Fernley Lassen Railroad

By Justin Miller

Like many towns in the west, Fernley‘s history is closely connected to the building and expansion of the railroads. Though today the trains no longer stop to take on or let off passengers, for 42 years Fernley had a namesake railroad that rivaled in both beauty and pedigree the other Nevada short lines that are well known names today.

It all began in 1912, when a new lumber mill and company town were constructed at Westwood, 90 miles northwest in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The largest, most advanced mill of its day, only a railroad could economically move the amount of lumber it was to produce. The Southern Pacific Railroad agreed to build the line and incorporated the new railroad as a subsidiary company that same year. Fernley was chosen to be the southern terminus, where it would connect with the Southern Pacific’s east-west transcontinental line. Because its northern end was located in remote Lassen County, the new company was named the Fernley & Lassen Railway.

The Susanville depot at the southern trailhead of the Bizz Johnson trail. (Photo by Justin Miller)

For two years, more than 1,000 workmen built the railroad between Westwood and Fernley. They used both modern equipment and animal power to cut, fill, and grade the route for the railroad’s 108 mile mainline. The tracks left Fernley due north passing directly adjacent to the present-day Nevada Cement plant (which still uses a short section of Fernley & Lassen trackage). It passed through Wadsworth and once beyond followed the Truckee River as it slithers through the canyon toward Pyramid Lake. At Nixon, the line turned west and headed for Sutcliffe, riding close to the shore until eventually entering the Honey Lake Valley via Astor Pass at Zenobia. Then, for nearly 50 miles, the tracks crossed that vast valley in dead straight stretches sometimes dozens of miles long. Near where the Susan River drains into Honey Lake, the railroad picked up a tangential course through several small ranching communities south of Susanville. There, the tracks and the river finally met and, at a spot where a deep cut was made and a depot built, the Great Basin transforms into the verdant alpine land between the Sierra and Cascades where Westwood is located.

For 20 years, the Fernley & Lassen carried passengers in addition to lumber and raw materials. Until passenger service was stymied by the Great Depression, the railroad connected residents of northeastern California and northwestern Nevada with destinations like San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. Excursion trains were run in celebration of various holidays and for special summer outings at Pyramid Lake. Once, a circus train was pulled from Fernley right up to the steps of Westwood High School on tracks built specially for the occasion. Stories are told of afternoons in Westwood when, having just completed the trip from Fernley, an agreeable conductor might let the town’s children ride aboard the empty passenger train as it was turned around for the return trip next morning.

The Westwood Depot is now used as a visitor's center. (Photo by Robert Perea)

When in the 1940s the mill at Westwood was sold and eventually shuttered, there was no longer enough business to sustain the Fernley & Lassen. Despite several new customers popping up along the line over the years, by the mid 50s the rails no longer carried freight or passengers. In 1978, the railroad was officially dissolved and the right-of-way abandoned. The Fernley depot was used by Southern Pacific until 1985, when it was sold to a local preservation group. Though relocated from where it originally stood, the depot has since been listed on the Nevada State and National Registers of Historic Places.

A testament to the beauty of the Fernley & Lassen Railway, the section between Susanville and Westwood is now the Bizz Johnson Trail – a multi-use trail popular with equestrians and hikers. The old Susanville depot is the southern trailhead of the Bizz Johnson. Up in Westwood, near the northern trailhead, there is a replica depot/visitor center and a 25-foot tall wooden statue of Paul Bunyan- a likeness often employed to advertise the commodity that led to the construction of Fernley’s namesake railroad.

The 25-foot tall replica of Paul Bunyun in Westwood, Calif. (Photo by Robert Perea)