pacific bought the company on April 30, 1925, converting the surviving line to standard gauge by 1928 for its Modoc Branch. In Alturas the railway's stone 1908 passenger depot still stands, moved block by block closer to downtown in 1915 and home to the local garden club since 1962.
Nearby
The society's home of Alturas is the county seat and only incorporated city of Modoc County, set at 4,370 feet where the north and south forks of the Pit River meet in California's remote Shasta Cascade region. The Warner Mountains rise to the east, the Modoc Plateau spreads north, and the wetlands and wild rice fields of South Fork Valley lie south. Rail heritage is easy to find downtown: the stone N.C.O. depot known as The Whistle Stop and the Mission Revival N.C.O. office building both survive as historic sites.
Where to Stay
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Most heritage railroads sit well off the interstate. Picking up a rental at the nearest airport is usually the easiest way in.
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