Sierra Railroad Company

The Sierra Railroad Company was incorporated on February 1, 1897 by Thomas S. Bullock, Prince André Poniatowski and William H. Crocker, and the first rails were laid in May of that year east of Oakdale, reaching Jamestown on November 8, 1897 before being extended to Tuolumne. By 1900 the line was completed in essentially its present configuration, and in 1937 the original Sierra Railway was sold at a public auction to the newly formed Sierra Railroad Company, settling the predecessor’s debts. Diesel power replaced steam in 1955, yet the railroad retained its steam fleet for film work, and in 1971 it opened the tourist attraction “Rail Town 1897.” The Crocker Association closed Rail Town in 1979 and placed the Sierra Railroad and its Jamestown complex up for sale; the railroad was purchased by Silverfoot Inc. in 1980, while the California Department of Parks and Recreation acquired the Jamestown facilities in 1982 and reopened them as Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. Silverfoot resold the operation to the Sierra Pacific Coast Railway in 1995, which merged with the Yolo Shortline Railway in 2003, and the company bought the BNSF mainline from Riverbank MP 1 to Oakdale in 2008.