Nostalgia & History > Cornutt OR, SP Siskiyou line

Cornutt is located at MP 540.3  on the Siskiyou line, in western Oregon. The nearest big city, is Roseburg, about 32 rail miles north.  This is where the Hanna Nickel mining company interchanged with the SP. The small yard/interchange is still there, or at least it shows it is on Google maps.
First picture is looking SP east, towards Roseburg.  Believe the track going off to the left heads up to the mine.
Second picture is looking SP east again, just closer to the end of the yard.
Last is looking SP west, towards Cow Creek Canyon and Glendale.
All pictures taken Jan 11, 1981.
Comments and corrections are welcome.
Todd Montgomery 
Springfield OR
 

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coosbaytoday Wrote:
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> Cornutt is located at MP 540.3  on the Siskiyou
> line, in western Oregon. The nearest big city, is
> Roseburg, about 32 rail miles north.  This is
> where the Hanna Nickel mining company interchanged
> with the SP. The small yard/interchange is still
> there, or at least it shows it is on Google maps.
> First picture is looking SP east, towards
> Roseburg.  Believe the track going off to the
> left heads up to the mine.
> Second picture is looking SP east again, just
> closer to the end of the yard.
> Last is looking SP west, towards Cow Creek Canyon
> and Glendale.
> All pictures taken Jan 11, 1981.
> Comments and corrections are welcome.
> Todd Montgomery 
> Springfield OR
>  

i see these mainline switches are protected with electric locks ... nice looksie back photos ...

First photo track going off to the left is a long tail track that ends in the middle of a field. The line to the mine comes off at the east end of the yard (to your left in the second photo).

What I find interesting is that using Google Earth Pro there is an image date of July 15, 2015 that shows cars in the interchange yard and cars at the mine along with their locomotive. I was under the impression the mine had been closed many years ago; has it re-opened?

(To Out_Of_Service) Not electric locks, at least as I know them from SP, but signal boxes interlocked to the ABS through there. BTW, from this location all the way through Cow Creek Canyon to about a mile east of Glendale (about 30 miles) there are no signals; the signal system was destroyed in the floods of 1964 (?) and was never replaced.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/16 22:54 by Railbaron.

2016 shots look damn prosperous for a closed mine! For all my years following the SP I never knew the mine
even existed! Talk about learn something new every day!

Out

Railbaron Wrote:
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> First photo track going off to the left is a long
> tail track that ends in the middle of a field. The
> line to the mine comes off at the east end of the
> yard (to your left in the second photo).
>
> What I find interesting is that using Google Earth
> Pro there is an image date of July 15, 2015 that
> shows cars in the interchange yard and cars at the
> mine. I was under the impression the mine had been
> closed many years ago; has it re-opened?
>
> (To Out_Of_Service) Not electric locks, at least
> as I know them from SP, but signal boxes
> interlocked to the ABS through there. BTW, from
> this location all the way through Cow Creek Canyon
> to about a mile east of Glendale there are no
> signals; the signal system was destroyed in the
> floods of 1964 (?) and was never replaced.

And because of it, SP wanted the sever the line and make two branches out it

Todd: Thanks for the memories! Once the SP considered Cornutt important enough to have a Cornutt  Turn out of Roseburg which I once had bid in. There was a Eugene switchman named Cornutt who was a member of the pioneer family for which Cornutt was named.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3155051

Chris, thanks for that, don't know how I missed that but I did! Really interesting operation, last thing you'd
think you'd find in Oregon.

Out

Railbaron Wrote:
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> (To Out_Of_Service) Not electric locks, at least as I know them from SP, but signal boxes
> interlocked to the ABS through there. BTW, from this location all the way through Cow Creek Canyon
> to about a mile east of Glendale (about 20 miles) there are no signals; the signal system was
> destroyed in the floods of 1964 (?) and was never replaced.

Here are a couple of pictures from last March at what is the beginning or end of the signal system depending on direction of travel. The first picture is looking east at the first signal after leaving Cow Creek Canyon. Second picture is the same location looking west towards Cow Creek Canyon.

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ble692 Wrote:
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> Here are a couple of pictures from last March at
> what is the beginning or end of the signal system
> depending on direction of travel. ...

