Warnerville is a near ghost located on Warnerville Road in eastern Stanislaus County, California. The community was established as a siding of the Sierra Railway (now Sierra Railroad) during initial construction of the line between Oakdale and Chinese camp in 1897. Warnerville often appears as a prominent location on Stanislaus County maps until the 1950s when the Sierra Railroad switched from steam locomotives to diesel.
The blog cover photo is from a branch of Dry Creek at the Warnerville town site along Warnerville Road. Warnerville can be seen below at the intersection of Warnerville Road, the Sierra Railway and Crabtree Road on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Stanislaus County.
The history of Warnerville and Warnerville Road
Warnerville is one of many sidings which were established by the Sierra Railway after the company incorporated during February 1897. The company quickly constructed a line east of Oakdale to Chinese Camp by November 1897. The company would plot Occidential, Paulsell, Warnerville, Copperstown and Chinese siding during the initial run of line construction. The line would later be extended east of Jamestown to the community of Tuolumne by 1900. The Sierra Railway from the outset has been a freight corridor which has mostly been focused on the hauling of lumber.
Warnerville Road would be constructed by the Sierra Railway as an access highway to the sidings east of Oakdale. The frontage road continued east of Warnerville into Tuolumne County via what became Copperstown Road. Both roads can be seen branching from Warnerville on the 1906 Stanislaus Land & Abstract Company map.
Warnerville can be seen below at the intersection of Warnerville Road, the Sierra Railway and Crabtree Road on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Stanislaus County.
Sierra Railway locomotive #18 can be seen just west of Warnerville in this 1938 era photo. The siding site never had a sizeable population and appears to never have subdivided.
The Sierra Railway was sold at public auction in 1937 and was rebranded as the Sierra Railroad. The railroad switched from steam powered locomotives to diesel in 1955. Some of the steam locomotives were retained for usage as movie props with the most famous example being Sierra Railway locomotive #3. The switch from steam to diesel saw usage of the siding facility in Warnerville drop considerably.
The Sierra Railroad would open the Railtown 1897 historic park in Jamestown in 197l. The park featured numerous remaining steam locomotives and repurposed the vintage shops for display purposes. Railtown 1897 would be sold to the State of California in 1982 and has become a State Historic Park.
This view faces west along Warnerville Road at the Warnerville siding facility. Warnerville Road itself spans from Yosemite Avenue (County Route J14) in Oakdale 14.3 miles east to Copperstown Road near Maxwell Cemetary.
Warnerville Road itself despite being fully striped for two-lane travel still displays evidence of being an aged highway corridor. This concrete bridge crosses a branch of Dry Creek just west of the Warnerville siding site. This bridge design was in common usage during the 1930s in eastern Stanislaus County.
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