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McCloud Rails : The Last Two Weeks? Page 7 |
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The #37 crossing the road at 408. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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Tuesday, 27 June |
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On Tuesday the train crew finished switching the Sierra Pacific mill and started back for McCloud. Three of the four empty cars spotted the previous Wednesday had been loaded; the railroad left the mill a seven car spot. The #37 pulled the three loads back to Berry, where two of the wreck damaged centerbeams were added. The train then ran to Bear Flat, where the locomotive made the run down to the boxcars stored at the end of track. The #37 pulled the boxcars up to a point just short of the junction switch, where the locomotive cut off of them to pick up the five car train brought up from Burney. The #37 picked up 25 of the boxcars from the siding and added them to the train, which made for an impressive site the rest of the way back to McCloud. Once back in McCloud the crew left all but six of the boxcars at the run around just east of town and then tied the train down on the scale house track. |
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The #37 leading the three loaded and two empty cars across the Lake Britton bridge. David Joslin photo, used with permission. |
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The #37 is backing down the Pondosa branch remnant towards the remaining boxcars stored at the end of track. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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The #37 has coupled onto the boxcars and will now begin the job of pulling them up to the mainline switch. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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The #37 working hard to move the cars. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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One of the last remaining McCloud River boxcars, soon to be gone from the railroad for good. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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Wednesday, 28 June 2006 |
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The train crew came to work Wednesday morning with a Yard & Hill job marked up on the boards. The shop crew had fixed and released another one of the loads damaged in the 2 June wreck, and the train crew added that to the three loads brought in the day before. The crew then set one of the boxcars and the two bad ordered centerbeams out in the yard before adding caboose #102 and heading for the hill with four loads and five empty boxcars. However, only one of the four sanders on the #37 proved to be working, and the train crew quickly found themselves back in McCloud looking for another locomotive. A number of problems cropped up with the #38, which the employees quickly repaired or patched together as best they could. Once the #38 was up and running it made the trip up and over to Mount Shasta City, where the crew discovered another problem in the form of a lot of Union Pacific maintenance-of-way equipment blocking the McCloud's access to the yard. The McCloud got ahold of the right people, and before long the UP crews moved the offending pieces of equipment. The McCloud then set out the train they brought in before returning to McCloud with the caboose only. |
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The #38 arriving at Signal Butte. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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Caboose #102 leading the train onto the Ski Park Highway crossing at Pierce. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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The train has crossed the Ski Park Highway and has now started the decent down the west side of the mountain. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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The #102 leading the train into the eastern fringes of Mount Shasta City. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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Once the UP maintenance of way equipment is out of the way the train backs across Mount Shasta Boulevard and into the yard. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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Thursday, 29 June 2006 |
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Thursday morning started with the #38 moving the rest of the boxcars brought from Pondosa on Tuesday up to the siding at Pierce, the summit between McCloud and Mount Shasta. The #38 then ran light engine straight through to Lorenz, where the locomotive coupled onto the #821 flat and called it a day. |
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Early morning on the hill. The #38 is only a few miles out of McCloud with the empty boxcars. Drew Jacksich photo, used with permission. |
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