WELCOME!

The Placer-Sierra Railroad Heritage Society (PSRHS) was formed to preserve and protect the history of the Donner Pass Route portion of the Transcontinental Railroad.  Please join us in our efforts and enjoy the website. You can view our MONTHLY NEWSLETTER here.


MONTHLY MEETINGS

PSRHS holds monthly meetings with presentations on topics of regional railroad and other topics. Our meetings are open to all who are interested in local railroad history and operations. Meetings are held on the 4th Tuesday, 7PM at Auburn Veterans Memorial Hall, 100 East St. Directions to the meeting location can be found under the HAPPENINGS tab. Watch this space for details on future meeting programs.

October 22 meeting, 7pm.

The Caboose: From Railroads to Creative Lodging – Olympic Railway Inn. Roger Staab will focus on a classic part of railroading’s past, the caboose. For railfans, the caboose is a symbol of railroad nostalgia, and some have even placed old cabooses on their property as guest houses. Several resorts in northern California, such as in Dunsmuir and near Clear Lake, have taken advantage of this nostalgia with caboose motels. But Roger says the most creative cabooses he has visited are at the Olympic Railway Inn in Sequim, WA. The exteriors of the seven units look like standard cabooses, but the owners of this “caboose motel” chose a separate interior theme for each of their units, then pursued décor that reflected those themes. Roger will highlight the resulting interiors of each caboose along with detailed views of décor accents for two of the units. The program will also include a brief look at restoration underway on a unique caboose and exterior views of a vintage passenger railcar.


COLFAX RAILCAM

The Colfax webcam installed by PSRHS and Southwest Railcams continues to provide great views of railroad action as trains pass the Colfax yard and passenger depot. You can view the live feed or review the previous 12 hours of recorded footage.

To access the Colfax webcam follow this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmXz1dFsGkM

The Colfax webcam can also be accessed on our website under the Web-Cam tab.


Our formerly live Applegate Webcam is no longer in service and has been removed. However, you can still access still images captured in the past on the Applegate webcam. Look under the Webcams tab.


FIELD TRIPS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES

We offer one or two field trips and other activities during the year for members and guests. Details on upcoming activities or items of interest are announced on this home page. Selected events also appear in NEXT EVENTS under the HAPPENINGS tab. A complete list of past field trips and meeting presentation topics can also be found under the HAPPENINGS tab.


ARTICLES OF HISTORIC INTEREST

PSRHS philosophy is to share our information and documents with the public. Numerous historical notes, articles and photos are available for viewing and free download under the LOCAL RR HISTORY and the PUBLICATIONS tabs. Feel free to browse these pages and enjoy the content. If you choose to reproduce any of the items viewed on our web site please credit our PSRHS web address as the source.

New to the Website

Right of Way and Track Maps for SP’s Lake Tahoe Branch from the PSRHS Collection are now available for viewing. Find their link on the HISTORIC ARTICLES/MAPS/IMAGES page under the LOCAL RR HISTORY tab.

The two YouTube movies of Hal Wilmunder’s narrow gauge railroads that were shown at our October 2023 meeting can be viewed via links on the ARTICLES & VIDEOS BY OTHERS page under the PUBLICATIONS tab.


RESTORATION PROJECTS

PSRHS members have been instrumental in two major restoration projects, the Colfax Passenger Depot and the Colfax Wood-sided Caboose. Details on these projects can be found under the PROJECTS tab.


CONTACT US

General information about the society and a list of current board members can be found under the SOCIETY INFO tab.