Qualla: Susanville Railroad Depot

Susanville Railroad Depot: Introduction

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1987, the fire department of Susanville, California received an unusual offer: a free building to burn down for training. The Susanville Railroad Depot had sat vacant for eight years, vandalized and seemingly beyond saving. But when word spread of the planned destruction, something unexpected happened. The community said no. That protest launched a nonprofit, a renovation, and the transformation of a forgotten station into a museum and the starting point for one of California's premier rail-trails.

Image: Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0

Susanville Railroad Depot: Timber, Rails, and the Southern Pacific

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Fernley and Lassen Railway was never meant to serve passengers. Southern Pacific built the line between 1912 and 1914 to haul timber from the lumber operations around Westwood. The rails originated at the Southern Pacific mainline in Fernley, Nevada, crossed the state border,...

Image: Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0

Susanville Railroad Depot: A Proper Station

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0. The current depot opened in 1927, built adjacent to the original structure. It is a modest but handsome building: single-story stucco over a concrete foundation, topped with a hipped roof. A bay window projects from the south side toward the tracks. Inside, the original layout di...

Image: Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0

Susanville Railroad Depot: The Long Decline

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Great Depression killed passenger service in 1933, but freight trains continued until 1956, when a washout destroyed a trestle west of town. Repairing the line was not economically justified. The trains stopped, but the station lingered on, used for office space and storage u...

Image: Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0

Susanville Railroad Depot: Rescue and Revival

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0. A nonprofit formed to save the building. In November 1988, they purchased the 1.3-acre property from Southern Pacific Transportation Company. Renovation began in 1993, funded in part by two U.S. Forest Service Challenge Cost Share Grants totaling $88,584. Workers removed the 1950...

Image: Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0

Susanville Railroad Depot: Trailhead to the Past

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0. The depot reopened in 1994 and now houses the Lassen Land and Trails Trust offices and a small museum. But its most significant role may be as the eastern terminus of the Bizz Johnson Trail, a 25-mile path that follows the abandoned Fernley and Lassen right-of-way west through th...

Image: Finetooth | CC BY-SA 3.0