Nostalgia & History > Eureka Southern May 1985

In May of 1985, Dick Reynolds, Great Western Tours, ran a North Coast Daylight press train from Willets through the Eel River Canyon to Eureka on one day then back to South Fork the second day.

My partners in Short Line Enterprises and I were invited to ride.

Pic 1 shows the train approaching Island Mountain Tunnel. The white spot above the tunnel is the high water mark from the infamous 1964 flood.

Pic 2 is looking back towards the facility at Island Mountain. Note the wrecked car low on the side of the slope.

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I'd love to go back into that area to explore but I understand that nowadays you risk your life with all the armed dopers and growers in the neighborhood. Too bad because it was a beautiful area with outstanding fishing at the right times of the year.

Amazing how good the condition of the bridge paint was, repainted after the previous
flood repairs?

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> Amazing how good the condition of the bridge paint
> was, repainted after the previous
> flood repairs?
>
> Out

New bridge in 1965 never repainted thereafter. Same story for Cain Rock and the new spans at South Fork. It was even "too much trouble" to paint the old spans at South Fork.

Has anyone ever proved that the entire line is under the sights of a gun to trespassers or hikers? Are we assuming that if a group of hikers, mountain bike riders or even rail motor cars come into the area will disappear without a trace? Are there police/sheriff reports for this area?

Posted from iPhone

CPRR Wrote:
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> Has anyone ever proved that the entire line is
> under the sights of a gun to trespassers or
> hikers? Are we assuming that if a group of hikers,
> mountain bike riders or even rail motor cars come
> into the area will disappear without a trace? Are
> there police/sheriff reports for this area?
>
> Posted from iPhone


Railroad is way too wiped out for a motorcar to go even a few miles from Longvale, maybe not even from Willits. Don't know about the situation for hikers and the rest. When I worked up there there was lots of talk about the "growers" but they never infringed upon the trains I ran.

px320 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In May of 1985, Dick Reynolds, Great Western
> Tours, ran a North Coast Daylight press train from
> Willets through the Eel River Canyon to Eureka on
> one day then back to South Fork the second day.
>
> My partners in Short Line Enterprises and I were
> invited to ride.
>
> Pic 1 shows the train approaching Island Mountain
> Tunnel. The white spot above the tunnel is the
> high water mark from the infamous 1964 flood.
>
> Pic 2 is looking back towards the facility at
> Island Mountain. Note the wrecked car low on the
> side of the slope.

Photo 1 surely does show the west portal of T-27 at Island Mt. but is sure does not mark the high water of Dec. 21,1964 as the white spot above it.

the high water never reached the track elevation at the portal.
There are still some people alive that personally observed the destruction of this bridge from almost the very spot where this one was taken.