Washington and Oregon - Occasional Pictures

[pH]

We've just had a quick trip (one week) through parts of Washington and Oregon. Railroads weren't the main purpose of the trip, but some photos were taken. This first post is for Oldddudders, and anyone else who likes SD9s. I think they are great-looking engines - for some reason, I think they look better than the corresponding GP versions.

 

Port of Tillamook Bay chop-nosed SD9 #6139 on ballast train on Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad at Garibaldi August 23, 2015. This engine was originally put into service on the Baltimore and Ohio in 1954, and came to POTB through Montana Rail Link and BN/BNSF.

 

 

POTB SD9 #6116 stored out of use beside Tillamook Air Museum August 23, 2015. Put into service on the Colorado and Southern in 1959. Passed through BN/BNSF to POTB.

 

 

POTB SD9R #4406 stored out of use beside Tillamook Air Museum August 23, 2015. Originally a Southern Pacific engine, put into service in 1955, and went from there to POTB.

 

 

BNSF SD9 #6126 stored out of use in Skykomish yard August 26, 2015. This was originally Great Northern #599, put into service in 1958. The number 1731 painted on the engine is not a GN number, but appears to be a later BNSF number which was allocated shortly before withdrawal.

 

[brianusa]

Weathering's a bit excessive!

 

Brian.

[Adrian Wintle]

 

BNSF SD9 #6126 stored out of use in Skykomish yard August 26, 2015. This was originally Great Northern #599, put into service in 1958. The number 1731 painted on the engine is not a GN number, but appears to be a later BNSF number which was allocated shortly before withdrawal.

 

 

It is possible that BNSF still owns the GN reporting mark* and that they just gave it that identity to get it out of the way of other numbering sequences while it was still on their books.

 

*and GN may still exist on paper for this purpose, just as NS has/had locos allocated as NS, NW, SOU, PRR (ex CR locos) etc.

 

Adrian

[railroadbill]

Heading that way myself in September.  The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad runs at weekends then according to their web site so with a bit of luck, could be there at the right time for the steam run.  Looks like some interesting locos there, you got some good pics. 

[pH]

It is possible that BNSF still owns the GN reporting mark* and that they just gave it that identity to get it out of the way of other numbering sequences while it was still on their books.

 

The 17xx numbers are part of the main BNSF number sequence, and seem to be used (in no particular order) for remaining first-generation locos to clear number sequences for newer engines. The remaining SD9s were renumbered out of the 61xx sequence to the 17xx sequence to clear the 61xx sequence for new ES44ACs.

 

When I first saw the "GN 1731" scrawl, I assumed that the engine was to be preserved and repainted with that number. There is a miniature railroad in part of the old Skykomish yard, and I'm assuming the SD9 is to be 'stuffed and mounted' for display there. I guess I'll just have to watch and see what happens to it.

[Adrian Wintle]

The 17xx numbers are part of the main BNSF number sequence, and seem to be used (in no particular order) for remaining first-generation locos to clear number sequences for newer engines. The remaining SD9s were renumbered out of the 61xx sequence to the 17xx sequence to clear the 61xx sequence for new ES44ACs.

 

When I first saw the "GN 1731" scrawl, I assumed that the engine was to be preserved and repainted with that number. There is a miniature railroad in part of the old Skykomish yard, and I'm assuming the SD9 is to be 'stuffed and mounted' for display there. I guess I'll just have to watch and see what happens to it.

 

Id was supposedly allocated to be a museum loco a couple of years ago and may actually now belong to the museum.

 

Adrian

[Glorious NSE]

It is possible that BNSF still owns the GN reporting mark

They do, BNSF still has freightcars running in GN marks. (And NP, CBQ etc...)

[pH]

I saw logging locomotives of 3 different kinds in Washington and Oregon. (I only found out I had seen a third type, the Willamette, while looking up details for captions for the pictures below).

 

The Willamette, Rayonier #4, was in a park in Port Angeles, Washington. This was an improved Shay, built after the patents for the Shay had expired. The only vegetation in the park is round the engine, making it difficult to get a picture of the whole engine. This is about the best I could do:

 

 

Here is some detail of the cylinders and connecting rods:

 

 

It’s a 3-truck locomotive, and here is a view of the drive shafts to the rear two trucks:

 

 

The next engine is a genuine 3-truck Shay, Rayonier #10, preserved under cover in Forks, Washington. A front view of the engine shows the boiler offset to the side, to balance the mechanism on one side of the locomotive:

 

 

And here’s a shot of the ‘other’ side of a Shay – a view I don’t remember having seen too often:

 

 

There are two Heisler locomotives stored on tracks of the Port of Tillamook Bay railroad (POTB) at the Tillamook Air Museum. I believe they are owned by the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OSCR), which is a tourist railroad associated with the POTB. Both are 2-truck locomotives. The OSCR owns two other Heislers, a 2-truck which is operational, and a rarer 3-truck which is currently being restored.

