Bodie and Benton Railway

Infobox rail
railroad_name = Bodie & Benton Railway
locale = Mono County, California
gauge = RailGauge|36
start_year = 1881
end_year = 1917The Bodie & Benton Railway was a narrow gauge common carrier railroad in the U.S. state of California, with a terminus in Bodie, now a ghost town, in Mono County. It was unusual among US railroads in that it was completely isolated from the rest of the railroad system. [Hilton Narrow Gauge]

As the Bodie Railway & Lumber Company, the railroad was established in 1881 to link the gold-mining town of Bodie to the Bodie Wood and Lumber Company's newly built sawmill, Mono Mills, 32 miles south of Bodie along the eastern shore of Mono Lake.cite book
title = Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, Volume 1: The Northern Roads
last = Myrick
first = David F.
publisher = University of Nevada Press
year = 1992
location = Reno
id = ISBN 0874171938] The line was completed and operational on November 14, 1881. Temporary spurs into timberlands were built in 1882.

With a ruling grade of 3.8%, steep for a common carrier but easy for a logging railroad, the line could be worked by rod engines, and rostered a selection of 2-6-0 "Mogul" types and tank locomotives.

Locomotive roster

The Bodie and Benton rostered the following locomotives during its history: [cite book
title = Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, Volume 2: The Southern Roads
last = Myrick
first = David F.
publisher = University of Nevada Press
year = 1992
location = Reno
id = ISBN 0874171946
pages = p. 885]

References