Steam & Excursion > When This Train Run Was Done, There Were No More To Follow!

No matter what part of the country that it occurred, it was always sad to watch a railroad as it passed into history. This was certainly true when a logging railroad came to an end.

It was in the forest above Hilgard, Oregon that the Mount Emily Lumber Company had logged by rail since 1928. Over the years the mainline had grown to some 60+ miles in length. However that all was to come to a sudden end in June, 1955.

By this time the Mount Emily timber had been exhausted and the railroad had no more logs to haul down to the exchange with Union Pacific at Hilgard. The last train had been run a few weeks earlier and had brought down to Hilgard some equipment and tanks for scrapping.

On June 27, 1955 Mount Emily's Willamette #4 was assigned to the scrap train that slowly made it's way first from the cutting areas then through Camp Starkey and on down the line towards Hilgard. We see her in this service in the first photo.

When #4 reached Hilgard with the last of the scrap rail she was out of a job herself. In the second photo she has been parked in the yards at Hilgard to await her fate. She has already lost her bell, which usually means the scrapper is not far behind. Keeping her company in the Hilgard yards is the Mount Emily caboose and other log cars a equipment that she had brought down before she worked to pull up the rail

In just a few short weeks the yards at Hilgard would be empty. Not because the equipment had been taken out by the UP but because it had all been cut up by the scrappers.

This is how a railroad dies.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/18 03:52 by LoggerHogger.

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