Only difference from when I worked down there is the signal was on the right and was a double-bladed semaphore signal.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/16 13:59 by Railbaron.

Railbaron Wrote:
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> Only difference from when I worked down there is the signal was on the right and was a
> double-bladed (if I remember correctly) semaphore signal.

​You can still see the foundation for it in my picture. Sure would've made for a nicer picture too.

What I remember is that we called the appliance at the main line switch points is (IIRC) a U-5 Controller.
It has a crank arm to connect to a detector rod on the switch point. 
When the point is open (even 1/4" as checked in regular tests) it opens some contacts and closed others, causing a track indication; that will set the automatic block signals for stop and approach (red and yellow) as needed to prevent a train from coming across an open or reversed switch.
Many are still in use AFAIK.
Switch locks have rods that physically prevent the switch points from moving unless the DS releases the lock.  I think that they are only found where there is CTC or Interlocking with a DS or Operator in charge.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> What I remember is that we called the appliance at the main line switch points is (IIRC)
> a U-5 Controller.

For the life of me I could not remember what that controller was officially called, although I have heard it called a "bug". It didn't "lock" the switch but would immediately throw signals red if a switch was lined.

> Switch locks have rods that physically prevent the switch points from moving unless the DS releases
> the lock.  I think that they are only found where there is CTC or Interlocking with a DS or Operator
> in charge.

On the SP at any rate electric locks were used extensively in CTC and interlocking plants where a dispatcher or operator controlled them.

But they were also used in many locations all over the SP outside of CTC and interlockings within ABS territory as added protection for a train entering or crossing over a signalled mainline. In those installations they were set so when the lever was raised out of the "Lock" position the signals would be thrown red and a timer in the lock would start running. After a predetermined period of time (7-1/2 minutes sticks in my head) the lock would release allowing the switch to be operated. There was also a circuit on the main track just in advance of the switch that if occupied would allow the lock to release immediately to allow a movement to clear the main track without delay.

Thanks for all the great information on Cornutt.  Not sure if the signals were destroyed, but if they were, don't think it was in the 1964 flood.  That year was when the SP had lots of problems on their Cascade line and ran more than normal trains on the Siskiyou.
Here is a link to a couple of pictures I posted a few years back.
.http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2051536,2051536#2051536

Todd M.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/16 22:37 by coosbaytoday.

Google Earth 7/2015  showing 2 flat cars on the tail track
Anyone have pics?


jm

I'm not sure when the signals were removed in the canyon, which is why I added the (?) in my original post about the signals. I did find that WAF posted a comment many years ago where he also quoted 1964 as the year the signals came out though. Then JLY posted they were gone "before 1962" in that thread you posted the link to above so I guess that eliminates 1964 and moves it earlier in the 60's, maybe even into the 50's or earlier.
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/16 06:47 by Railbaron.

They didn't come out without protest from the FRA

Railbaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First photo track going off to the left is a long
> tail track that ends in the middle of a field. The
> line to the mine comes off at the east end of the
> yard (to your left in the second photo).
>
> What I find interesting is that using Google Earth
> Pro there is an image date of July 15, 2015 that
> shows cars in the interchange yard and cars at the
> mine along with their locomotive. I was under the
> impression the mine had been closed many years
> ago; has it re-opened?
>
> (To Out_Of_Service) Not electric locks, at least
> as I know them from SP, but signal boxes
> interlocked to the ABS through there. BTW, from
> this location all the way through Cow Creek Canyon
> to about a mile east of Glendale (about 30
> miles) there are no signals; the signal system was
> destroyed in the floods of 1964 (?) and was never
> replaced.

The signals were removed in Cow Creek Canyon some time before 1955.
When I became Roadmaster on the Portland Division Glendale District on Jan.1 1963  there were no signals from Glendale to Cornutt.
The signal boxes in the photos were the old Style B signal boxes containing the track relays as the signal system was operational from these locations east.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/16 16:55 by JLY.

Looking at some old SP ETT, believe the semaphores were taken out of Cow Creek Canyon between 1960 and 1962.
Todd M.

coosbaytoday Wrote:
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> Looking at some old SP ETT, believe the semaphores
> were taken out of Cow Creek Canyon between 1960
> and 1962.
> Todd M.

Thata sounds about right.