Port of Tillamook Bay RR Fall Exsursion
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- A fall rail excursion on the Port of Tillamook Bay railroad. Shot in 2002, the POTB RR is now gone but the memory lingers on! Good scenery of the Cascade Mountains and the Tillamook State forest plus lots of bridges and tunnels and a couple of neat runbys.
R.I.P. to the legendary Tillamook line.
Got to visit this yesterday. Man, what a spectacle!
Awesome film! Thanks for taking us along for the ride! I really wish I could have taken this trip.
If a large amount of coal, any type of valuable metal ore, natural gas, or oil were discovered in the area, if enough people with deep pockets were interested, and the government gave approval to build facilities to extract the natural resources, fully repairing the line might be worth the cost. Maybe. Other then that, I don't see how it's going to be possible to come up with the money or the means to repair the entire line or build a trail. Not to mention properly maintaining it to keep the erosion issues under control. Part of the reason the line washed out in the first place was because POTB didn't have enough money to build adequate draining systems along the tracks. And they were still paying off debts from money borrowed to repair damage from storms in the past.
Wonder what happened to that Amtrak dome car. Would be awesome to see it on the OCSR excursion trains.
I think that the Amtrak dome may or may not still be around. If it is, it has been sold. If not, it might have been scrapped.
Sad to think 4406 is the lone survivor of all the engines in this video (at least of those stranded on the Tillamook side). Everything east of Enright is slated for trail, while west thankfully will be rail and trail for the OCSR's excursion trains.
Amen Brother ..... Bill
POTB/SP 4406 has been scrapped as of just a few weeks ago. It was scrapped in place in Tillamook by the crews of the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OCSR).
@@stuartadamsrailfanningvideos was it for parts for 6139?
POTB isn't gone, it's just slumbering. The tracks are still there the OCSR operates steam on a good portion of it and has trackage rights to Enright, 46 miles from Tillamook. The rest of the track is said to be secure and should the demand for excursions to there rise, they will operate the whole line, should repairs be feasible.
Jacob Woods
OScaler1 Yeah, have seen and ridden the OCSR many times. I do hope they can continue. Steam loco is really great. BUT, Tillamook needs the old POTB RR running for the grain inport and lumber export. Can't believe they're hauling all the grain and lumber by truck on route 6!
+Jacob Woods The PoTB requested FEMA money to help repair the tracks - and it was granted, only after a long study-period...during which the damaged line deteriorated further. Repairs were needed immediately...they did not happen. When FEMA finally said "here's the money" - PoTB essentially said "wait a minute, we don't need to repair that line, really. We'd like to use that money to extend the Tillamook Airport. Better used that way." Yeah - they actually refused it. Millions. I've walked sections of the tracks every year since the storm in 2007. Beavers dammed the culvert and flooded out the tracks at Cochran and ruined them. The tracks are under calf-deep bog water there now. Entire hillsides washed away to the west - leaving the tracks hanging in mid-air like telephone lines! That erosion is worse each year. During the flood, logs, and large floating debris (such as 10 foot long propane tanks from gas stations near Vernonia) slammed into the trestles, like battering rams, damaging them at the base. Sapling trees taller than a man - are now growing on the tracks...and it is hard for hikers to pass through them without a machete. (It is no longer possible to take a 4-wheel ATV on them.) The cost estimate - at *that* time, before further damage - was around 100 million dollars - and FEMA pledged 50 million, if PoTB could match it. The cost is likely higher now, and I believe they missed the deadline to claim it. A rails-to-trails project, would necessitate the repair of all of the tunnels and trestles (building a trail is 100% unfeasible in an area inaccessible to roads...there would be no way to transport in heavy digging machinery.) So - ironically - to build a trail, they'd have to rebuild tracks first, because trains would be needed to haul in dirt to build the trail! It is not going to happen, as much as I, and many want it to. The line, I'm afraid, is only a memory...with a few picturesque, ghostly remnants.
My Wife, Dog and I would spend many weekends and holidays out along the POTB. We'd boondock camp off of some of the nearby logging spure roads. Two of our favorite spots were right along the tracks, one was high above and overlooking the Baldwin Trestle, the other was between Cochran Pond and the next tunnel (forgot the number).
We've hiked and hunted about every foot of the line through the Tillamook Forest. Since the railroads demise, we've done every tunnel and trestle, we definitely have some memories from that, like the times we spent hiking a little farther than we should have and come back in the dark. Or being caught out in the rain or snow lol. All good times though. As other commenters have stated, the entire line though this section is completely ruined. If I remember correctly one of the tunnels had caved in, and we moved away almost 8 years ago so I'm sure there's much worse damage now.
If you hike the line and like a challenge here's something fun to do. If you start from the Beaver Slide road access and head west, a little ways down the track you'll come to the first blown out bridge. After you navigate around that to the other side, try and climb up the steep area above that. We found some interesting railroad and logging artifacts up there about a 100 yards or so. Some lighter rails, not like the main line, that must have been used along w a steam donkey or something. It's STEEP, so plan some time. I never went more than a 1/4 mile up off the tracks there, but what Paul (or someone from that time) told me there's an old steam donkey up in there. That would be fun to find! The reason we were up there was that the water pouring through the blown out bridge was too much to navigate. We huffed it up the hillside looking for a way over. We found a fallen tree large enough to scoot across. That's when I noticed a rail and some other things.
I knew Paul Clock, he's the brother of our former neighbor and he's very knowledgeable about the history behind this Line. He wrote a great book about the RR with some really nice photos. "Punk Rotten and Nasty", worth getting if your a rail fan or if you like this area.
About the Beaver Slide access point. Take a good 4 wheel drive vehicle. We've been down there and it poured, made one soupy mess and it's a fairly steep road to begin with along with some pretty high drop offs. I know people that spent some unplanned nights down in there lol.
Sorry about the essay, this video just brought back fond memories of our time living so close to this area.
I recommend visiting if you're in the area before someone decides to pave a bike path through it, along with the million restrictions and other Nanny laws that come along with those types of things.
RIP Port Of Tillamook Bay #4406 April 1955-October 2022, you will be missed😢. RIP Port Of Tillamook Bay Railroad 1911-December 2007. What happened to the GP9 on the passenger train? Fixed and sold or scrapped?
I thought the line closed almost 10 years ago?
Daniel S it did. It last ran in 2007. This was in 2002.
like ive said before, i wanna see the whole entire line restored and the exact same engines running again like they used to, i miss the old engines, they scrapped em and nows its a graveyard, if anything i would buy the line and fix it up, and idc if i was broke after, i just wanna see that line up like it was years ago, you will be missed potb :,(