Re: Yreka Western for Tuesday
Ah yes, the first days of the Yreka Western passenger excursions.? YW and the City of Yreka jointly launched the excursions in 1986.? A book written about the road back in 1992 stated they added an open air flatcar to the excursion train in 1987, that must have been after your visit.? Diesels would power the excursions for one more year until the former McCloud River 2-8-2 #19 came back from Oregon and entered service in 1989.?
One note, you say in your notes for the photos "The YW runs between Yreka and the SP Siskiyou Line interchange at Montague, about 9 miles away. The railroad still operates for freight service, but I don't believe they are still running passenger excursions.. Correction welcomed."? Since you asked for them, yes, the road is technically still in business but it hasn't handled any freight or passengers since about 2008.? The road's principle freight shipper since the late 1970s had been Hi-Ridge Lumber, which was typically good for 1-3 lumber and around 6 chip loads a week.? They abruptly shut down in 1999, which almost put the road under.? They survived only because a new owner bought the company.? It should also be noted that the YW interchanged with the Central Oregon & Pacific since they took over the Siskiyou Line back in 1993, and around 1999 or 2000 CORP went after additional traffic from what had been YW's second shipper, Timber Products, which operated a plant on the YW right across the street from Hi-Ridge.? The Timber Products mill produced peeler cores and veneer for their plywood mills in Grants Pass and Medford, Oregon, and prior to 1999 all that moved by truck.? Rail shipments had been around 2-4 chip loads each week.? CORP went after that peeler core and veneer business, which pretty quickly amounted to over 2,500 loads per year and made the YW healthy again, for a while.? There was one bad break in the early 2000s when Tunnel 13 on the CORP line at the top of Siskiyou Summit burned that caused a two or so year disruption in service, then in 2008 the freight traffic ended probably for good when CORP decided to not run trains over the Siskiyous anymore and the TP traffic went back to trucks.? The freight business had been supporting the passengers for the last couple years, and once the freight ended the passenger trains did too.? The YW has slowly been withering away since, they did a trickle of car storage business a while back and have scrapped almost everything on the property except for the #21 in your pictures.? The last time anything moved over the railroad was about four years ago when they towed the steam locomotive to Montague and put it on a flatcar after the Age of Steam Roundhouse bought it at a Sheriff's sale.? And yes, CORP has restored service over the top of the Siskiyous but there are so many legal entanglements and issues surrounding the YW that the TP shipments have remained on the highways. ??
Jeff Moore Elko, NV? ?
On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 11:18 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote: A 1987 ride on the Yreka Western. I scanned these slides a few years ago, but then never filed them.
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Yreka Western for Tuesday
A 1987 ride on the Yreka Western. I scanned these slides a few years ago, but then never filed them.
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A Trip to Reno for Monday
A Feburary 1984 trip from Sacramento to Reno on the Zephyr.
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Re: SP Sunday [1 Attachment]
Thank you, Chuck.? I regret not getting to New Mexico to see the SP's blades when they were there, but I did get some shots of that signal bridge in Antelope over the years as well as a three head searchlight that controlled movement into the yard.
Mike Tisdale
On Sunday, March 15, 2020, 07:15:05 AM PDT, Chuck Bohi chuckbohi@... [ObservationCar] <observationcar@...> wrote:
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As a signal freak, I especially love the searchlight shots.? Add to it that I'm an SP fan, and the shots are even more interesting to me.? Thanks for sharing.
Thought you might like the attached shot of an eastbound from near Carrizozo, NM that I took in 1996.
Chuck Bohi
On Sunday, March 15, 2020, 01:54:01 AM EDT, Mike Tisdale tisdalem2001@... [ObservationCar] <observationcar@...> wrote:
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A few local photos of the SP in 1983
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Posted by: Chuck Bohi <chuckbohi@...>
Check out the automatic photo album with from this topic.
For ObsCar "tech support" or questions about posting or list etiquette, please flag down List Co-Owner Mike Tisdale at tisdalem@..., Moderator Sam Carlson at hispeedpacer@..., Co-Moderator Bryce Lee at thb301@....
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A few local photos of the SP in 1983
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Spring at Sunrise for Saturday
Springtime at Sacramento's? Sunrise light rail station.
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A Rio Grande Zephyr waiter prepares for his day of serving food in Silver Banquet.
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SP SD40T-2 8339 leads Amtrak's westbound San Francisco Zephyr at Yuba Pass, California. This is on the western slope of Donner Pass. At this location in January 1952, SP's City of San Francsico was stalled for 3 days by deep snow.
