Bob Riskie, Chris Parker and I all were at Elmer's at 6:00 AM when they opened for a fantastic French Toast and sausage breakfast. We returned to the Days Inn to get our materials for the day before we took MAX from 82nd Street to Lloyd Center and met our NRHS group going to Port of Tillamook Bay outside the Doubletree and waited to board the buses. Bob and I had the last two seats on the first bus while Chris was on another. It took us about forty-five minutes to reach Banks and after a few minutes, we were let out.
The Banks station.
A Portland and Western freight, led by Portland and Western SD45R 3604, ex. Illinois Midland SD45 456, exx. Buffalo and Pittsburgh 456, exxx. Southern Pacific 7565, nee St. Louis-Southwestern SD45 8973, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1968, was here switching the interchange with the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad (POTB from now on).
Next the POTB was switching cars and motive power. Here is POTB SD9 4406, ex. Southern Pacific 4406, exx. Southern Pacific 3896, nee Southern Pacific 5418, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1966.
Here is POTB SD9 6164, ex. BNSF 6164, exx. Burlington Northern 6164, nee Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 362, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1955, still in Cascade Green. With that picture, my Olympus 15-20 camera officially died and for the next hour, I tried to fix it but with no luck. I would not have any more photographs of this excursion unless I can find someone who would let me use theirs.
A new camera would have to be bought on my return to Portland this evening so I could record the rest of the trips until I returned home in over a week.
A Brief HistoryThe Tillamook Branch of the Southern Pacific was originally going to be an Astoria-to-Willamette Valley Line. The line was surveyed and graded west of Hillsboro in 1902-1904. On October 13th, 1905, the Pacific Railway & Navigation Company took over the line and changed the line's final destination to Tillamook. In 1906, the line reached Buxton and in 1909, reached Wedeburg. Tillamook to the west end of Mohler was constructed during 1910. Between Wedeburg and Mohler, it took between 1909 and 1911 to construct the line, which included eleven tunnels and several high trestles in the deep Coast Range canyons. The entire line was opened on November 1st, 1911.
On that same date, the Southern Pacific Railroad took over full control of the Pacific Railway & Navigation Company. Logging became, and remained, the main staple of the line until the 1930's when the depression hit. Between 1931 and 1933, three disastrous forest fires burned throughout the Coast Range. The third of these fires was known as the Tillamook Burn, which consumed over twelve million board feet of prime timber. The logging industry rebounded out of the Depression with the savaging of the burnt timber generating thousands of loads. Passenger service was well used until all weather highways entered the area.
In 1932, the passenger train became a mixed train which ran until 1953. In the 1950's, the emphasis switched from hauling logs to finished lumber and wood chips. The Port began operating from Tillamook to Batterson, the midway point on the line, in 1983 from the Southern Pacific. When Southern Pacific decided to abandon the line, the Port was able to purchase the entire line to Schefflin with help from the state lottery in 1990. Traffic includes lumber, forest products, aggregates and grains. Excursion trains also are operated by the railroad.
The ExcursionAt 9:02 AM. I boarded the "Red River" on what was the longest passenger train ever handled on the POTB. We had SD9s 6116, 6164 and 4406, MLIX open car 5601, Santa Fe coach "Tolani", Union Pacific coach "Echo Canyon", Pennsylvania Railroad coach "Arizona", Pennsylvania Railroad coach "St. Paul Pass", Willamette and Pacific coach 6200, Willamette and Pacific coach 6800 "Red River", MLIX baggage car 262, Willamette and Pacific lunch-counter-lounge "Running Crane Lake", Willamette and Pacific coach "Plum Creek", Pacific Northwest Chapter NRHS sleeper-lounge "Mount Hood" and Northwest Railway Museum parlour-observation car "James J. Gilmore".
The "Tolani", "Echo Canyon", "Arizona" and "St. Paul Pass" coaches were brought over by the Willamette and Pacific Railroad from Portland to Banks on a special train after they finished their service on the Western Star steam special to Wishram yesterday. A special thank you to them for getting the cars to Banks in time for our trip. In addition, a special thank you to the Friends of Milwaukee Road 261 for the "Arizona" and "St. Paul Pass", and to Mid- America Railcar Leasing for the use of "Tolani" and "Echo Canyon". Without these cars, this excursion would not have been the great success it was.
