We have land, mile post 550.1 !!!

After more than three years of waiting, we closed escrow on a 12.88 acre parcel of the old CCRW-SPNG right of way, also know as the Kearsarge Station location near Independence.

It started with a substantial donation from Claudia and Richard Smith, duaghter and son-in-law of our late great founder Myron Alexander. Marlene Cierniak was instrumental in getting the ball rolling by contacting Dwight McNaughton, a local land owner and developer. Dwight, in turn, spent countless hours and phone calls persuading Union Pacific to sell the property to our non-profit organization. He first tried for a donation of the property, but was unsuccessful. A price was then set and thanks to the donation of the Smiths and the depletion of our bank account we now own the property. Many thanks to our good friends and members Dwight McNaughton and Marlene Ciernak.

Short term plans for the property are to fence it and lay track already owned by the CCRW. Long term plans are to reconstruct the Kearsarge Station on the original site.

Buildings

The final closing of the old, huge, AVOCET-owned, tungsten mine at Pine Creek, just south of Bishop, Ca. has resulted in the railroad receiving two metal buildings. Dwight McNaughton purchased and donated them. One, in used but very good condition, will be used for a ROUND HOUSE, while the other, almost new, building of 6000 sq. ft.will become a CAR BARN. The front part will be used as an exhibit area and gift shop. The back part will serve as our shop/restoration area.

We've dismantled them -

Through the use of volunteer labor and equipment donations, loans, and rentals, the Carson & Colorado Rwy. Organization has only spent a few hundred dollars - With the exception of our annual insurance premium of $1,300 which covered our workers for this project and others. This was in spite of the fact that the building was located high in the mountains. Our volunteers logged over 18,000 miles at their own expense and worked 180 days averaging 2 to 5 men a day.

This building took much longer to dismantle than the typical metal shop building because of all the additional features it had. The roof and walls had a special type of rivets know as "slam rivets" on all the lap joints between the corrugated metal panels which were much more time consuming to remove than regular rivets. These rivets had three internal legs, not unlike those of Molly bolts, and hundreds of them had to be drilled out one by one. The building had interior walls as well as the exterior walls, with layers of insulation packed in between. The plumbing and electrical systems were routed through a maze of pipes attached to the ceiling. The building also had interior offices, a shower room and a lunchroom.

 

many thanks to all who made that possible:

Dave Mull Betty Mull Bob Ennis Dallas Anderson Him Broady Allen Wilder Forrest newman Walter Herleman Doug Mull Gary Mull Frank Stradling	Denny Miller Terry Williams Russ Fleming Dave Borchert Kevin & Judy Frew Rick & Evelyn Eckhardt Ralph & Flo Doull Charlie & Jamille Imboden Joe & Melissa Cappello Richard & Janice Tull Joe & Jody Bruce	David Campbell Rick Mayfield Mandy Campbell Joe Andrews Lynda Nickel Paul Lamos Gary Heacock John Hogan Grant Mull Mike Dominquez Eric Barner
and to DWP and their employees Justin Schill, John Hogan and Terry Williams for the use of their truck and Gwen & Francis Gardner for the use of theirs.

- and are now looking for a way to erect them on our land.

An older 30 ft., triple-axle, potable trailer now belongs to us courtesy of B.L.M. It will be useful as a workshop/office, and for storage, when we are working on construction or dismantling sites. B.L.M. also gave us a 3/4 ton military cargo trailer which is excellent for hauling, dirt, rocks, scrap metal, etc.