Western Railroad Discussion > PNWR Toledo Hauler/Patch Inquiry...

Hello western board. My family trip to Oregon is going to get under way this weekend, and I'd been perusing old posts here that seem to indicate the PNWR Toledo Hauler is an overnight deal west to Toledo M-F and then is recrewed by a Patch crew that taxis from Albany TU-SA....and that the patch crew is usually on duty at Albany at 4AM. I'm staying in Newport Monday night, and contemplating getting up early to try to chase this job for a bit. 

With this as a basis, a few questions if I may indulge the group:
-Is the above still accurate for planning purposes if I wanted to catch the Patch crew headed east on Tuesday?
-If I figure about 90 minutes for the crew to get their paperwork and taxi to go from Albany to Toledo, is it reasonable to assume the crew would be boarding the train at Toledo around 5:30A? (Yuck)
-If I drag myself out of my seaside bed in Newport at that insane hour, where do they normally park the power and is it accessible for me to check to see if they have left?
-Do they have to do some switching at the mill before they leave or is the train pretty much built for them already? (Trying to gauge when they may leave town)
-Does GP have their own switcher to shuffle cars around the various mill areas or does PNWR do this?
-It looks like the tracks wander around a fair amount leaving Toledo before coming back to the main road near Chitwood...what would the likely running time be between Toledo and Chitwood?

Thanks all in advance!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/26 13:08 by DJ-12.

Recommend the PNWR groups on facebook. Train does get reported sometimes both ways. Now for the bad news. The train going west geographically often get to Toledo, change trains, and head back east with Eddyville a common meeting place. BUT, they can get farther and sometimes not as far. So, outguessing them can be a challenge. Check the recent FB posts to see how they have been doing of late. Others may be more in tune and can clue you in a bit more.

Yes, GP has a contract switching company. I think they still have an SW-1500 and a GP-30, but that needs updating.

RR

Posted from iPhone

The Patch usually goes through Nashville(MP 734) between 9:30 and 10 am.  At its usual 10 mph pace, that would put it at Eddyville (MP 746) about an hour and a quarter earlier.  I haven't chased it in a while so your luck may vary.

Thanks for chiming in Lou. I’ve been out of touch for too long but I have snagged them a couple of times I was down Corvallis/Albany way. The rest I gleaned from the FB group. There is so little action on the A Line, that there just isn’t much to report. We have 72 gypsum loads in the yard for over a month now. Holbrook empty now unless I just didn’t notice today when we drove past. I wasn’t driving so I am sure I would have noticed them if they were there.

I suppose we should mention that Nashville is on the back road from Eddyville. Summit remains a great spot to catch them before he heads back west.


RR

Posted from iPhone

Thanks gents. This is all very helpful. For some reason I got it in my head that the recrew was happening in Toledo proper but its good to know that usually happens somewhere east. It also reinforces I probbaly don't need to get up crazy early but if I can get to say Chitwood by 7ish or Eddyville by 8 I should be able to find them.  Probably hard to find light in the valley much before then anyways...I'll let you all know how I make out. 

koloradokid wrote:

>> Yes, GP has a contract switching company. I think they still have an SW-1500 and a GP-30, but that needs updating.

I've made trips to Oregon to attend the past two Winterail shows.  In 2025, I passed through Toledo and found two Watco locomotives there, a GP35 (probably a rebuild of some sort) at the main mill and a GP30 at the chip mill.  Limited access for good photos that day was also made more difficult by a torrential downpour.  Although weather during my 2026 visit to Oregon was vastly improved, I never made it west of Corvallis.  

Jeff Gast
Greenwood, Indiana