15 Aug 1982
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The DPU of an eastbound Union Pacific freight under threatening skies as seen from the rear of Amtrak's detouring California Zephyr.? July 2009.
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Re: For Tuesday, a Trip to the San Francisco Zoo
It would be fun to live on a street with SF's streetcars going by, especially in the PCC days.? That is the L Taraval Line that we took to the zoo.? SF is now getting its 3rd generation of light rail vehicles, built by Siemens in Sacramento.? The Boeing VERTOL cars didn't last that long, but the Breda cars that replaced them have proven to be durable.??
There is some housing at the west end of Market Street around Castro where you could still see PCCs out your window, but the cost of housing in SF these days is such that you could only afford it if you bought Apple stock in 1990 and held onto it!? :-)
Mike Tisdale
On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 06:06:15 AM PDT, matejka53@... [ObservationCar] <observationcar@...> wrote:
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well done -- a great public transit trip; always fun to see those classic PCCs on Market Street.? I remember once having dinner on a friend's balcony overlooking the Taraval line, before the light rail cars, watching all those PCC cars glide by as we dined and drank California wine.
Mike Matejka
Normal IL
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Tisdale tisdalem2001@... [ObservationCar] <ObservationCar@...>
To: [email protected] < [email protected]>; Observation Car <observationcar@...>; Calrailfans < [email protected]>; Yahoogroups <calrailfans@...>
Sent: Mon, Mar 9, 2020 11:01 pm
Subject: [ObservationCar] For Tuesday, a Trip to the San Francisco Zoo
?
We took trains to and from, so most of the album is photos of trains, Capitol Corridor, BART, L Taraval Line in SF and Sacramento RT..
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Posted by: matejka53@...
For ObsCar "tech support" or questions about posting or list etiquette, please flag down List Co-Owner Mike Tisdale at tisdalem@..., Moderator Sam Carlson at hispeedpacer@..., Co-Moderator Bryce Lee at thb301@....
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Re: Oregon Excursion Friday
I wrote a smaller paperback book a couple years ago about all of the lost roads you list, California's Lumber Shortline Railroads.? Almost certainly an era we will probably not see again.?
Jeff Moore Elko, nV
On Mon, Mar 9, 2020 at 3:50 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
Thank you for the history of the OP&E ande OC&E, Jeff. I remembered the mills closing, but not the details of why they closed.? ?So, the OC&E's demise was just the timber being exhausted in its area because it was cut so quickly.? Short term profits, but then nothing.??
We've also lost McCloud, the Yreka Western, Almanor, Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe (a railroad whose name was almost longer than the railroad) and Amador Central, and NWP, all former lumber carriers.? California Western barely hangs on as? a tourist line and Sierra still hauls lumber.??
Mike Tisdale
Yup.? In the case of the OP&E it was Bohemia's decision to close the sawmill that provided that road's only traffic base.? The OC&E was a bit more complicated and stems from a decision Weyerhaeuser made in the middle 1970s to change its forest management philosophy from uneven age stand management (selective logging) to even age management (patchwork clearcuts).? This transition would require them to clear all standing timber off their lands.? The resulting substantial traffic increase is why SP and GN sold the OC&E to Weyerhaeuser in the first place, the road would need some serious upgrades in order to handle the projected amount of traffic and neither of the big roads wanted to make that kind of investment.? The solution was to sell it to Weyerhaeuser and let them spend their money.? The OC&E's end came about when Weyerhaeuser literally ran out of trees to cut in their East Side Block timberlands, and it would be decades before enough trees would grow back.
Enjoy the railroads you have while you have them, you never know what tomorrow might bring.?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Sat, Mar 7, 2020 at 2:13 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
Thank you, Jeff.? Sad to see the railroads go, but without a? traffic base, there really was no need for them to remain... a major problem with one commodity railroads.??
You and I met at Palisade, Nevada,? where once there was an interchange yard, shops and offices of a railroad to the mines at Eureka and when the mines stopped producing and roads were built, there was no more need for the E&P/EN and, with no more interchange, no more need for the town of Palisade.? The scenery is just as starkly beautiful there today as when the Central Pacific first built the railroad in 1868, but the only people there are the ranchers up on the hill.??
Mike Tisdale
On Saturday, March 7, 2020, 08:23:15 AM PST, Jeff Moore < mccloudrails@...> wrote:
I'll add my thanks, Mike.? Those were both unique railroads.? Both are now recreational trails, the OC&E is now the OC&E/Wood Line State Trail (operated by Oregon State Parks) while the OP&E is now the Row River Trail operated by the Bureau of Land Management.? A couple years ago some bicyclists put a Google street view camera on a bike trailer and covered the length of the OP&E.
