The Sugar Pine Railroad in Yosemite Madera

Posted on May 5, 2016 | 0 comments

The Sugar Pine Railroad is one of the premier historic attractions in Yosemite. Located just 4 miles from the south entrance to Yosemite National Park, this is a must-do for all ages.

As I was planning our trip with the team at Visit Yosemite Madera, they connected us with the fantastic folks at The Sugar Pine Railroad who hosted us for the experience in exchange for my honest review – as always all thoughts, opinions and pics are my own! 😉

What is The Sugar Pine Railroad?

The Sugar Pine Railroad is an old logging train. They operate 2 Shay locomotives – there are only a few Shay locomotives left in California so this is the best place to check one out. They were built by a logger in the 1870’s called Mr. Shay.

These are narrower locomotives built to wind their way through a forest with the purpose of moving giant trees that had just been cut.

The original Shays that worked the line from 1874-1931 burned wood. The two trains that you will ride on when you visit now burn oil.

The locomotives running today are Engine #15, built in 1913 (the one we rode on) and Engine #10, built in 1928. Both have a top speed of 15 mph.

The railroad is owned by a local family who does a great job sharing a little piece of our state’s history.

Our Sugar Pine Railroad Experience

My children love to ride on trains and I love to learn about the history of places so we were all very excited to experience this.

We were staying at The Pines Resort, which was about 10 minutes away. We left our chalet around 9:05 and arrived at The Sugar Pine Railroad at about 9:15, in perfect time to catch the 9:30 train ride!

We popped into the super cute gift shop to get our tickets. The staff was really friendly and were very kind in answering all of my son’s questions.

We then went to check out the train we would be riding – the #15. There were two open air cars behind it that are made out of logs and then several covered cars behind the log ones. Of course my littles wanted to sit in the very front so after walking around the whole train we headed back up to the front just in time to hear a whistle blow and the conductor shout ‘All Aboard’.

We excitedly got onto our log car. It only took a few minutes to get everyone boarded and with another toot of the whistle, we were off!

The speed of the train was perfect. Not scary fast and not boring slow! All of our attentions were held for the entire duration of the ride.

The conductor gives you a great recount of the history of the area as you steam along and periodically rings the bell – which was very exciting for the kids!

One thing that we all found fascinating was that this is where the idea for a log flume ride was sparked. Back in the late 1800’s, they figured out that they could send these logs faster down the river. So the train would bring the logs to the river and dump them in. Then certain people would ride a log down the river to help direct the rest of the logs safely – which eventually became a natural, fun ‘ride’ for locals!

We stopped for about 15 minutes in a little clearing in the woods. There were fun photo ops at this stop and we had a nice nature walk where we found some giant pine cones.

The whistle blew to let us know that it was time to get back on the train to return to the station.

It was a beautiful ride through a picturesque forest that took about an hour and traveled 4 miles round trip.

Upon return to the station, we stopped into the gift shop for some souvenirs for the kids. My son likes to collect pins from the places that we visit so one of the staff members helped him find a real conductors pin as well as the train number pin! My daughter likes to buy a new stuffed animal for her ‘forest’ at home and they had a cute selection here.

What You Should Bring To Ride The Sugar Pine Railroad

You will want to bring your cameras. Also a sweater for each person as you are on the forest floor in shade for the whole trip so it can get chilly.

I brought some waters for the kids. Leave the food at the station though, you don’t want to attract any animals!

Other Attractions At The Sugar Pine Railroad

There is a museum here, unfortunately it was closed when we were there, but I would like to check it out next time and a little place for the kids to pan for gold – again this was not open yet so we did not get to try it. Next time! 😉

The Sugar Pine Railroad was a highlight for our family on this trip. We learned, we explored, we had a great time at this attraction and highly recommend it.

Are you heading to Yosemite Madera soon, or thinking about it? Check back Saturday, I will be sharing our itinerary detailing where to go and what to do in addition to our packing lists and a little video of our trip.

In the meantime, click here to get your tickets to ride the Sugar Pine Railroad!

Safe Travels!!

Malibu Mama Loves Xx