The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad First Annual Post Winterail Steam Excursion Sunday 3/20/2016

by Chris Guenzler

Chris Parker and I got up at 5:30 AM and left at 5:45 AM stopping at a drive-through coffee shop for Mr. Parker. We stopped by the Rodeway Inn so Bob and Elizabeth could follow us before we drove straight over to Tillamook on the shortest route I could find. Outside Tillamook, I had Chris pull to the side of the road so I could finish my blimp hangar collection, with this final picture.

The Blimp Hangar in Tillamook is home to Tillamook Air Museum. We stopped at McDonald's and I had my usual breakfast.

This fake steam engine is at the Blue Heron French Cheese complex in Tillamook. We drove into Garibaldi and stopped along the highway for our next pictures.

The second train of the day that will head south to Tillamook.

Great Northern F7A 274 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1950 as 274A.

POTB RDC-1 552, ex. Citizens for Better Transit 552, exx. Railroad Museum of Long Island 552, exxx. New Jersey Transit 5191, exxxx. New Jersey Transit 552 1983, exxxxx. New Jersey Department of Transportation 552 1976, nee Central of New Jersey 552 built by Budd Company in 1952.

OCSR open car 0200 built from a Union Pacific flat car.

OCSR caboose 24508, ex. Union Pacific 24508, nee Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 17090, built by International Car in 1966. We then pulled into the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad parking lot and started looking around.

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad About Us

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad is a registered non-profit museum organization (501c3). We are an all volunteer organization that operates over the former Southern Pacific and Port of Tillamook Bay Railroads. We operated regularly scheduled trains between Garibaldi and Rockaway Beach in the summer months and special event trains throughout the year over the rest of the line. Our line extends from the TIllamook Air Museum blimp hangar on the South side of Tillamook through Garibaldi, Rockaway Beach and Wheeler where the tracks turn to the East and head up into the coast range along the remote and breathtaking Nehalem and Salmonberry River canyons.

Founded by Scott and Kim Wickert in 2003 the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad has grown from its humble beginnings dodging freight trains in Garibaldi on weekend runs to Rockaway Beach and Wheeler to the sole operator of 46 miles of the railroad between the Tillamook airport and a point 2 miles east of the railroad siding of Enright in the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad offers excursions operating daily in the summer months and special excursions operating year round. Our schedules and special excursion pages have more details for how to catch a ride on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.

While we have grown significantly though some things have not changed, tickets are still bought onboard the train in the caboose that doubles as ticket office and gift shop. Gifts include shirts, hats, sweaters, toy trains, pins, and much more. While the freight trains are gone, the scenery is second to none.

Our depots in Garibaldi, Rockaway Beach and Wheeler are small covered shelters next to the tracks that were built by the Port of Tillamook Bay to support a basic tourist operation known as the Oregon Coast Explorer prior to the founding of the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. The depots are decorated by each of the communities and offer public restrooms nearby. Each depot and community has plenty of activities to offer between train departures.

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad has also saved the original Pacific Railway and Navigation (later bought by the Southern Pacific) Depot in Tillamook from demolition and moved it to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company in Tillamook, Oregon where it will once again serve rail passengers for departures out of Tillamook in the future.

We have an extensive equipment roster that includes numerous historic steam and diesel locomotives along with a growing fleet of passenger cars, freight cars, and maintenance of way equipment. All of the equipment and track is operated and maintained by the all volunteer crew of the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer contact us at info@oregoncoastscenic.org.

The railroad currently operates two steam locomotives in regular service. One of these is the Curtiss Lumber Company No. 2, a Heisler locomotive, which is a geared steam locomotive, and the other is the former McCloud Railway No. 25, a 2-6-2 type made by the American Locomotive Company. This locomotive was used in the movie "Stand by Me". Both engines were originally used in the early 20th century for logging.

Operating Diesel locomotives include Great Northern Railway F7A 274, former POTB SD9 6139 and former POTB GP9 101.

As of 2015, several steam locomotive restoration/reconstruction projects are planned or underway. Among them is the complete restoration of the Deep River No. 7 "Skookum", a 2-4-4-2 Mallet locomotive and the former Sunset Timber No. 1, a 3-truck Heisler locomotive that was moved to Tillamook in 2015.

During 2014 the OCSR has been in a series of legal challenges with the State of Oregon over their attempts to reconstruct track in the Salmonberry River corridor that had been damaged in winter storms of 2007. The central issue was the OCSR's work included placing rock fill on the bank of the river, for which they had not obtained state permits, potentially impacting native salmon and steelhead. OCSR's position was that as a railroad, federal law exempted them from state environmental regulations. In March 2015, a decision was reported that exempted the OCSR from the state regulations.

