Lake County Railroad

The Lake County Railroad (reporting mark LCR), based in Lakeview, Oregon, United States, is owned by the Lake County government and operated by the Modoc Northern Railroad. It runs south from Lakeview to Alturas, California, and then back every Thursday. The LCR hauls products for both the perlite mine and lumber from the Fremont Sawmill.

Traffic

• Lumber
• Perlite
• Wood chips

Motive Power

History

The line was originally part of the narrow gauge Nevada–California–Oregon Railway (NCO) and was constructed around 1908. In 1926 the NCO became an operating subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). By 1929 the NCO was entirely operated by the SP.

In March 1985 the SP filed to abandon the line and the abandonment was approved 5 months later. The county stepped in to save the route, vital to local businesses and the state legislature enacted a law permitting local governments to own railroads outside of the state, and then the Oregon State Lottery agreed to fund up to 85% of the purchase price if the county could find an operator. The county went to work, and the Great Western Railway, an established shortline based out of Colorado, agreed to operate the line on a contract basis.^[1] Lake County purchased the line from SP on January 18, 1986, to keep the line open. The county contracted with the Great Western Railway to operate the line.

The LCR began operations on November 1, 1997, when it took over the 54.45 miles (87.63 km) formerly operated by the Great Western Railway of Colorado under contract. The county operated the rail line on precarious financial footing with frequent derailments and grants needed for maintenance funding.

The line was leased in 2005 to the Modoc Northern Railroad ^[1]

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/lcr.html

• Trainweb.org LCR Roster

v t e Railroads of California Common carriers ARZC BNSF CCT CFNR CORP LAJ LCR MCR MET NVRR OTCR OTR PHL PIR PSRR QRR RPRC SAV SCBG SDIY SERA SJVR SMV STE TRC TVRR UP VCRR WFS YW Passenger carriers ACEX AMTK BART C&OR CHSRA CTRC CWR DLMS DLRR FMWX FRRX GTCX JPBX LACZ MKSR MUNI MUNI (Metro) NICX NVRR PLAX RCBT SSR SCAX SCBG SCCT SCRT SDNR SDNX SDTI SERA SYPD WRM YMSP YW Private carriers SFB SCFL SCLC USAF USG Former carriers ABL AL AMC AMR ATSF BN BP&C CPLT CSF&E CPRR EUKA FB&SE GN GWR HBL HI LCR MNRR MR NCRR NPC NWP O&E PCR PE PRI PRT SDAE SF&NP SF&NW SJ&E SLR SN SP SPC SRYC SUN TSO VCY VE WCLC WP YSLR See also: List of United States railroads by political division

v t e Railroads of Oregon Common carriers AERC BNSF COP CORP HLSC INPR KNOR LCR MH OPR PCC PNWR POTB PT PTRC RVT UP WPRR WURR WVR WYCO Passenger carriers AMTK LPN OPE SV TMTC (MAX Light Rail) PS TMTC (Westside Express) WST WURR (Eagle Cap) Former carriers BN CKSO CR&C EPTC GN GWR MH MNRR MWRL NP OCE OE ONW OPE OSNC OT PLRP PRTD SMTK SP SPS UO URC VS WCTR WGR WVRD WWV See also: List of United States railroads by political division