 

This is former Sunset Timber #85, which only arrived at Tillamook this year:

 

 

Some detail of the drive on the engine. The diagonal cylinders on either side of the boiler drive cranks underneath, and the drive is transmitted to the power bogies by propshafts, one of which is shown disconnected and held up by a chain to the right here:

 

 

The other Heisler here is the E. C. Schevlin Timber Co. #3. This still has the connecting rods on the power bogies – only the inboard axle on each bogie is driven directly by the propshafts:

 

[Adrian Wintle]

There is a 2-truck Shay on display in Vernonia, Oregon (NW of Portland, and only a shortish side trip if going from Portland to Tillamook).

 

Adrian

[298]

What was your full route...? We turned left after disembarking from the MV Coho* in Port Angeles (after a brief stop at Pacific Rim Hobbies), if we'd had another day we'd have driven round the Olympic Peninsular for a return to Moclips.

 

*edited.

[pH]

What was your full route...?

 

Vancouver- Burlington - Coupeville to Port Townsend ferry - Port Angeles - Forks - Aberdeen - Astoria - Tillamook - Hebo - Salem - Bend - Madras - Biggs - Goldendale - Toppenish - Ellensburg - Wenatchee - Everett - Vancouver.

 

As I said, railroads weren't the main point of the trip, but there were a lot along the way.

[pH]

The Port of Tillamook Bay railroad (POTB) is a shortline, formed from a Southern Pacific branchline in Oregon. It has been damaged regularly by bad weather since the takeover, and has been completely cut in the coastal mountains since 2007. It’s very unlikely that the route will ever be re-instated. Locomotives and equipment isolated on the coastal side of the breaks in the route are stored at Tillamook and are slowly rusting away.

 

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OCSR) is a tourist railroad based in Garibaldi, which uses POTB tracks along the coast.

 

This is an OCSR train waiting to leave Garibaldi. The engine is ex-McCloud River RR 2-6-2 #25. As you can see the bell is ringing, in preparation for moving off.

 

 

There is a steam loco on display at Garibaldi. It is Rayonier #90 – a 2-8-2 (Mikado wheel arrangement or, colloquially, a ‘Mike’). The tender is incorrectly lettered ‘Southern Pacific Lines’ on the left-hand side.

 

 

Coach being used as museum at Garibaldi:

 

 

One of two Budd RDC-1s owned by the OCSR. They were both built originally for the Central of New Jersey:

 

 

Great Northern F7A #274 at Garibaldi:

 

 

This is the loco I really wanted to see. I was disappointed – it wasn’t at the Garibaldi depot, where I had seen it pictured before. However, some of the OCSR stock is stored on the running lines, on the edge of Garibaldi towards Tillamook, and it was amongst them. In North America, what is called a ‘master and slave’ combination in the UK is known as a ‘cow and calf’. This is the ultimate ‘cow’ unit – all it needs is a ‘calf’. It’s a GP9, originally owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio, and was painted in this colourscheme as an acknowledgement of the importance of the dairy industry around Tillamook.

 

 

 

As I said, there is POTB equipment stored and rusting away beside the Tillamook Air Museum. I’ve already posted pictures of SD9s and logging locomotives from this ‘dump’. Here are a couple of other things. First, what looks to me like a Whitcomb, but if anyone knows better, please say.

 

 

And an ex-SP coach in Daylight colours:

 

[roundhouse]

Nice photos and really informative posts re the history of the locos.

 

I dont recall seeing the RDCs there last year. Will check my photos.

 

Interesting that the Heisler has arrived in the last year. If anything I thought stuff would either be cut up or moved away.

 

It's so tempting to model the Tillamook Airbase site.

[pH]

It's so tempting to model the Tillamook Airbase site.

Yes, but it would be a static display! Great opportunities for weathering, though.

[roundhouse]

Yes, but it would be a static display! Great opportunities for weathering, though.

I am running short of operating crew!

 

The first time we visited Tillamook it was still a working shoreline but we failed to find anything moving

[pH]

Interesting that the Heisler has arrived in the last year. If anything I thought stuff would either be cut up or moved away.

 

It appears to have come to Tillamook as a result of an unusual bit of bartering between the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad and the Pacific Locomotive Association in California -

http://oregoncoastscenic.org/restoration-projects/pickering-lumber-co-heisler.html (It also appears that it was originally a 3-truck locomotive. I didn't see any extra bits lying around last week.) 

