Western Railroad Discussion > CORP Made it to Grenada

I don't know when this CORP GP-38 made it to Grenada on the Siskiyou Line, but it was sitting on a spur there this morning idling away as happy as can be. No sign of a crew. Making a fertilizer delivery, perhaps?

Don
Yreka

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On my way back from Ashland recently, I stopped at various places along the old Siskiyou line: Steinman bridge(?), Hilt, Montague and Weed.

The line northward from Hilt disappears into a very narrow, deep canyon. I wish I could have seen / heard trains coming through Hilt, northbound, climbing that grade. Must have been great.

Hilt looks like it used to have a sawmill--big open field with some old buildings left over. A real nice local barn, too, next to a great farmhouse.

Too bad the trains aren't using that line after taxpayers spent big bucks rehabbing that collapsed summit tunnel.

It's a pretty serious climb from Hilt to the top. I've traveled it in a speeder some years back.

I believe that the UP paid to rebuild Tunnel 13, not the tax payers, after it burned.

D

That's the GP from Weed, one truck silver, one truck black. Odd that it's at the bumper end of the spur.

The old line over the Siskiyou's goes through some very interesting and diverse terrain. That little tight spot north of Hilt goes for a couple of miles then it turns and climbs the hill on something like a 3% grade. After a few turns like that it heads for the summit tunnel and into the loops on the north side. Very interesting but definitely a late 1800's route. I was fortunate enough to chase a number of Siskiyou trains, very cool, lots of horsepower noises that you don't hear anymore.

I got a cab ride many years ago, from Medford to Hornbrook and back. Southbound beyond Hilt, where the line crests Bailey Hill, is a pronounced vertical curve as well as a lefthand curve in the track. From the engineer's perspective, the line disappears for a few moments until you start across the I5 bridge, as I remember. Hold on, here we go!

One of the guys I currently work with used to work for CORP and, besides having been the bridge tender for a time on the Coos Bay line, retells the story of his riding a runaway down ballast train from Siskiyou Summit. Wished I could remember all the details but he tells of a wild 45 mph ride down that hill, out of control. And the story gets better every time he tells it.

Roustabout out

TCnR Wrote:
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> That's the GP from Weed, one truck silver, one
> truck black. Odd that it's at the bumper end of
> the spur.
>
> The old line over the Siskiyou's goes through some
> very interesting and diverse terrain. That little
> tight spot north of Hilt goes for a couple of
> miles then it turns and climbs the hill on
> something like a 3% grade. After a few turns like
> that it heads for the summit tunnel and into the
> loops on the north side. Very interesting but
> definitely a late 1800's route. I was fortunate
> enough to chase a number of Siskiyou trains, very
> cool, lots of horsepower noises that you don't
> hear anymore.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/15 14:47 by roustabout.

coach Wrote:
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> On my way back from Ashland recently, I stopped at
> various places along the old Siskiyou line:
> Steinman bridge(?), Hilt, Montague and Weed.
>
> The line northward from Hilt disappears into a
> very narrow, deep canyon. I wish I could have
> seen / heard trains coming through Hilt,
> northbound, climbing that grade. Must have been
> great.
>
> Hilt looks like it used to have a sawmill--big
> open field with some old buildings left over. A
> real nice local barn, too, next to a great
> farmhouse.
>
> Too bad the trains aren't using that line after
> taxpayers spent big bucks rehabbing that collapsed
> summit tunnel.

That canyon between Hilt and Hornbrook was a great pace to capture SP/CORP action. The view looking down from Mink Road can't be beat.

Hilt was the location of a huge Fruit Growers Supply Company mill and logging railroad operation. Over the years as much as 50 miles of track reached out in the timber. They used five Shay locomotives during their years of rail operation, which was discontinued in favor of trucks in 1934. They did use Shay No. 4 to switch tracks in and around the mill until 1953. The mill was closed by 1973.

CORP's owner paid about $11 million to reopen the tunnel. The taxpayers did not.

Tony, I think UP owns the track between Ashland and Weed. May be wrong about that, but it was my understanding that they responded to the fire. Anyone out there know for sure? I agree, though - it wasn't the taxpayers that repaired it.

Don

odub Wrote:
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> Tony, I think UP owns the track between Ashland
> and Weed. May be wrong about that, but it was my
> understanding that they responded to the fire.
> Anyone out there know for sure? I agree, though -
> it wasn't the taxpayers that repaired it.
>
> Don

Yes, UP owns the tracks between Ashland and Weed, but leases it to CORP. When I attended the reopening it was a RailAmerica/Railtex person in charge who talked about how much the company spent over what was no covered by insurance.

Thanks, Tony.

D