As we departed, we passed this wigwag at Banks that Robert Bertram photographed before we arrived.
Drew Jacksich caught our train passing the same wig-wags.
We departed as I was in the baggage car at 9:25 AM and ran a few miles following West Dairy Creek. As we neared Manning, the train started climbing steadily away from the valley floor along the side of a hill and we left the ranching areas for the dense forest. Our train crossed over the first curved wooden trestle over Thomas Creek then a few minutes later, after the old station location of Scofield, we crossed another wooden trestle, this time over the Sunset Highway and Dairy Creek. We continued to climb, curving to gain elevation then curved over another wooden trestle at Capehorn Creek before running through an area of clear-cut timber with nature reclaiming itself.
Drew Jacksich caught our train coming and going at MP 784.
Back in the forest, we ran above Castor Creek, making a series of horseshoe curves to continue to gain elevation then a few minutes later, passed an area of clear-cutting timber in progress.
Our westbound train was caught on film by Robert at the wigwag at Timber.
The train passed through Timber then entered Tunnel 24 with a gunnited west entrance but before we did that, all passengers in the open car had to return inside for safety reasons as sometimes pieces of the roof fall during passage of POTB trains. Our train continued to climb above Castor Creek, making more horseshoe curves before we crossed Castor Creek then near Hulbert were more clear-cut swaths. We followed high above the Nehalem River as we curved along the ridge. The view to the north was very impressive and we crossed over the steel trestle over Heidel Creek, a most remarkable structure.
Drew Jacksich caught the train at the Summit at Cochran.
The train arrived at Cochran with a view of Cochran Pond to the north. Having reached the Summit of the Coast Range at 1,833 feet, we would now start our descent of over 1,000 feet to Enright, as our route followed the Denover River to the Salmonberry River. Running below the ridge, we went through Tunnel 25 before we crossed over the Big Baldwin steel trestle with water tanks at both ends. This trestle is 500 feet long and 185 feet above the creek. That was even more of an impressive trestle. A few minutes later, we emerged out of Tunnel 27 straight out onto the tightly-curved wooden Wolf Creek trestle. Southern Pacific certainly knew how to build wooden trestles.
The passengers were served their boxed lunches as we passed through Tunnels 28 and 29, crossing the small creeks in between. We travelled onward, passing into Tunnel 30 as we ran along the beautiful Salmonberry River then crossed Belding Creek and North Fork, as well as passing through Tunnels 32, 34, 35 and 36. Exiting Tunnel 36, our special had arrived at Enright, our turn-around point.
At Enright, a photo runby was held but since I did not have a camera, I decided I would stay aboard, allowing for a little more mileage when we passed the group heading west. I was glad I did that, otherwise I would not have seen the steam-era water tank still standing at Enright. Since I wrote all of the above on the way here, now I was able to relax and enjoy the scenery and rode in the open car back to Cochran, enjoying the sheer beauty of the Salmonberry Canyon with all the tunnels and trestles. I talked with Jim Long, a Pacific Northwest Chapter NRHS volunteer and a friend, with us catching up on a variety of topics in the former Great Northern ranch lunch counter car "Running Crane Lake".
Bob Bertram caught our special train at Timber on the return trip. A special thank you to him and Drew Jacksich for the use of their photos.
I returned to the open car from Timber back to past the Thomas Creek curved trestle before returning to my coach seat for the final few miles back to Banks. What a wonderful trip the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad provided for our convention. We boarded the buses for the trip back to Portland.
Back in Portland, while Chris was trying to get on more trips and Bob was trying to cash one of his travellers cheques, I went to Lloyd Center and found a Kits Camera where I bought a new Nikon One Touch Zoom 90s for the rest of the trip. I enjoyed another Arby's dinner before Bob and I returned to the hotel for the night. Chris came back later with the good news that he purchased a shop tour and also the Mount Rainier Scenic excursion. Quite something since he had also purchased the Western Star Steam and Port of Tillamook Bay trips upon arrival in Portland, since he had not pre-purchased any tickets. Tomorrow was a day off me because of the meetings, but I had some new items planned. I called it a night after a very unique day of train riding.
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