Steam & Excursion > This Important Steam Servicing Facility Was Rarely Photographed!

Most railfans are aware that the Great Northern Ry built a line south out of Bend, Oregon starting in 1927 as part of their effort to connect with the Western Pacific at Bieber, California which ultimately happened in 1931.  A fair amount of photos exist of these GN trains running freight between Bend and Chemult during the steam era.  However, one GN steam facility was almost never captured on film, namely the GN roundhouse at Bend.

While the steam era enginehouse for the SP&S was often recorded by railfans on film, that was simply because it was located near the downtown of Bend, and just off the original alignment of HWY 97.  Ver few railfans ever found their way out to the GN shops that were located a few miles south of downtown Bend at a place called Cascan, by the GN. 

It was at Cascan that the GN had their steam locomotive enginehouse and servicing facility as well as a wye track for turning the GN power before it headed back South out of Bne again.  We see GN #2019 posed with one of her crew out in front of the Cascan engine facility in the 1940's in this first photo.  In the next view we see the layout of the Cascan yard and shop area.

It amazes me how few photos of this facility have survived.  Sadly none of it survives today except for the BNSF yard tracks themselves.  The shops, wye and other portions of the Cascan facility are now gone and covered by new housing.  Sad.

Martin



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 09:16 by LoggerHogger.

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Interesting that there was no actually round house being the weather can be so unforgiving at times. 

What a marvelous photo. Love these looks back into time, sir!

 


Nickatnight

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 11:29 by nickatnight.

Thanks for posting that, Martin.

My father took me out to that location during one of our many visits to Bend to visit my grandparents when I was around 15 to 16 years old.  Until your post, I hadn't mentally placed the GN facility that far south of town.

My one and only visit was shortly after the facility was shut down at the end of steam operations.  The place was just a mess, with stuff scattered all over as if a tornado had just passed through, including all of the former records and forms used during the days of steam, some of which were covered with mud and dust.  I obtained permission from whomever was there at the time to retreive anything I wanted to keep, which yielded a treasure-trove of steam-era documents, specification charts and diagrams, etc.  There was so much stuff scattered around on the floor and the ground that I wasn't able to save it all, but I was able to retain quite a few interesting items from the steam era there.

The gentleman standing next to the locomotive looks very similar to my paternal grandfather, but I doubt that it was.  He was a Circuit Court Judge in Bend and I don't recall him being a "railfan" as such.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 09:14 by E25.

Greg,

I thought your grandfather was a Judge over in Salem.  What was his name?

Back in the 1980's the tall water tank that was used at Cascan was torn down.  I was able to retrieve her builders plate.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 09:19 by LoggerHogger.

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Martin -  It is amazing that all of these facilities were located in your back yard at one time.  That is the FIRST time that I have ever seen a builder's plate from a water tank!  That could tells us a lot about the area if it could talk.  I am glad you were able to save it!!

Ron

Martin, my father, Edward O. Stadter, Jr., served on the bench in Salem. My grandfather, Edward O. Stadter (Sr.) resided in Bend where he served as District Attorney and later as a Circuit Court judge.  After retirement, my grandparents moved to Portland.

It was nice that you were able to preserve the water tank's builder's plate.  A nice momento of a different world.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

Is this the building, albeit in BN green trim? Slide mounts are dated Feb 82, possibly a President's Holiday weekend trip.

On one of my photo trips I found this scene with the locomotives parked outside, the area was very tight and this was all I could get.  When I travelled back south a few days later the building had been demolished. Apparently the equipment had been rolled out just before the demo. Thanks for explaining the location name, agree much of the area has been changed and the old industries are completely obscured.

More of my BN OT photos: https://pbase.com/clivew/bn_oregon_trunk

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TCnR Wrote:
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> Is this the building, albeit in BN green trim?

> On on

No, this is the SP&S enginehouse in Bend.  This is not Cascan.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 12:06 by LoggerHogger.

Let me re-phrase that, those two photos are what I found in Bend, not sure if it's Cascan. I do see similarities in the roof above the doorways.

+ Note that the blueprint has the building penciled in, many times that indicates a working copy, not the as built information which would likely be a more formal document. I have a number of similar blueprints of RR installations in Oregon. Looking at Google Maps and Satellite image there is a similar track plan at the wye in town and shows a concrete pad where the building could have been, there are many changes due to the Bypass and general growth.

Here's what I found in Klamath Falls, not the same building at all, the marsh and hills show it as KF:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 12:03 by TCnR.

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This last photo you posted is also Klamath Falls, not Bend.

Martin

Here is a photo of the SP&S enginehouse in downtown Bend.

Martin

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I'm also seeing some info that 'Cascan' is two miles south of the Bend Depot 2008 location, here's another post about Cascan:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2457162

Google Satellite View shows a multi-track set up in that general area, surounded by new houses. I see the dilema.

The two buildings have a different number of doors and overhead area, roofline etc. The concrete pad may have been the location of the building, whatever the location is called. Note that the wye that shows in the Google info may be the wye in the blueprint. Agree about the scarcity of info and photos, I'm looking through Bowden's book and Austin's recent book and don't see anything.

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> Here is a photo of the SP&S enginehouse in
> downtown Bend.
>
> Martin

Yep, that looks like the one I know of ( that was ) in Bend. Nice photo.

Historic aerials has a 1959 image showing a showing a wye pointing to the west and some buildings in the wye. That looks like the area, can't make an image of it.

+ any idea if the building made it into the BN era? Or when it was demolished?

+ Also a 1982 USGS topo map showing the wye and water tank.

Here's a linkable topo:
https://www.topozone.com/oregon/deschutes-or/locale/cascan-historical/

+ Curious that BN kept anything in downtown with all the hassle of the expansion and didn't just move the whole show out to Cascan. Suppose it's just the confusion of the Mills closing, the town expanding and the way the Economy was at the time.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 13:24 by TCnR.

What is the big U-shaped tank or bin or ? in front of the smokebox on # 2019 ?

hinton42 Wrote:
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> What is the big U-shaped tank or bin or ? in front
> of the smokebox on # 2019 ?

Sand box.

According to John Gaertner's book North Bank Road on the S.P.& S.:  "With steam gone on the GN's Klamath Division, as well as on the Trunk, the GN closed its Bend roundhouse in early 1954 and moved over to the OT facility."  (Chapter 7, page 118)

Bob Willer
Overland Park