OTHER A&BV pictures

Here are the pictures that I took of what I found was left of the Anderson & Bella Vista Railroad. This is the first section of track that I found. It was on this small culvert. The picture is shot of the date on the rails which is 1902. The last photo is looking south north of the culvert. You can still see impressions in the ground from where the ties were.

 

This next set of pictures are of the second set of track that I found. This section ran parallel to the first one I found. The date I found on the rails of this section said '33 on them. The third picture is a rail I found laying not far away from the second section of track I found. The date said '89 on this rail. The third photo is more grade that I found. The last photo is of the Redding-Anderson local that went by. Not a very good shot, but of well. These are all in the same area.

 

I found this old electric winch sitting on another old grade in the same area as the other sections I found. The grade where the winch is still has ties on it. These two rails where in fron of it, but I couldn't find the date on them. The builders plate on the electric motor for the winch said Westinghouse on it, but I forgot to look for a date of some sort.

 

Next stop down the line was where the A&BV crossed the Sacramento River. This is the area where the J.C. Kellog is in the river. The plaque was off to the side hidden under the trees. It was made using rail, but it said nothing about the A&BV crossing here. The last two photos are of the approach to the bridge. The old bridge was used for Deschutes Road when the railroad was abandoned. The bridge was replaced with the new bridge in the 1970's

 

The first image is shows the portion of Deschutes Road that uses the alignment of the old grade just north of Dersche Road, which is named after a famous homestead in the area. The next four picutes are of the old grade where it ran through a field on a curve. The photos are looking north, the last is looking south. These are a few miles south of Palo Cedro.

 

When I got to Palo Cedro finding the grade got a little tough. developement has obscured the grade and has made it hard to find. The first photo is looking south. I believe the grade ran into those trees running parallel to the road on the right which is Cedro Lane. That road is shown on the old maps I was using and the grade is shown running next to it. The road is that runs through the middle is Old 44, which is also shown on the old maps the I have. The next photo is in the same spot as the first one, but looking north through an empty lot. I figured this was the grade, because the traces of gravel that I found here matched the same gravel that was used as ballast for the track in Anderson. The last photo is the protion of grade I found. This photo is looking south. This is on the north side of Palo Cedro. I wasn't able to go wandering down the road because there was abig chain link fence with barb wire on it so I just stuck my camera through the gate and took a picture. North of here the grade gets hard to find and may just be non-exsitant in some places. But I will try and go out another one of these days and see what else I might be left. I hope you all enjoy these photos of the Anderson & Bella Vista.

 

Tim, those are excellent!!!! You should put them together in a small website if you can. Most service providers give a small amount of space for this I believe.

Reading back through the book I've mentioned, Red River, there are three spurs/sidings at or near Anderson.

1. A 367 ft spur at the engine house,
2. A 606 ft full siding at the Terry Company warehouse, and
3. A 410 ft spur for another lumber yard between one and two miles north of the steel bridge. (one sentence say two miles. One sentence mentions a switch for this other mill at one mile from bridge)

The engine house at Anderson was 24x60 ft.
There was also a water tank at Anderson that was 7.5 ft high by 8ft 10 in diameter on three trestles filled through pipe by gravity. Also what is understood to be the Terry Lmbr warehouse was 40ft by 80ft.

This may help if you can find remnants, you may be able to place which lines you are photographing.

Also, the main line was torn up in 1937 with the rails and locos goin to the Red River Lmbr Co in Westwood,CA.

All the rail was second hand iron 50-56lb (I'm assuming, per yard). No mention of where it came from.

The main line was 15.39 miles long. 12ft roadbed on 50ft centers of row. 31 smaller post or pile trestles. I'm also not seeing a maximum grade, but it was really easy.

Anyhows, we'd love to hear and see anything further on this. Again, Excellent!!!

Oh, almost forgot, the company store served as the station in Bella Vista whilst at the other end the SP station at Anderson was used. Ya never know what will come in handy when researching old railroads.

 

I'm glad you guys liked it! I was at the Historical Society in Anderson earlier today showing the folks there my photos. There is a big aeral photo of Anderson in there taken soemtime before Interstate 5 was built. The old grade could be seen leaving Anderson. But where the A&BV interchanged with the SP there appears to be another sawmill there. There is a siding there, but it connects with the SP in different direction than what would have been used for the A&BV. But I could see where a track diverged from the SP main in the same area just before the SP's bridge over Anderson Creek which is where I beleive where the A&BV's switch with the SP was. I'll have to go out there agin and take a look. There are also some very knowledgable people at the historical society who have been around long enough to to help straighten things out. I have also seen old photos of the A&BV train at Bella Vista stopped in front of the Company Store. I have not seen that building in there in Bella Vista so I don't think it exists anymore. If you to see some pictures of the A&BV go to www.shastahistorical.org and do a picture search using the word "Terry" and a lot of photos will come up of the Round Mountain Operation, the flume, the mill in Bella Vista, and the A&BV including a photo of the illfated J.C. Kellog on its ferry and you'll see why it fell off.