 

Here's a local newspaper report of its journey and arrival in Tillamook - http://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/oregon-coast-scenic-railroads-latest-acquisition-travels-700-miles-to-tillamook-by-road/

[pH]

Here are a few fairly random railroad-related pictures from our week in Oregon and Washington state.

 

Northern Pacific Q3 Pacific #2152 at the Northern Pacific Railway Museum at Toppenish, WA. Not in the greatest condition, as you can see.

 

 

The museum was supposed to be open, but there was a notice saying that, because of a lack of volunteers, the opening hours could not be guaranteed. The picture was taken by standing on tiptoe, holding the camera above my head to reach over a chain-link fence, and pointing it in the general direction of the engine.

 

Whitcomb 65-DE-19A in a city park in Wenatchee, WA. The locomotive was built for the US Army Transportation Corps, and was used in North Africa and France. After the war, it was sold for use in the American Silicon Technologies plant near Wenatchee, and donated to the city of Wenatchee in 2001.  

 

 

The Crooked River bridge on the BNSF ‘Inside Gateway’, just north of Bend, OR. It’s 320 feet above the river. Completed in 1911 by the Oregon Trunk Railway.

 

 

And just to prove I did see some active Class 1s, here are the lead locomotives and pusher on a massive eastbound BNSF train of coal empties at Skykomish, WA on the climb to Stevens Pass. Lead engines are ES44ACs #6349 and #5763, followed by SD70ACe #8528. The pusher is SD70MAC #9923.

 

 

[pH]

Anyway, I'd like to predict that in 20 years time, OCSR has obtained full ownership of the entire line, restored it for through service to Hillsboro, and obtained trackage rights to start their tourist services from Portland.

 

Have you seen the estimates for repairing the current damage  ? And with no guarantee that similar damage won't happen in the future? 

[brianusa]

These pictures really show the difference between US and British preservation. Obviously some are better than others but you won't see many of these on the main line.

 

Brian.

[EmporiaSub]

There is also a 2-8-2 tucked away in a shed, in several pieces, to the west of Astoria.

[pH]

Just in case anyone is going to be travelling over Stevens Pass in Washington state (I know you're all lining up to do it!), you might want to look at this - http://www.irongoat.org/. It's a trail along about six miles of the original Great Northern grade on the west side of the pass. There's a loop up a side valley, concrete snowsheds, concrete back walls of wooden sheds, tunnels, the site of the Wellington disaster (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington,_Washington ) and the western end of the first Cascade Tunnel - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Tunnel#Original_tunnel . Some of the concrete structures are visible from the highway on the other side of the valley.

 

I didn't know about this before we drove over the pass, and didn't have time to visit, but it's definitely something for the future.

[pH]

A few pictures taken earlier this week in Washington State.

 

The first one is at Evans, on the Kettle Falls International Railway (ex-BNSF) branch from Kettle Falls to Columbia Gardens, British Columbia. Ore is transported from the Red Dog mine in Alaska to the smelter in Trail, BC, using this line to cross the border. These covered gondolas used for the ore were sitting on the siding at Evans.

 

 

Puget Sound and Baker Valley Railway 4-6-0 #2 on display on Sedro Woolley. The representation of the logger to the left is not to scale!

 

 

BNSF ES44AC #6417 and ET44C4 #3930 lead a very long train of loaded oil tanks south at Fairhaven:

 

 

BNSF SD70ACe #8501 and ES44C4 #6880 lead empty oil tanks north at Fairhaven:

 

 

with C44-9W #4349 and SD70ACe #8502 pushing:

 

 

CREX ES44AC #1429 leads two BNSF units on northbound coal loads at Fairhaven, destined for Roberts Bank in British Columbia:

 

 

Amtrak P42DC #14 heads Seattle-Vancouver train north at Fairhaven:

 

 

 

 

[roundhouse]

Thats a very nice hotel that you took those last few shots from.

 

I fell asleep in the bay window of the room waiting for trains to pass as the sun set.

 

Didnt use the health spa bit of the hotel though!

[pH]

Thats a very nice hotel that you took those last few shots from.

 

I fell asleep in the bay window of the room waiting for trains to pass as the sun set.

 

Didnt use the health spa bit of the hotel though!

Indeed it is! We were there with a (Christmas present) gift token from our kids. And we did not patronise the spa either - though drinks and appies on the terrace before a visit to Archer's Ale House were very pleasant.

[roundhouse]

Yes the terrace bar is rather pleasant but it does close relatively early.

 

We didn't make it to the Archers Ale house. Earlier in the day we walked along the pier / walkway and old track bed into downtown Bellingham then caught the bus back. We were hoping to stop there again this year but ran out of days to fit it in.