Butte County Railroad

The Butte County Railroad was granted a franchise on November 11, 1902 and incorporated on February 24, 1903 or March 2, 1903.

Skyway Road from Chico to Stirling City loosely follows the route of the entire railroad line.

The grade through Paradise is now the Paradise Memorial Trailway According to Union Pacific Track Charts, the ICC authorized abandonment of 26 miles (42 km) of the branch from Milepost 189.0 (east of Chico) to Milepost 215.46 (end of the line at Stirling City) on December 3, 1977.

[1] The Paradise depot, (Butte County Railroad, later Southern Pacific), remains at its original location, and is now operated, maintained, and staffed by the Gold Nugget Museum.

The current bike trail to the top of Paradise is also on the old right of way, and can be seen crossing the respective streets in town where tracks sat.

The bike trail runs past the Magalia Southern Pacific Depot (an SP Common Standard No.