McCloud River RR trivia

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

The time is 1992. I just made a job related move from Burney, Ca to Pascagoula, Ms. Burney is home to the McCloud River RR, a very small logging line. It has a few pieces of rolling stock like gondolas, flats and box cars. By a few, I mean like 20 to 30 pieces. To make a long story short, I’m sitting in my car at a RR crossing in Ocean Springs, Ms. watching the east bound train go past when what goes by is a McCloud River RR box car, 2200 miles from home. Talk about one-in-a-million.

McCloud River RR has had financial problems. It was bought by a private enterpreneur as a tourist line, but I’m not sure what’s happening now. They have a few diesels and I think two steamers.

2

The McCloud River was one of the rail lines that was titular ‘home’ to a vast fleet of box cars that wandered about the country collecting per diem charges. The Bonhomie and Hattiesburg Southern was another - allegedly running so many cars that if they had all arrived on home rails at once the entire railway couldn’t hold them.

After the per diem rules changed, the McCloud River cars DID go home. I drove through that area in '93 (I think) and saw what seemed to be several miles of modern box cars standing on every available siding - and even on some unused branch line trackage.

Chuck