Locomotives

Heisler Locomotive Works 2-truck Heisler 2 built in 1910. Built for The Curtiss Lumber Co. of Mill City, OR. Currently operable.
American Locomotive Company 2-6-2 25 built in 1925 Built for the McCloud Railway, Currently operable.
General Motors Electro-Motive Division EMD SD9 6139 built in 1954. Built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, No. 765; Currently operable.
General Motors Electro-Motive Division EMD GP9 101 built in 1956. Built for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, No. 6606; Currently operable.
General Motors Electro-Motive Division EMD F7 274 1950. Built for the Great Northern Railway. Currently operable.
Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-4-4-2 Mallet locomotive 7 built in 1909. Built for the Little River Railroad (Tennessee) No. 126, later Deep River Logging Co. 7, also known as The Skookum, undergoing reconstruction.
Heisler Locomotive Works 85 Ton, 3-truck Heisler 1 built in 1913 in Raymond, Washington Built for the Sunset Timber Company of Raymond, Wash. Awaiting restoration.

McCloud Railway 25

The story of what would become one of the more popular excursion steam locomotives in the west started in 1924 when the McCloud River Lumber Company purchased harvesting rights to the 87,000 acre Bear Creek Tract from The Red River Lumber Company. The Bear Creek tract secured the future of the McCloud operations for many years to come and allowed the companies to invest in improving their equipment rosters.

The McCloud River Railroad at the time powered its trains with Mikados 14, 15, 18 and 19; Prairies 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11; Shays 16 and 17; Mogul 12 and 0-6-0T 6. The Bear Creek sale would substantially expand the length of the railroad's log hauls, which in turn brought the smaller size and increasing age of the old Prairies and the painfully slow operating speeds of the Shays into sharp focus. In late 1923 the railroad ordered two large modern Prairies new from Baldwin that became their 20 and 21, which sidelined the Shays after their arrival. The efficiency and versatility of the new Prairies prompted the railroad to start shopping for more such power.

The McCloud River Railroad up to this point had been a loyal Baldwin customer. Baldwin had built fifteen of the nineteen known locomotives the railroad owned through early 1924, twelve of those built new for the road. American Locomotive Company proposed building four new Prairies for the railroad, two about the same size as the 20 and 21 and the other two to a larger size, at a substantially lower cost than the Baldwins. McCloud management accepted the proposal, and Alco built the smaller two Prairies (22 and 23) in July 1925, followed by the larger two (24 and 25) in September.

25 would be the last steam new steam locomotive the McCloud River Railroad bought, and it proved to be a popular locomotive amongst the operating crews. While purchased mostly for the logging railroad operations, the 25 was large enough to be used in mainline service alongside the Mikados as needed. 25 worked thirty years in the McCloud woods, spending most of that time assigned to the camp that existed at White Horse, Widow Valley and then Kinyon. The locomotive hauled its first railfan excursion in 1953 and then in 1955, the railroad gave 25 a spectacular paint job and used it to power the Gold Spike Special to Burney to celebrate the opening of the new line. 25 spent a few more months operating out of Pondosa in the late summer and fall of 1955 before the end of log haul operations finally put steam to bed on the railroad.

Railroad president Flake Willis talked the Board of Directors into keeping 25 around and so the company stored it instead of sending it to scrap with the rest of the steam fleet at the end of 1955. Railfan excursions started returning to the railroad in 1959 and 1960, and in the early 1960's, many railfans and railfan organizations started requesting that the railroad bring 25 back into service. It had been overhauled not long before being stored and proved to need very little work before starting its second career as an excursion engine in 1962. It rapidly became one of the more popular excursion engines on the west coast, and several organizations- most notably Pacific Locomotive Association and the Northern California Railroad Club- frequently sponsored trips over the railroad. Two commercial excursion operators tried regularly scheduled passenger excursions using 25, the Mt. Shasta Alpine Scenic Railroad in 1964 and then the Shasta Huffen Puff starting in 1967.

25's boiler certification was due to expire in late 1970 and the railroad ran a number of "last runs" through that late summer and fall. The success of those runs changed the railroad's mind, and it shopped 25 through that winter. Excursions resumed in 1971, though that year proved to be the last for the Shasta Huffen Puff operation. The other excursion operating organizations stepped up their trips in the following years. However, declining patronage and soaring fuel and insurance costs effectively ended excursions by 1975. In that summer the railroad leased the steam engine to MGM Studios, who shipped it and a crew to the Tidewater Southern Railroad to be used in filming the movie "Bound for Glory", a biography film of the fold singer Woody Guthrie. The railroad placed 25 back into storage upon its arrival back in McCloud.