More on the OC&E, for those who might be interested:?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 4:12 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
You are welcome, Chuck.? Both the OP&E and OC&E lines were scenic and I'm glad that I had the chance to ride them before they vanished.
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For Tuesday, a Trip to the San Francisco Zoo
We took trains to and from, so most of the album is photos of trains, Capitol Corridor, BART, L Taraval Line in SF and Sacramento RT..
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Re: Oregon Excursion Friday
Thank you for the history of the OP&E ande OC&E, Jeff. I remembered the mills closing, but not the details of why they closed.? ?So, the OC&E's demise was just the timber being exhausted in its area because it was cut so quickly.? Short term profits, but then nothing.??
We've also lost McCloud, the Yreka Western, Almanor, Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe (a railroad whose name was almost longer than the railroad) and Amador Central, and NWP, all former lumber carriers.? California Western barely hangs on as? a tourist line and Sierra still hauls lumber.??
Mike Tisdale
On Sunday, March 8, 2020, 11:30:35 AM PDT, Jeff Moore <mccloudrails@...> wrote:
Yup.? In the case of the OP&E it was Bohemia's decision to close the sawmill that provided that road's only traffic base.? The OC&E was a bit more complicated and stems from a decision Weyerhaeuser made in the middle 1970s to change its forest management philosophy from uneven age stand management (selective logging) to even age management (patchwork clearcuts).? This transition would require them to clear all standing timber off their lands.? The resulting substantial traffic increase is why SP and GN sold the OC&E to Weyerhaeuser in the first place, the road would need some serious upgrades in order to handle the projected amount of traffic and neither of the big roads wanted to make that kind of investment.? The solution was to sell it to Weyerhaeuser and let them spend their money.? The OC&E's end came about when Weyerhaeuser literally ran out of trees to cut in their East Side Block timberlands, and it would be decades before enough trees would grow back.
Enjoy the railroads you have while you have them, you never know what tomorrow might bring.?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Sat, Mar 7, 2020 at 2:13 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
Thank you, Jeff.? Sad to see the railroads go, but without a? traffic base, there really was no need for them to remain... a major problem with one commodity railroads.??
You and I met at Palisade, Nevada,? where once there was an interchange yard, shops and offices of a railroad to the mines at Eureka and when the mines stopped producing and roads were built, there was no more need for the E&P/EN and, with no more interchange, no more need for the town of Palisade.? The scenery is just as starkly beautiful there today as when the Central Pacific first built the railroad in 1868, but the only people there are the ranchers up on the hill.??
Mike Tisdale
On Saturday, March 7, 2020, 08:23:15 AM PST, Jeff Moore < mccloudrails@...> wrote:
I'll add my thanks, Mike.? Those were both unique railroads.? Both are now recreational trails, the OC&E is now the OC&E/Wood Line State Trail (operated by Oregon State Parks) while the OP&E is now the Row River Trail operated by the Bureau of Land Management.? A couple years ago some bicyclists put a Google street view camera on a bike trailer and covered the length of the OP&E.
More on the OC&E, for those who might be interested:?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 4:12 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
You are welcome, Chuck.? Both the OP&E and OC&E lines were scenic and I'm glad that I had the chance to ride them before they vanished.
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Re: Rainy Morning for Sunday [1 Attachment]
What a beautiful reflection, Chuck.? I take it that with the Alco and Southern boxcar, this was some time ago.
Mike Tisdale
On Sunday, March 8, 2020, 02:02:50 PM PDT, Chuck Bohi chuckbohi@... [ObservationCar] <observationcar@...> wrote:
?
Thanks for the photos.? I thought you might like this shot of a way freight crossing the Connecticut River near Gilman, VT.? It is on an ex-Maine Central line and had been switching a paper mill.
Chuck?
On Sunday, March 8, 2020, 12:05:12 AM EST, Mike Tisdale tisdalem2001@... [ObservationCar] <observationcar@...> wrote:
?
Some train watching in and around Roseville this morning in the rain.
__._,_.___
Posted by: Chuck Bohi <chuckbohi@...>
Check out the automatic photo album with from this topic.
For ObsCar "tech support" or questions about posting or list etiquette, please flag down List Co-Owner Mike Tisdale at tisdalem@..., Moderator Sam Carlson at hispeedpacer@..., Co-Moderator Bryce Lee at thb301@....
