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City of Prineville Railroad 2004 Freight Operations- A Rick Selby Photo Essay |
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On 27 December 2004 Rick Selby stopped by Prineville Junction to see what was going on with the City of Prineville Railroad. Rick was very lucky, as he happened to get to the interchange right as the City of Prineville crew finished switching the interchange and started the trip back to Prineville. Rick decided to chase the freight, and these photos are the result. All photos are by and courtesy of Rick Selby and are used with permission. |
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#989 rounding the north leg of the wye at Prineville Junction. The cars in the background are former incentive per diem boxcars in storage on the railroad. |
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15 minutes later the train has dropped down the grade into the Crooked River valley. |
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Another shot of the #989 with the four cars. |
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Central Oregon is still cattle country, and a photographer standing on the other side of the fence got these examples more than a little curious. |
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#989 rolling along the O'Neil Highway. |
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The train entering the western edge of Prineville. |
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The short train passes stored City of Prineville boxcars at the Consolidated Pine facility on the western edge of Prineville. |
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A short distance west of the shop building a spur leaves the mainline. This spur heads up onto the bluffs above town, where the few remaining active shippers were then located. The crew uses a passing siding at the junction switch to run the locomotive around the cars. The #989 has already run around the cars and is in the process of backing to the cars. |
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The conductor signaling to the engineer the remaining distance he needs to go before "making the joint" with the boxcars. |
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The conductor is riding the rear car of the train, protecting the shove across Lamonta Road and into the spur. |
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The #989 shoving the cars up the spur. As the train passed him at this spot Rick noticed that one of the boxcars had a label indicating that the car carried laminate boards loaded in Columbia Falls, Montana. |
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The cars have been spotted at their final destination, one of the moulding plants that represented the last trace of the once mighty forest products industry in Prineville. This plant has since closed. The crew tied the #989 down, but left it idling, before leaving in the company truck. It is likely that the cars will be unloaded in short order, and the railroad may likely return the empties to Prineville Junction later that day. |
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