Roaring Camp: The Felton Steam Train That Still Climbs a 10.5% Grade to Bear Mountain

In the redwoods outside Felton, steam locomotives still pull open cars up Bear Mountain on 3-foot narrow-gauge track.

How it started

The land has a long conservation history. In 1867, San Francisco businessman Joseph Warren Welch bought the Big Trees Ranch, the first property in California bought to save redwoods, according to Wikipedia. Part of it was sold to the county in 1930 and later became part of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. F. Norman Clark, who found the locomotive Dixiana in 1958, started operating the railroad in 1963.

The switchback

The line runs 3.25 miles from Felton to Bear Mountain. A 1976 fire destroyed its corkscrew trestles, and they were replaced with a switchback on a 10.5% grade. After Clark died on Dec. 2, 1985, his wife Georgiana took over. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers named the railroad landmark No. 134 in 1988, and Day Out with Thomas events began in 2003.

Riding it

Roaring Camp's site describes the Redwood Forest Steam Train as a 75-minute trip with engines dating to 1890. It says the separate Santa Cruz Beach Train returns in spring 2027.