The "Cable" and the Pino Grande Sawmill

Under Construction

Projected Completion Date: 2010

This narrowgauge railroad was located in the California Sierras east of Placerville. It operated from a sawmill at a town called Camino up into the mountains and a rough-cut mill at Pino Grande. The marketable timber was located on the north side of the American River valley and posed a serious problem to the railroad pioneers. The gorge was vast and a multi-million dollar project was needed to build a railroad grade from Camino up and across the gorge to Pino Grande. The solution to this delimma was provided with a cable tram system spanning the gorge to provide access to the north side from the lowlands.

This cable system was very unique in railroad operations and provides an interesting modeling opportunity. The cable itself spanned over 2500 feet and was over 1200 feet above the river. The sag in the cable was said to be 170 feet. A trolley unit was used to transport lumber from Pino Grande across the gorge on bobbie cars and then later on 22 foot skeleton cars. The reference photos I have from the book “Pino Grande” by RS Polkinghorn are truly spectacular and it is amazing to imagine these loggers using a crazy system like this for over 30 years.

I have sucessfully created and tested a cable system for use in Trainz. It will incorporate all of the same features as the prototype. Users will be able to place lumber cars on the cable trolley and then transport them across the gorge. In testing, this operation has been quite facinating.

The last photo in the series below is from the actual cable tram operations.