Steam & Excursion > Some Railroads Came Out Of The Depression With New Names!

This country's depression that started in the late 1920's and lasted into the 1930's was very hard on all industry's in this nation, including the railroads.  It was especially hard on the railroads that carried only one commodity such as logs.  When the demand for lumber fell, these logging railroads were often shut down all together until the economy improved.

Many lumber companies defaulted on their bonds and loans and only emerged from the depression once they were re-organized under new ownership.  We see just one such re-organized logging outfit in this fine photo taken by Ted Wurm in Medford, Oregon in March, 1939.

Originally organized as the Owen-Oregon Lumber Co.in 1924, this new lumber company built a modern saw mill in Medford and extended the logging railroad trackage of the former Pacific & Eastern RR that it had inherited when it took over the property holdings of the former Brownlee-Olds Lumber Co.  Along with the expansion of the logging line, Owen-Oregon ordered from Baldwin in 1924 this super-heated piston valved 2-8-2 that we see here.  All seemed so promising for the new Owen-Oregon Lumber Company.  Then the Great Depression hit.

By the time Ted Wurm caught up with #3 on that sunny spring day in Medford in 1939, the old Owen-Oregon Lumber Co. had long since disappeared into receivership and in 1935 had finally emerged with new owners in the form of The Medford Corporation, more commonly known simply as "MEDCO".   Under this name the lumber company and it's logging railroad would continue to operate into the 1960's and after that log trucks would bring the logs to the mill.

In this photo, the name of the failed Owen-Oregon Lumber Co. is still visible in the faded lettering on the sign perched on the mill roof.  The name MEDCO has replaced the old lettering on the tender of #3 as she prepares to put in another day of logging for her new owner.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/20 04:19 by LoggerHogger.

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The clarity of many of these old photos from the late 30's and early 40's amazes me . . the cost of the camera must have been excessive.

Craig
mcmrailvideos.com

Yes. Very high quality.  Good techniques, taking each shot seriously.

spdaylight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The clarity of many of these old photos from the
> late 30's and early 40's amazes me . . the cost of
> the camera must have been excessive.
>
> Craig
> mcmrailvideos.com

spdaylight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The clarity of many of these old photos from the
> late 30's and early 40's amazes me . . the cost of
> the camera must have been excessive.
>
> Craig
> mcmrailvideos.com
Back then the "serious" amateur may very well have been using something like a Graflex single lens reflex which took a 4 X 5 inch negative; it could have been equipt with a Tessar lens, an optic well corrected even by today's standards. (Not sure, Lucius Beebe may have used a kit something like this). The large negative would require less enlargement adding to a high quality end result.

The photograph here was perhaps done by a commercial photographer who probably would have used a larger yet camera taking an 8 X 10 inch negative and mounted on a tripod . The tripod means less possibility of camera movement compared to hand held and of course the even bigger negative requires even less enlargement; none at all for an 8 X 10 inch print.

As far as costs, as one example for an 8 X 10 inch camera a 31 cm Zeiss Double Protar would be appropriate. In 1934 one of these mounted in a Compund shutter was $297, running this through an on line inflation calculator I get $5820 in today's money.

For sake of completeness, in 1941 a 4 X 5 Model D Graflex with a 7 1/2 inch Bausch & Lomb Tessar was $179.25. This included a film pack adaptor so all you needed to go out and take some pictures was, well, a film pack. In today's dollars $179. 25 is $3030.

David



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/20 11:38 by Wheel_Lathe.

Ahhh. A new image to me of 2-8-2 #3. Looks great. Best of all it is one of four MEDCO locomotives (out of 8)  which survive today.. Thanks Martin.

I like the strap holding the #4 driver together...

Thanks for more of this history, Maftin.