Steam & Excursion > Northwest Tourist Railroads- Part 5- Oregon Coast Scenic

Auburn Ed has been posting several recent photographs of the Oregon Coast Scenic, and I'll throw mine in to finish off the tour of Northwest tourist railroads my daughter and I recently completed.  As I stated in the first report, we were in the area on a non-operating weekend for the BYCX in Yacolt, elected to do other activities in the Gorge instead of the Mt. Hood Railroad, and missed the Eagle Cap and Sumpter Valley excursions due to both cancelling their runs the weekend we passed through on account of the extreme fire danger.

We were going to be on the coast for two full days, and decided to ride the Oregon Coast Scenic the first day there.  We arrived in Garibaldi on an overcast day that produced scattered rain showers.  The arrival of McCloud River #25 on this road only increased its appeal to me...however, as has been noted in a thread or two on this board, the #25 spent all spring and most of the summer getting one of its cylinders rebuilt.  The work had been completed, but they still had a few adjustments and other minor issues to address, and at the time they expected to have the #25 back in service the following weekend. 

We'll start out with two photos, the OCSR logo on the side of their caboose and the #25 in the shop in Garibaldi.

To be continued.

 

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A couple of guys were working in the shop before the first train departed, and they let me in to take a few photographs of the "Skookum" and the boiler for Sierra Railroad #30.  The contractor who helped rebuild the #25's cylinder also did a significant amount of work on the Skookum's cylinders, since they were in the neighborhood anyway...

To be continued.

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With the #25 down, the OCSR had been using the locomotive that started it all, The Curtiss Lumber Company Heisler #2, which had covered almost every run in the 2015 season to that time.  The Heisler is seen here in Rockaway Beach, and then doing a little bit of what the signs gives it the sole permission to do.  

To be continued.

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A new pipeline is being built alongside the railroad right-of-way for a couple miles north of Garibaldi, and OCSR has benefitted greatly from this project, getting substantial ballast, alignment, and other work done on the tracks in that stretch.  OCSR has a ballast train in Garibaldi that has been used on this work, along with other maintenance chores, which we passed on the way north out of Garibaldi. 

My daughter and I laid over in Rockaway Beach for a while, enjoying lunch at the Old Oregon Smokehouse directly across the street from the depot, where the train is seen in between runs.  We then rode a later train back to Garibaldi, and while we were away the former Port of Tillamook Bay #101 had been moved from the rock train to the mainline south of the depot, where we found it sandwiched between the Great Northern F-unit and former POTB/nee-BN SD-9 #6139.

To be continued.

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The next day we headed east of Tillamook to spend the day at the Tillamook Forest Center, which has extensive and well done displays on the human and natural history of the Tillamook State Forest, plus a LOT on the great fires of the 1930s through 1950s.  We happened to roll through Garibaldi as the first train of that day was preparing to depart, so we briefly chased it up the coast before heading south and east.  Attached are two photographs of the train heading north, and then a model of a Shay locomotive and log car in the Tillamook Forest Center. 

To be continued. 

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Last two pictures for this series, and we'dd call it done...the last of the POTB locomotives and other equipment at the Port facilities south of Tillamook, and then a reproduced sign in one of the Tillamook Forest Center displays that caught my eye...

I hope those of you who have looked enjoyed this brief tour of northwestern short lines...we sure had fun on our trip and are looking forward to (hopefully) doing it again next year...

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

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