Jan. 25, 2001

For the first time in 47 years, the steam locomotive whistle was heard in the little town of Independence....

January, 2003

In the short term we desperately need a place to work on the locomotive and other running stock. The old Slim Princess sits outside which presents almost insurmountable problems to move forward with restoration tasks. Summertime is so hot that it is impossible to touch metal parts without gloves. Conversely, in wintertime it is too cold and windy to work at all.

We need a shop-roundhouse! We need air, water, electricity, and a safe and secure pit. We need good lighting, a few machine tools and a strong work bench, hoists, jacks, pry bars and an assortment of hand tools. Now that's not too much to ask for!

The large, prefabricated metal shop building which was donated to us last year required 180 man-days to dismantle and move the steel beams and other salvageable materials down out of the mountains to Independence. It needs a new slab and foundation, utility hookups, some more girts and purlins, and a new roof and siding material, which is going to cost about $100,000. We have requested the LADWP lease us a parcel of land on the southern edge of Independence for the new repair shop and locomotive display area. LADWP has instead offered to lease the parcel to Inyo county so that the County, in turn, could sublease to us. The lease would require us to bring sewer and water lines across Mazourka Canyon Road to the new site, provide a parking lot and other amenities so that people will stop and look. That's going to require another $100,000. We have been trying for the past two and a half years to get the County to proceed with the lease offer, but the County has tied that request to our obtaining suitable financing. With a precarious tax base County officials are understandably very risk adverse.

In the long term we seek to operate the train between Kearsarge (Independence) and Owenyo (former site of the end of track for the standard gauge, jawbone branch of from Mojave, California). The former site of Owenyo, now completely returned to the desert, is about as close to Lone Pine as the Narrow Gauge reached on its twice-a-week schedule between Laws and Keeler.

Please support us if you can, or, if you just want to talk about steam, e-mail us.