For a better understanding of some group discussions), please check out the "ObsCar FAQs" in the Database section of ObsCar. For the benefit of list members and digest readers, please remember to sign your full name to your posts and delete any excess text from replies. Thank You.
|
Monday at Dolton for Monday
An April Monday in Dolton, Illinois proved excellent for train watching:
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Re: Oregon Excursion Friday
Yup.? In the case of the OP&E it was Bohemia's decision to close the sawmill that provided that road's only traffic base.? The OC&E was a bit more complicated and stems from a decision Weyerhaeuser made in the middle 1970s to change its forest management philosophy from uneven age stand management (selective logging) to even age management (patchwork clearcuts).? This transition would require them to clear all standing timber off their lands.? The resulting substantial traffic increase is why SP and GN sold the OC&E to Weyerhaeuser in the first place, the road would need some serious upgrades in order to handle the projected amount of traffic and neither of the big roads wanted to make that kind of investment.? The solution was to sell it to Weyerhaeuser and let them spend their money.? The OC&E's end came about when Weyerhaeuser literally ran out of trees to cut in their East Side Block timberlands, and it would be decades before enough trees would grow back.
Enjoy the railroads you have while you have them, you never know what tomorrow might bring.?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Sat, Mar 7, 2020 at 2:13 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
Thank you, Jeff.? Sad to see the railroads go, but without a? traffic base, there really was no need for them to remain... a major problem with one commodity railroads.??
You and I met at Palisade, Nevada,? where once there was an interchange yard, shops and offices of a railroad to the mines at Eureka and when the mines stopped producing and roads were built, there was no more need for the E&P/EN and, with no more interchange, no more need for the town of Palisade.? The scenery is just as starkly beautiful there today as when the Central Pacific first built the railroad in 1868, but the only people there are the ranchers up on the hill.??
Mike Tisdale
On Saturday, March 7, 2020, 08:23:15 AM PST, Jeff Moore < mccloudrails@...> wrote:
I'll add my thanks, Mike.? Those were both unique railroads.? Both are now recreational trails, the OC&E is now the OC&E/Wood Line State Trail (operated by Oregon State Parks) while the OP&E is now the Row River Trail operated by the Bureau of Land Management.? A couple years ago some bicyclists put a Google street view camera on a bike trailer and covered the length of the OP&E.
More on the OC&E, for those who might be interested:?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 4:12 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
You are welcome, Chuck.? Both the OP&E and OC&E lines were scenic and I'm glad that I had the chance to ride them before they vanished.
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Some train watching in and around Roseville this morning in the rain.
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Re: Oregon Excursion Friday
Thank you, Jeff.? Sad to see the railroads go, but without a? traffic base, there really was no need for them to remain... a major problem with one commodity railroads.??
You and I met at Palisade, Nevada,? where once there was an interchange yard, shops and offices of a railroad to the mines at Eureka and when the mines stopped producing and roads were built, there was no more need for the E&P/EN and, with no more interchange, no more need for the town of Palisade.? The scenery is just as starkly beautiful there today as when the Central Pacific first built the railroad in 1868, but the only people there are the ranchers up on the hill.??
Mike Tisdale
On Saturday, March 7, 2020, 08:23:15 AM PST, Jeff Moore <mccloudrails@...> wrote:
I'll add my thanks, Mike.? Those were both unique railroads.? Both are now recreational trails, the OC&E is now the OC&E/Wood Line State Trail (operated by Oregon State Parks) while the OP&E is now the Row River Trail operated by the Bureau of Land Management.? A couple years ago some bicyclists put a Google street view camera on a bike trailer and covered the length of the OP&E.
More on the OC&E, for those who might be interested:?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 4:12 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
You are welcome, Chuck.? Both the OP&E and OC&E lines were scenic and I'm glad that I had the chance to ride them before they vanished.
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Re: Oregon Excursion Friday
I'll add my thanks, Mike.? Those were both unique railroads.? Both are now recreational trails, the OC&E is now the OC&E/Wood Line State Trail (operated by Oregon State Parks) while the OP&E is now the Row River Trail operated by the Bureau of Land Management.? A couple years ago some bicyclists put a Google street view camera on a bike trailer and covered the length of the OP&E.
More on the OC&E, for those who might be interested:?
Jeff Moore Elko, NV
On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 4:12 PM Mike Tisdale via Groups.Io <tisdalem2001= [email protected]> wrote:
You are welcome, Chuck.? Both the OP&E and OC&E lines were scenic and I'm glad that I had the chance to ride them before they vanished.
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A September morning in 2007 between Roseville and Colfax, California.
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