{"nrhp_refnum":"79000316","name":"Bagby Stationhouse, Water Tanks and Turntable","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"CA 140","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Portal","county":"Mariposa County","state":"CA","lat":37.67413886700007,"lon":-119.780630643,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A railroad complex of three structures from the Yosemite Valley Railroad: a two-story wood frame stationhouse, a pair of wooden water tanks, and a hand-pushed gallows-type turntable. Originally at Bagby, California, the stationhouse was built in 1907 and all three were moved in 1966 to El Portal, Mariposa County.","why_significant":"The stationhouse, built in 1907, is the only remaining stationhouse of the Yosemite Valley Railroad, and the twin water tanks are of a distinctive design. The turntable is a rare surviving manual gallows-frame type, possibly the last of its kind in the United States. The structures were moved to avoid inundation by a reservoir and were judged significant despite the loss of their original site.","narrative":"Three surviving pieces of the Yosemite Valley Railroad, a stationhouse, a pair of wooden water tanks and a hand-pushed turntable, now stand at El Portal on the edge of Yosemite National Park. They originally served the railroad at Bagby, in the Merced River canyon, until the rising waters of Lake McClure threatened the site and the structures were moved in 1966. The two-story, shiplap-sided depot dates from 1907 and is the last stationhouse left from a line that carried visitors and freight between Merced and El Portal from 1907 to 1945. The twin gabled tanks differ from the usual single cylindrical-roofed tank. The gallows-frame turntable, built of heavy timbers and iron rods, is a type once common on branch lines and may be the last of its kind in the country. They were listed as the most important surviving reminders of the railroad, even though they no longer stand on their original sites.","period_of_significance":"1907","architect_builder":"Yosemite Valley Railroad","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Moved to El Portal in 1966; the stationhouse is in good condition but lacks its platform and exterior stairs, and is planned for restoration as a transportation museum exhibit. The turntable and water tanks are partially dismantled.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.915368-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/79000316.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000316/ed74b04250-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000316/ed74b04250-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Eric Polk","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yosemite_Valley_RR_turntable_1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Eric Polk</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yosemite_Valley_RR_turntable_1.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859728","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagby_Stationhouse,_Water_Tanks_and_Turntable","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4841500"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/mariposa-county/bagby-stationhouse-water-tanks-and-turntable-79000316/"}