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SERENE LAKES & MOUNTAIN RAILROAD

The SL & M RR was started long ago when management purchased a 4-6-0 locomotive and rolling stock in a deal that soon saw two more purchases of  a similar nature. The company now owned three locomotives, two flats a gondola and two cabooses. Also included was a combine. These items saw limited action as the track was particularly poor. Management also had a problem of location, it seemed they were constantly laying track, only to have it pulled up soon afterward. In spite of the location problems a two truck Shay locomotive was acquired. This purchase was followed by some more rolling stock; a log car, two hoppers and a couple of boxcars. This was followed by the purchase of a climax locomotive. All this equipment was soon placed in storage, some of it was placed on display at the home of the railroad owner. He desperately longed for a real home for the railroad where it could be really put to work. Finally a good grade of rail was purchased and the rail was laid on a roadbed of good ballast. There were some streams to cross and a very large hillside to conquer, but it was spring and all looked good for the track crew. The railroad was a dismal failure. The Old 4-6-0 loco was very low on steam pressure, neither of the other two 4-6-0's was in better shape. The Shay and Climax were in long term storage. Management tried to convert the loco to a 0-6-0 to lower it resistance to the tight curves on the hillside line, but still it was lucky to be able to pull its tender and a bobber caboose up the hill. When the first winter came, the railroad was taken up, track and all, and placed in storage once again. The second year of operation did not even happen, a late spring thaw found the crew doing other work and the rails were never re-laid. The ballast was still in place and management was convinced that the railroad would arise once again. So sure that they worked all winter on new rolling stock, added to the collection was a log car and a flatcar. The owner had picked up a used caboose at auction and was eager to place it on the rails for the comfort of the crew. 

2004 arrived with 12 feet of snow on top of the roadbed. Management despaired of having a running railroad ready for service by late Spring. Fortune was smiling on the SL & M RR and warm weather and lots of crew time in the shops, got the railroad off to a good start in early May. Track was laid on the former road bed, except where a large boulder and a lot of the hillside around it covered the ROW. A shoe-fly track was established, but the grade was severe. One of the 4-6-0's was pressed into temporary work train service, but was having great difficulty on the shoe-fly. Management decided to retire the 4-6-0's and concentrate on getting the Climax loco in shape for the upcoming season. The shop crew refurbished the original two flatcars and got the Climax in running condition. The Building and Bridges crew was busy with two new trestles and one new bridge. A siding was laid to the lake front and a transfer dock built. The new Lakeside station is now under construction. Prospects for the season are looking up, trains will run on the SL & M RR, but what of the future...

Location of the Serene Lakes & Mountain Railroad as track was laid during the first year.

Rounding the curves along the lake. This was a long train that first season.

First crossing of Serene Creek. This bridge proved to be too narrow for our 3' gauge trains and was sold to a narrower gauge line.

This replacement bridge was constructed during the off year. The crew chief was demoted to the rail crew, this bridge is also too small for our trains. It was disassembled and parts were used this year to construct a new bridge crossing over the big gulch west of the mountain.

This train is stopped checking clearance as it approaches Serene Creek. The engine tender did not clear this bridge.

Operations resume in 2004. Pictures from late May and early June.

The new dock at the end of the siding is in place in this 2004 shot.

A hopper of ballast is ready to be taken out on the line.

The new right-of-way goes around the rock and dirt slide.

A new trestle bridge crosses Lower Serene Creek.

Some of the old roadbed is still visible heading off to the right.

A work train crosses Lower Serene Creek and passes the log unloading spur.

The same work train crosses Upper Serene Creek and drifts down the shoe-fly track.

The company helicopter was banking to the left as this overall view was snapped.

NEW PICTURES BELOW Added 6-6-2005

The railroad is on the left side of this picture, under that wall of snow. March 3, 2005. It got deeper, reaching ten to twelve real feet deep.

The lower bridge at Serene Creek is starting to emerge from beneath the snow. May 22, 2005

Track leading to the gulch bridge, snow glacier retreating slowly. May 22, 2005

Pictures taken 5-28-2005

The winter of 2004-05 will not soon be forgotten. Here is the bridge over the gulch destroyed by winter's harsh hand.

A close up of the destroyed bridge.

The snow glacier is slowly receding in this picture taken in late-May.

Even the trestle bridge over Serene Creek was damaged.

And guess what on June 6, 2005 it started again.

Almost 6 scale (F) feet of snow has fallen tonight setting back efforts to get the line up and running for at east two weeks.

The damage caused by the winter storms and the lateness of the spring forced the railroad into receivership. The track was finally pulled up for good at the end of August 2005. The rail is stored in hopes that someday good fortune will again fall upon the Serene Lakes & Mountain Railroad. All rolling stock and motive power are in a stored serviceable condition.