Then and now: Short life for South Shore tracks

The narrow-gauge track in South Lake Tahoe didn’t last long. Photo/Rick Brower collection

TTC&P — the Tahoe,Trout Creek & Pacific Railroad — was a narrow-gauge endeavor in South Lake Tahoe, existing only from 1970 to 1971.

The tracks lasted one year. Photo/Rick Brower collection

Its short-lived route traversed the Trout Creek meadow from the corner next to where now stands U.S. Bank and then went toward the South Tahoe Public Utility District treatment plant.

The tracks would not be allowed today for environmental reasons. Photo/Rick Brower collection

The Baldwin Locomotive Works steam engine came from a Hawaiian sugar cane plantation.

Workers install the track for TTC&P in 1970. Photo/Lake Tahoe Historical Society

The rails were mounted either on regular railroad ties or on stock lumber as seen above. Here is a link to the fascinating pictorial history as posted by then-owner Bob Keller.

— Bill Kingman