 | This article includes historical images which have been upscaled by an AI process. (March 2024) |
 | |
 Route of Yosemite Valley Railroad. | |
 Engine Number 22 on the Merced Turntable | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Merced, California |
| Locale | Merced River, California |
| Dates of operation | 1902–1945 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Electrification | none |
| Length | 80 miles (130 km) |
| Other | |
| Website | Yosemite Valley Railroad |
The Yosemite Valley Railroad (YVRR) was a short-line railroad that operated in California from 1907 to 1945, providing a new mode of travel and tourism for the region. It ran from Merced to the Yosemite National Park, but it did not extend to Yosemite Valley itself, as railroad construction was prohibited in the National Parks.[1] Tourists would disembark at the park boundary in El Portal, California and stay overnight at the Hotel Del Portal before taking a stagecoach to Yosemite Valley.
The YVRR replaced the stagecoach routes that had dominated travel and tourism in the area since the mid-1870s.[2] However, by the 1920s, the increasing popularity of automobiles had started to overtake the railroad in terms of tourist volume. By the 1940s, the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highway and the decreased recreational passenger traffic due to World War II had all but eliminated demand for rail passenger service.
The YVRR also transported log cars for the Yosemite Lumber Company and limestone for the Yosemite Portland Cement Company as a freight carrier.[3]: 26, 66 The closure of these businesses in the early 1940s played a role in the railroad's decline, with the last regularly scheduled train running on August 24, 1945. Some structures and rolling stock of the YVRR are on display in El Portal, but little else remains of the railroad.
Among many notable passengers, the YVRR carried two presidents: William Howard Taft in October, 1909 and Franklin Roosevelt on July 15, 1938.
- ^ "Can't Enter Valley. Interior Department Withstands Pressure from Railroads". Madera Mercury. Madera, California. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
- ^ "Reminiscences Are Aroused by Passing of the Stage Coach". Merced County Sun. Merced, California. May 25, 1906. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
- ^ Johnston, Hank (1980). Railroads of the Yosemite Valley. Corona Del Mar, California: Trans-Anglo Book. ISBN 0-87046-055-2.