page_title: Minarets and Western Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Minarets and Western Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: Route in 1922
context_page_description: The Minarets and Western Railway was a Class II common carrier that operated in Fresno County, California, from 1921 - 1933. The railway was owned by the Sugar Pine Lumber Company and was built the same year the lumber company was incorporated so that it could haul timber from the forest near Minarets to its sawmill at Pinedale. The southern portion of the line was operated with joint trackage rights with Southern Pacific.
  During the Great Depression, in 1933 the lumber company went bankrupt. The track north of Friant was abandoned and the Pinedale Branch was bought by Southern Pacific, where it was later known as the Pinedale Spur of the Clovis Branch. Southern Pacific later sold the spur and Clovis Branch to the San Joaquin Valley Railroad. SJVR abandoned the line in the 1990s and today the Pinedale Spur is preserved as the Fresno-Clovis Rail Trail.
context_section_description: The Minarets and Western Railway was a Class II common carrier that operated in Fresno County, California, from 1921 - 1933.  The railway was owned by the Sugar Pine Lumber Company and was built the same year the lumber company was incorporated so that it could haul timber from the forest near Minarets (northeast of Friant) to its sawmill at Pinedale (near Fresno).  The southern portion of the line was operated with joint trackage rights with Southern Pacific.
  During the Great Depression, in 1933 the lumber company went bankrupt.  The track north of Friant was abandoned and the Pinedale Branch was bought by Southern Pacific, where it was later known as the Pinedale Spur of the Clovis Branch.  Southern Pacific later sold the spur and Clovis Branch to the San Joaquin Valley Railroad (SJVR).  SJVR abandoned the line in the 1990s and today the Pinedale Spur is preserved as the Fresno-Clovis Rail Trail.
caption: Route in 1922 near Friant
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