Itel purchased the McCloud River in 1977 and installed Bill Herndon as president. Itel was not interested in owning a steam locomotive, and it ordered Mr. Herndon to sell or scrap the 25 as soon as possible. Mr. Herndon balked at the order and negotiated back and forth with Itel, eventually receiving permission to put the locomotive on public display in McCloud. However, before these plans could be brought to fruition, the Great Western Railroad Museum approached the railroad with a proposal to lease and operate the 25. Itel was willing, and the museum returned it to service in the late spring 1982. The railroad included efforts aimed at promoting possible movie or television location work in its marketing efforts, which paid off in a big way when Columbia Pictures used the railroad and 25 in "Stand By Me" in 1985. The excursions continued into 1986, but by that point relationships between the Great Western museum and the railroad had soured, and the museum filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the railroad. Itel directed the railroad to settle the lawsuit, in which the museum gained title to the 25 and several other pieces of equipment.

25 remained stored in McCloud into the middle 1990's. The McCloud Railway decided it wanted the 25 back and opened negotiations with the museum in late 1995. By this point the museum had not paid storage fees on any of its equipment stored in McCloud for a long period of time, and the railroad struck a deal in which it forgave most of that debt in exchange for the steam engine. Restoration work commenced immediately, and the railroad had the 25 operational again by Labour Day weekend 1997. 25 operated sporadically on the McCloud Railway from then until February 2001, when the railroad stored it again after 18 returned to service.

25 languished in storage again until the summer 2007 when the railroad leased it to a movie production company, which restored it to operation and significantly altered its appearance for potential movie production work that never panned out. The McCloud Railway terminated the agreement in summer 2008 and instead decided to prepare the locomotive for sale, with the work partially financed by a couple last steam excursions operated in October and November 2008. The McCloud Railway placed 25 up for sale and in February 2011, the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad of Garibaldi, Oregon, purchased the locomotive and moved it north where it remains in operation today.

Our Trip and Visit

The rear of our train. Our train was pulled by McCloud Railway 2-6-2 25, POTB flat car 0002, OCSR coach 2127 "Wilson River", OCSR baggage Car 266, POTB RDC-1 553 and open air car 0100.

Port of Tillamook Bay GP9 101, ex. Idaho, Northern & Pacific 101 1993, exx. Chessie System 6606, nee Chesapeake and Ohio 6606 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1956.

The Garibaldi station.

Rayonier Forest Products 2-8-2 90 built by Baldwin in 1926 as Polson Logging Company 90. In 1891, Nova Scotian immigrant Alex Polson joined with his brother Robert to start the Polson Brothers Logging Company. By 1900, they were well established, with a short stretch of railroad to the north of Hoquiam and a log dump on the Middle Fork of the Hoquiam River. By 1910, the company had expanded and was widely recognised as the largest logging operation in the world. Its extensive railroad network linking twelve logging and construction camps with more than one hundred miles of track, allowing an annual dump of as much as 300 million board feet of logs into the Hoquiam River for transport to Harbor mills.

When Polson sold their entire operation in 1948 to Rayonier, Incorporated, 90 continued to operate out of Railroad Camp until 1962, when it was sold to the Oregon Memorial Railroad Society. It had been on display in Lumbermans Park since 1963 and was recently acquired by the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad for cosmetic restoration.

Spokane, Portland and Seattle coach 215, lettered at one time as Southern Pacific and more recently as Pacific Northwest Lumbermans Railway.

Southern Pacific wooden caboose 85, nee Southern Pacific 181.

Our train getting ready for the trip.

McCloud Railway 2-6-2 25. This will be Chris, Bob and Elizabeth's first ride behind this steam engine. Chris would be detraining in Wheeler so he could get back to the airport courtesy of Bob Riskie who would pick him up and drive him there.

Locomotives being rebuilt in their shop. I then boarded the train and took up space at the open door in the baggage car.

The engine started to move.

We leave Garibaldi behind.

The Garibaldi Marina.

POTB SD9 6139, ex. BNSF 6139, exx. Burlington Northern 6242, exxx. Montana Rail Link 6242 (never operated), exxxx. Baltimore and Ohio 1831, exxxxx. Baltimore and Ohio 7405, nee Baltimore and Ohio 765, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1954.