Lucerne Valley (0214)

This used to happen up here in logging country, too. A special track would be built to a lumber mill - or an isolated area with several mills. I wonder if the mills helped pay for it, or if the RR company just figured they'd make enough money from shipping to justify it.

Such clear light out there!

I didn't take a picture of it, but from one angle it looked like the tracks had been there many years, probably from when the area had few roads and most such haulage was by rail. While everything here looks newish, the mining looks to have been going on for very many years.

Surprisingly, there still are contractors specializing in the construction of short lines to connect industrial sites with the main line. We heard about this when we rode the Verde Canyon excursion railroad in central Arizona last year. Turns out the spur line was originally bought from the BNSF (IIRC) and it was planned to run as such a short line, there being enough business from an industrial plant in the Verde Valley. Then the new owner took a ride on his new purchase and reaized it would be lots more lucrative as a scenic train. (It goes along the Verde River thru a nice canyon.) So that is the big money-maker now, altho they still run a freight train occasionally. Apparently the main lines have decided not to bother with the logistics of these spur routes.