Steam & Excursion > V.S.P.&S.RR. - 1969

One of the most beloved tourist railroads in the West was the short-lived Vernonia South Park & Sunset RR that ran on the old SP&S Vernonia Branch out of Banks, Oregon.
Here we see ex: Long-Bell Lumber #105 blasting through the ribbon on the opening day in 1964. While popular for the beautiful ride over huge wooden trestles, the line folded in 1969.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/19 03:11 by LoggerHogger.

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The VSP&S RR hosted a pair of Baldwin 2-6-2 logging lokies from the former Oregon-American Lumber Co. (Later Long-Bell Lbr) in near-by Vernonia, OR.
Here we see #104 in the yards at Banks,OR in 1969. She was never certified by the FRA for use on the tourist line and only was steamed up for special events for railfans.

Martin

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Among the logging Lokies that gathered at the Banks, OR yards of the VSP&SRR was former Pickering Lumber Corp. #8. Here we see her under steam in 1969 in the only event she was ever operated in while in Oregon.

Martin

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Even though the VSP&SRR was entirely standard gauge, they did have one famous narrow gauge logging lokie on the property for a number of years. In this 1969 view we see West Side #8 on a short piece of 3' track at Banks, OR after she was shipped to Oregon from Tuolumne, CA in 1969.

Martin

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Okay, what ever happened to the 105 and the others for that matter?

JDE

#104 and #105 and Pickering #8 are owned by Fred Kepner and are stored in Merrill, OR - except the engine portion of #8 is still in Cottage Grove, OR.
West Side #8 is on display in Georgetown, CO.

Martin

LOGGERHOGGER Wrote:
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> One of the most beloved tourist railroads in the
> West was the short-lived Vernonia South Park &
> Sunset RR that ran on the old SP&S Vernonia Branch
> out of Banks, Oregon.
> Here we see ex: Long-Bell Lumber #105 blasting
> through the ribbon on the opening day in 1969.
> While popular for the beautiful ride over huge
> wooden trestles, the line failed as a result of
> the
> gas cricis in the early 1970's.
>
> Martin

The VPS&S operated from 1964 through 1969 and was entirely operated by volunteers except for the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway-required engine and train crew which was called from the Portland extra boards. Having been a part of the both the SP&S engine crew from 1967 on and a member of the volunteer group from its inception about 1960 or so (and its treasurer for some time), I can tell you that the reason for it ceasing to operate after 1969 was most certainly NOT the gasoline availability problems as stated or even the result of the March 1970 BN merger but due to the ill-advised actions of the now-deceased last general manager. Because the ticket prices were not being raised to keep step with the times, by the end of 1969 the revenues were insufficient to pay the SP&S. Actually the ticket prices had always been kept artificially low in an attempt to make the trip available to families of all income levels. Additional revenue to support the yearly June - October operations was raised by running charter passenger trains several times per year all over the Pacific Northwest on roads such as the SP&S, GN, NP, UP, SP and McCloud. For the 1970 season the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the NRHS offered to become a partner in supporting and operating the Vernonia runs but the VSP&S general manager refused to accept the NRHS offer because the NRHS rightfully expected to have some say in the operating decisions. The general manager considered the VSP&S to be his personal toy (including insisting on running that caboose which totally ruined the looks of the passenger train) and if he couldn't run it to his liking it wouldn't run at all. To make sure it wouldn't operate any longer he sold all of the ex-Oregon Electric interurban cars to the Black Hills Central Railroad (where some still operate today) without even consulting the VSP&S board of directors. After the steam operation ceased in October 1969 the VSP&S volunteers continued to operate charter passenger trains around the PNW until the SP&S (by then BN) was fully paid the money yet owed to them. This included operating the first charter train on Amtrak out of Portland. As volunteers, we refused to have a bad taste left in the mouth of the railroad which had so graciously hosted us for six years of steam operation.

Picture 1: The train is crossing the trestle at MP 40.1 over Oregon State Highway 47. A photo run-by for passengers is made at this location.
Picture 2: The train is coming over the hump at Tophill near MP 39. This site was formerly a tunnel which was daylighted in the early 1950s. The uphill grade at the rear of the train is 4% (after about six miles of 2.3%) and the engine is just tipping over onto an 8+% downgrade for a few hundred feet before more miles of 1.5% downgrade.
Picture 3: A 21-year-old wet-behind-the-ears kid (me) having the time of his life running the VSP&S 105 in June 1967 in Hares Canyon climbing the 2.3% grade to Tophill.

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More VSP&S memories:

Picture 1: The SP&S running order for September 8, 1968. Note from the times stated in the work order that this was still in the 16-hour days. While the normal on-duty time for a two-trip day was 11 1/2 hours (including the deadhead via auto from Portland to Banks and return), plenty of time was allowed on the work order in case some problem might be encountered.

Picture 2: The original style VSP&S tickets.

Picture 3: The revised style VSP&S tickets which I printed on Vic Snyder's old hand-operated press at his home in Newberg, Oregon. This was done to save commercial printing costs in an effort to reduce expenses.

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Jim,

Thanks for the corrections and the additional information. Here is another shot of #105 in action to bring back more memories.

Martin

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Jim,

Here is one more for you.

Martin

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Thanks for the explanation, Jim. As always, your information is most interesting. I'm sorry I missed seeing the V.S.P. & S RR.


Nickatnight