Roaring Camp Railroads

Trains fascinate many children because they’re big, loud and powerful. Living in the Bay Area, you have the opportunity to take your child to a historic train site: Roaring Camp Railroads. This attraction, which looks like an Old West town circa the 1880s, is located in the town of Felton in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was the area’s first railroad carrying tourists to the Big Trees and the beach in 1875. Originally, it was settled by a mountain man, Isaac Graham, in the 1830s and was named by Mexican authorities as Graham’s wild “Roaring Camp” settlement during that time. The site was preserved how it looks today by Roaring Camp’s Founder, F. Norman Clark. This summer, Roaring Camp celebrated its 50th anniversary and added a 5,400 square foot building with an outdoor patio and a 1,700 square foot kitchen for community events and weddings.

However, the big attraction here, for children of all ages, is the trains. Among geared locomotives, three companies (Shay, Heisler & Climax) are widely credited with dominating the logging and industrial marketplace. Shay locomotives were designed in 1872 for Western U.S. logging operations and Roaring Camp Railroads is lucky enough to own several Shay locomotives, a Heisler, a Climax and five diesel engines. On any given day you might see one or more of these steam locomotives transporting visitors deep into the heart of the breathtaking Santa Cruz Mountains.