Western Railroad Discussion > Incredible pictures of Frazier slide repair work

These are the first pictures I've seen that give an up-close and intense photo essay of what is going on up at the slide. The work conditions look harsh, and very remote. Mother Nature unleashed quite a mess. The workers deserve a medal for everything they are accomplishing. Here is the website (in slide-show format---adjust the controls for your preference of picture size and advance rate):

http://www.budandraven.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=slideshow.Slideshow&g2_itemId=2496

Absolutely spectacular!
JB

They should have made this slide into a reality show like the History Channel "Axe Men"

That is amazing! It would be interesting to know how much that effort ended up costing. Just the clean up, no train delays or re-routes.

Jason

Anyone here a bit apprehensive about riding 11 or 14 through there once the earth is removed? I know UP will be safety first, but anyone who has ridden through there knows of the wrecked rolling stock laying at the bottom of the mountain, in full view out of a Superliner window.

I've seen a couple of slide shows of the mudslide and this one is by far the best. Well worth the time to watch it. Those guys working up there definitely have some stones......especially the Chinook pilot working in those conditions. Keep up the good work guys!

Wow!

Damn.. I agree, that Chinook Pilot has some titanium clad stones to be flying in those conditions....

I was thinking that too ... I guess logging in IFR conditions is all in a day's work, eh?

* JB *

Macster Wrote:
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> Damn.. I agree, that Chinook Pilot has some
> titanium clad stones to be flying in those
> conditions....

The pics don't do justice to the size of the equipment. I've seen them being trucked in and you need an automobile beside them to realize how large. Helicopter logging is common in this part of the country. I WOULD NOT be the choker setter working on those logs knowing that pulling that one log out may be what is holding up the hill. I've seen that helicopter lift a field office from Highway 58 up into the clouds and I wouldn't do that either. You don't realize how much equipment is involved. You could see two different rock trains. The orange one is Rick Franklin. Last time I was up there they had four rock/mud/dirt trains working below Frazier and three above. Were expecting a fourth one above. The ones above are working between the slide and Crescent Lake, 20+ miles. The four below go as far as Eugene, 80 miles. Wouldn't care to be the crews of those trains either. At Wicopee everything above could come down and at Frazier it could go out from under you. Nothing was shown here of the effort to maintain the roads. A steady string of gravel trucks are operating between Oakridge and the area. Also there is a steady string of rock trucks between a rock pit on the Crescent Cutoff and the Crescent Lake loading point for the trains.

jb

I wonder if UP's lawyers got to them - the site is currently offline.

westcoaster Wrote:
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> I wonder if UP's lawyers got to them - the site is
> currently offline.

Could be. They're pretty slow, though. The first time the site was mentioned was almost two months ago.

Makes you wonder how often slides like this occur that do not involve the railroad or other human element.

BTW - slide show working fine now.

markgillings Wrote:

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> westcoaster Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder if UP's lawyers got to them - the site
> is
> > currently offline.
>
> Could be. They're pretty slow, though. The first
> time the site was mentioned was almost two months
> ago.

I just opened the site. Maybe the site was overloaded. It is not shut down.
\

TOdd

P Wrote:
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> Makes you wonder how often slides like this occur
> that do not involve the railroad or other human
> element.

Like this one, not often. However, the Cascades are volcanic and slide prone.

The Atlas of Oregon (William Loy, University of Oregon Press) has a map of landslides in Western Oregon in 1996-1997. There are maybe 50 within 20 miles of this one. About eight miles from here Highway 58 has been sliding downhill since it was built in 1940. The solution they have come up with is to put a warning sign up. SLIDES

jb

jdb Wrote:
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> The pics don't do justice to the size of the
> equipment. I've seen them being trucked in and
> you need an automobile beside them to realize how
> large. Helicopter logging is common in this part
> of the country. I WOULD NOT be the choker setter
> working on those logs knowing that pulling that
> one log out may be what is holding up the hill.


Don't have to worry about being a choker setter since the helicopter uses remote grapples. A person does'nt need to be directly in the line of fire for it.

YM

Yes that's a very interesting set of photos. Great machinery content, logging in the Cascades and Coastal range is some pretty rough stuff and the conditions make it much worse. Interesting to see how the modern logging equipment works out. I can recognize a few locations from previous trips, I think that road through the trees with skinny branches is where my truck got in but I couldn't back out without catching the tree branches, spent the afternoon cutting my way out. Also recognize some of the areas farther up the hill. That helicopter operation looks pretty edgy, that's a lot of log. Chokers and grapples... have history. Helicopter pilots in that line of work have some amazing skills, hand-eye coordination and sense of distance, amazing stuff.
Don't think there's anything of Corporate concern in there.

Lots of photos, two cups of coffee on 10 secs per photo. Great stuff, thanks to all.

What the photos don't show is how skilled that helicopter pilot was. I spent a couple of days sitting at "A" while they loaded our train watching that pilot literally "throw" that thing around the sky grabbing those logs. It was absolutely amazing and I know without doubt that had I been on that thing my breakfast would have lasted about 15 seconds at the most before it became somebody else's mess.

I will say one thing; I have been amazed at how skilled most of the machine operators up there are. Like in any kind of business you have there are those guys who simply "get by" but I have also seen many machine operators up there who really show what their machines can do, including one excavator operator in particular who was handling those large logs like I handle a Q-Tip on a good day. There are some very amazing people up there.

That Helo looks familiar, believe I seen something in reference to that company on Mega Movers, could be wrong. When I was on the work trains with the Herzog crews on Caltrain, there was one particular operator who if you kept the moving at a slow walk, he could do all his work w/o having to stop every 50'.


Railbaron Wrote:
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> What the photos don't show is how skilled that
> helicopter pilot was. I spent a couple of days
> sitting at "A" while they loaded our train
> watching that pilot literally "throw" that thing
> around the sky grabbing those logs. It was
> absolutely amazing and I know without doubt that
> had I been on that thing my breakfast would have
> lasted about 15 seconds at the most before it
> became somebody else's mess.
>
> I will say one thing; I have been amazed at how
> skilled most of the machine operators up there
> are. Like in any kind of business you have there
> are those guys who simply "get by" but I have also
> seen many machine operators up there who really
> show what their machines can do, including one
> excavator operator in particular who was handling
> those large logs like I handle a Q-Tip on a good
> day. There are some very amazing people up there.

these pics are old, wonder if there any current ones anywhere?