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McCloud Rails : The Last Two Weeks? Page 6 |
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Friday, 23 June 2006 |
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The train crew went to work about seven this morning. Two jobs are on the boards for today, a Yard & Hill job to make the run to Mount Shasta City and back and then the regularly scheduled Shasta Sunset Dinner Train tonight. Bob is at work at a little after 7 A.M., and the first job is to couple the #37 and #38 together. Once that is achieved the two pull ten boxcars from a storage track in the yard, couple caboose #102 onto the end of that string, and then shove them out onto the mainline east of the yard area. |
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Once the boxcars are shoved out of the way the power couples back onto the eight loads waiting on the make-up tracks. The crew then begins the slow job of weighing the loads. |
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During the weighing process the ex-McCloud River boxcar brought down from Car A this week rolls into a position below Mount Shasta. |
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Once the cars are weighed the locomotives shove the train backwards across the scale house. The #38 is then set up nicely for this shot as well. |
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The #37 and #38 pause briefly before shoving their train on out to the mainline east of the yard, where the ten boxcars and the caboose wait. Those cars will be added to the train which will then head for Mount Shasta City and the Union Pacific interchange yard. |
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A few miles uphill out of the McCloud caboose #101 follows the thundering locomotives as they try hard to move the train up the hill. I had to leave the train at this point, and I had another engagement to attend to. The crew made it to Mount Shasta City successfully, where the loads were set out and a total of seven empty centerbeams were picked up and brought back to McCloud. |
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Last shot of the day. The #37 is coupled to the Shasta Sunset Dinner Train and is now waiting for the 6 p.m. departure time. This train is operating the capable hands of retired McCloud veteran engineer Malen Johnson. |
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Saturday and Sunday, 24-25 June |
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The only wheels to move this weekend are those of the Shasta Sunset Dinner Train on its regular Satruday night operation. I had to leave the area on Saturday. Fortunately, others were on hand to witness and record the happenings of the last week of June. |
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Monday, 26 June 2006 |
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By early Monday morning the grade crossing pieces had been loaded onto the #821 flat. The train departed for Burney in the early morning, with six of the seven centerbeams brought from Mount Shasta the previous Friday and the #821 flat bringing up the rear. The train operated straight through to Burney, where the crew left the #821 flat at Berry before going down the branch to the mill. |
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Early Monday morning finds the crew placing the #38 on a shop lead. The #37 will carry on by itself today. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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The #37 heading eastbound near Esperanza. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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The #37 has crossed Edson Creek Road and is about to pass into the large cut near the old site of Swobe. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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While waiting for the train to arrive at crossing 408 Drew took some photos of the track conditions here. This is the site of a derailment in the early months of 2005. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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Another shot of the bad track near 408. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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The #37 pops out of the trees at Crossing 408. |
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