I do not have any information on this abandoned route. If you know anything about this route, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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The town of Tennant, California is the relatively intact permanent/headquarters camp of the Long Bell Lumber Company's extensive logging railroad (1921 - 1954). The ordinary looking cottages were prefabricated in two sections, each mounted on permanent wooden skids, then brought in by rail on flatcars. The company store/gas station/wharehouse, now closed, is next to a large empty lot, covered with red cinders. Before it was dismantled at the end of operations, here was where they maintained and housed their steam locomotives from massive Logging Mallets for logging mainline use to Shays for gathering logs on an ever changing network of temporary branches and spurs.
A few miles to the northwest, along the main road out of town, is railroad location Leaf. Here, you can find the fenced-in private railyard, with rails removed and untreated ties, rotting away ,whereloaded shipments of logs awaited shipment by the Southern Pacific to their vast mill at Weed, CA.
Long Bell's mainline, which heads east from Tennant, is now the graded and paved Forest Road 77 to Medicine Lake. Modern signs show the old railroad mileposts. Hidden and obstructed turnoffs indicate where loaded cars were once picked-up and empty's dropped off.
Just north of Medicine Lake, turn-off onto FR 49 whcih leads to the entrance of Lava Beds National Monument. A scenic area of fairly intact logging railroad grades, including mainline, lies a mile or two south of the of the Monument. Here an upgraded logging railroad grade, now called Tichnor (44N22) Road crosses FR 49. The grades run just to the south of it.
Steven Weil California, CA 8/25/2010
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To Steven Weil,
I have looked long and hard for information on this logging railroad and finally found in in "Rails in The Shadow of Mt. Shasta" by John R. Signor available from Alibris Books. It has two pages of information plus a detailed map. Alibris has used copies for $25.00.
Bob Bassett
Robert Bassett Missoula, MT 2/5/2011
I used to work on the Doublehead Ranger District, and I am familiar with the Long Bell railroad, and I have successfully drove the grade from just above the current Long Bell fire station, all the way to where the old road ties into the current UP line near Bray, CA. I even have an old picture showing the junction of the LongBell and UP. I currently work on the Goosenest district of the Klamath, which contains the western portion of the railroad. I would be happy to share much more info with you if you like.
Joshua Veal Tulelake, CA 6/12/2011