Steam & Excursion > One Of The Most Classic Railroad Spots In Northern California!

There are certain railroad scenes that, no mater what year they are captured on film they are instantly recognizable to even the most casual viewer.  Here is an example of one of these classic locations.

Located along the Eel River near Scotia, California on the Northwestern Pacific RR is the famous area known appropriately as Scotia Bluffs.  This steep hillside above the river with the NWP track clinging to it's base on a series of wooden trestles was a favorite among Railfans while it was cursed by those track crew members that had to deal with the constant slides that frequented this spot.

The date is June 19, 1949 and NWP #182 leads a sold out Railfan excursion southboud along Scotia Bluffs.  Wil Whittaker was on hand to record this classic scene for us.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/15 09:25 by LoggerHogger.

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is it me or is that trestle looking a little tipsy

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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>
> Located along the Eel River near Scotia,
> California on the Northwestern Pacific RR is the
> famous area known appropriately as Scotis
> Bluffs. 

Scotia Bluffs.  I'm sure we can blame whomever put the a and the s next to each other on the keyboard ;-)

Elizabeth

 

kingman Wrote:
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> is it me or is that trestle looking a little tipsy

I was thinking the same thing!

Dick Samuels

Sorry but I am an Ohio native and don't know.........is that piece of railroad still alive or has it been abandoned?

Maybe the photographer was a little tipsy!

NKP779 Wrote:
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> Sorry but I am an Ohio native and don't
> know.........is that piece of railroad still alive
> or has it been abandoned?
Well it hasn't been abandoned, but the rehab on the line is going to be expensive. The line is the old Northwestern Pacific from the San Francisco bay area to Eureka Ca. It was shut down quite a few years ago for poor trackage. After the shutdown there were Gov grants and court battles and you name it that put it into limbo. Multiple years of wet weather have numerous washouts and a large price tag on repair.  The lower portion of the route to Santa Rosa is currently being rebuilt for commuter service. the middle section from Santa Rosa to Willits it supposed to the the next section rehabbed. The Scotia Bluffs portion is in the Humbolt county rail authority and they are pushing for eventual rehab all the way to Eureka. Who knows if it will ever happen, stranger things have happened.

TomG Wrote:
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> Well it hasn't been abandoned, but the rehab on
> the line is going to be expensive. The line is the
> old Northwestern Pacific from the San Francisco
> bay area to Eureka Ca. It was shut down quite a
> few years ago for poor trackage. After the
> shutdown there were Gov grants and court battles
> and you name it that put it into limbo. Multiple
> years of wet weather have numerous washouts and a
> large price tag on repair.  The lower portion of
> the route to Santa Rosa is currently being rebuilt
> for commuter service. the middle section from
> Santa Rosa to Willits it supposed to the the next
> section rehabbed. The Scotia Bluffs portion is in
> the Humbolt county rail authority and they are
> pushing for eventual rehab all the way to Eureka.
> Who knows if it will ever happen, stranger things
> have happened.

A couple of minor corrections...this stretch of track last saw trains in the first half of 1998.  Storms shut the line north of Willits down in the first week of January 1998, and the Northwestern Pacific ran work trains trying to get the line reopeneduntil late spring or early summer before the money ran out.  The FRA issued an emergency order closing the rest of the NWP south of Willits in November of that year. 

You are correct that SMART is currently rebuilding the very south end of the line for commuter rail service, however, the railroad is in service and hauling freight as far north as Windsor, and a while back there was a schedule floating around indicating the line might be reopened to Cloverdale sometime this year.  Short term plans (as of last report) were to reopen the line as far as Ukiah; baring some major new development, there appears to be little economic or rational justification at this point to extend the line north of there.  A lot of the talk out of Humboldt County recently has been to build a new line east from Eureka; this is likely only slightly less realistic of a possibility than getting the line through the Eel River canyon rebuilt. 

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

The civil engineer who built this line must have cursed the RR's lack of ability to secure better land on the other side of the river.  I've heard that the owner would not budge and agree to favorable terms, and thus the NWP had to build its line instead across the river, under the bluffs.  Civil engineer nightmare!

kingman Wrote:
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> is it me or is that trestle looking a little tipsy

I was thinking that it was a shame that with the NWP you couldn't be sure if that was deliberate super-elevation on the curve, or if the footings were just subsiding into the river!
 

The line along the Eel River was unstable from the start, and required constant maintenance. The roadbed was constantly shifting, sliding, and washing out. SP folks on TO could be more accurate, but the yearly maintenance cost was very steep. When there was traffic to support the cost, it was worth it; as lumber output dropped, it became a money loser. Most analyses make it difficult to justify rebuilding the line much north of Ukiah/Island Mountain; reconstruction costs for the Eel River segment to Eureka I have seen as high as $1 billion. Then of course, the same maintenance costs due to unstable geology, rain, and the river. It would take a lot of traffic to justify this....
A line to the east of Eureka has been surveyed (quite some time ago IIRC), but would involve significant grades and be highly costly too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/15 11:18 by doge_of_pocopson.

lwilton Wrote:
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> kingman Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > is it me or is that trestle looking a little
> tipsy
>
> I was thinking that it was a shame that with the
> NWP you couldn't be sure if that was deliberate
> super-elevation on the curve, or if the footings
> were just subsiding into the river!
>  
That is tangent track between  curve 479 and curve 480 and did not require superelevation. This section of Scotia Bluffs was heavily damaged by the flood of 1955 and was restored and up graded with concrete piers on 15 ft centers and 10 ft high timber bents by the illustrious Div. Engr . Mr. Charles E. Neal.
This illusion that shows canted track is probably camers angle as the bents on this bridge never did subside into the river.
The water elevation at this location during the 1964 flood was above the top of the steam locomotive due to the water supereleating against the bluff at the flood crest.