Steam & Excursion > Skookum's Last Run In Oregon & She Is Loaded And Ready To Roll!

The last 3 days were quite busy at Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.  The task at hand was to run Skookum from Garibaldi, Oregon down to Tilllamook to get her prepared for loading on 2 large trucks for her trip to Niles Canyon for her summer operations there.

Friday Scott Wickert and I ran Skookum for the last time in Oregon as we brought her under her own power the 8 miles from the OCSR shops at Garibaldi down to the blimp hanger in Tillamook.  The large paved tarmac at the air museum makes this an ideal spot to load and unload motive power and other rolling stock.  I had invited Steve Carter to come down from his home in Washington to film the activities over these 3 days.  Steve got this shot of me firing Skookum at Garibaldi as we grabbed our caboose for the trip south.

It was bittersweet for both of us to know that this may be the last time Skookum runs in Oregon, where she started her logging career back in 1910.  Skookum ran flawlessly and Scott and I enjoyed the sights and sounds of this first logging mallet as we threaded our way over the many trestles and bridges on the way to Tillamook.

All to soon we were at the blimp hanger and I killed the fire to let Skookum begin to cool down so we could start the next day to separate her from her tender and then take off her stack for clearance.

We already had McCloud #25 at Tillamook so she would be the power to ramp Skookum an her tender up on their respective trucks.  Scott Gordon and I were crew on #25 for these delicate maneuvers.   Scott's steady hand on the throttle got both Skookum and her tender in place one at a time on each of their respective trucks.

The tear-down and ramp building took most of Saturday.  Sunday morning was spent loading Skookum and her tender and building and tearing down the ramps each time.

Soon the job was done and Steve was good enough to capture a portrait of Team Skookum and the truck crews by the loaded engine.  A job well done.

Monday morning Skookum heads south on her 3-day trip that will end in Niles Canyon where the unloading process will begin so Skookum can be set up and run there for the summer.

With the 14-year rebuild of Skookum now complete, It is time to pack up our tools and head back to the shop in Garibaldi.  Very soon we will have yet another engine arriving at the shop that we will be placing into service this year at OCSR.   Our steam crews may be done with Skookum, but not with placing steam locomotives in service for future generations to enjoy.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/19 00:20 by LoggerHogger.

---

---

---

Skookum's last crew in Oregon.  Scott Wickert, engineer on the right.  Tim Thompson, conductor in center and me as fireman on the left.

The next day we had her tender seperated and began draining her boiler to lighten the load for shipping.  #25 was on hand to provide the power to load her.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/19 00:19 by LoggerHogger.

---

---

---

Easy does it.  I jumped off just long enough to catch a couple shot of how #25 eased Skookum up on her trailer.  A few tense seconds there for Scott Gordon and me in the cab of #25.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/19 00:22 by LoggerHogger.

---

---

---

Here she is, ready to roll.  We will miss her but we wish her all the best in her years ahead.  She is always welcome back home at OCSR should she decide to come back to her old stomping grounds.

Thanks to Steve Carter for recordin this view of the Skookum Loading crew.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/19 00:23 by LoggerHogger.

---

---

Marvelous coverage -Skookum farewell-!  Bittersweet-THANKS to everyone for their efforts-!

Very neat to see steam being loaded onto a flatbed by another steam engine.

Watch out for low bridges - don't want what happened to the Monon switcher to happen to this fine piece of machinery!!

 

The sixth photo is of the boiler draining. To
me it looks like the color is pinkish-orangish.

Is this the color of the residual left in the
boiler after a given number of days between
washes?

John.

jkh2cpu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The sixth photo is of the boiler draining. To
> me it looks like the color is pinkish-orangish.
>
> Is this the color of the residual left in the
> boiler after a given number of days between
> washes?
>
> John.

That shows that the boiler water treatment chemicals are doing their job. The "mud" and minerals are NOT sticking to the inside of the boiler, but have remained in suspension within the water, and subsequently blown out during operations. Final draining of the boiler and then a boiler wash, pretty well eliminates all the crap that had settled to the bottom, i.e. the Mud Ring. 

We live many things you do Martin thru your posts on here thanks for all of them and those to come. Boyd in Chiloquin.

Does "Skookum" have a home after herSummer  run at the Niles Canyon RR?

Figured you were up to something, Martin.   OCSR is becoming a great place for steam fans.  It always was, but activities in recent years have provided a lot more participation from steam fans.  The photo specials brought new visitors from "back east" and elsewhere.  Thanks to you, Scott W, Scott G, JJ and many others.  I miss the place a lot.

Great coverage . . there are going to be a lot of shocked folks down Interstate 5 when they pass this load!

Craig
mcmrailvideos.com

That airplane in the background looks like one of the"Pregnant Guppies" converted from C-97s at Mojave years ago to haul aircraft components.
 

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

There are 2 blimp hangars at MOFFETT FIELD in Mountain View, CA (SF BAY AREA) just like the one seen here.  I've been delivering loads of freight to GOOGLE inside one.  GOOGLE is TOTALLY rebuilding them for a secret project that requires the room.  I can't tell you what I've seen inside--part of our delivery contract disclosure.  But I can tell you the hangars are MASSIVE, and all wooden arch.  It took the NAVY only 1 year to build both down here on GIANT rolling scaffolds.  Inside, looking up, they are just amazing structures.

I'd love to come up there to see the Oregon Coast RR and that airplane museum.  Is the SPRUCE GOOSE still there?

Coach

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'd love to come up there to see the Oregon Coast RR and
> that airplane museum.  Is the SPRUCE GOOSE still there?

Yes, in McMinnville, about a 1½ hour drive southeast of the Tillamook blimp hanger.

As Jim700 said, the Spruce Goose is at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinville.  This is an excellent museum that you can spend a lot of time at.  Unfortunately they had some financial problems and sold off some of my favorite planes including most of their WWII planes.  They did fill the spots with a lot of newer planes so there's still a lot to see.

​The Tillamook Air Museum was gutted when much of the privately owned collection was moved to Madras.  I haven't been to it lately but as I understand it, they are working on getting new exhibits in.  The OCSR also parks locomotives in there so from a railfan standpoint it's worth taking a peek to see what's on display.

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are 2 blimp hangars at MOFFETT FIELD in
> Mountain View, CA (SF BAY AREA) just like the one
> seen here.  I've been delivering loads of freight
> to GOOGLE inside one.  GOOGLE is TOTALLY
> rebuilding them for a secret project that requires
> the room.  I can't tell you what I've seen
> inside--part of our delivery contract disclosure.
>  But I can tell you the hangars are MASSIVE, and
> all wooden arch.  It took the NAVY only 1 year to
> build both down here on GIANT rolling scaffolds.
>  Inside, looking up, they are just amazing
> structures.
>
> I'd love to come up there to see the Oregon Coast
> RR and that airplane museum.  Is the SPRUCE GOOSE
> still there?
>
> Coach

The Navy built a bunch of blimp hangers along the Pacific Coast during World War 2. There's two more hangers in Tustin, California that are visible from Metrolink and the Surfliners.  The BIG hanger at Moffett was built for the USS Macon airship and is about twice as big as the other WWII hangers.