Nostalgia & History > Last Train I would ever see on Sage Hen on The Modoc

Myself and a couple of railfan buddys were railfaning around Klamath Falls OR on Memorial Day weekend in 1997 and decided to follow the Modoc line east. We drove all the way down to Crest and only saw a set of UP helpers setting in Alturas. We got to Crest and was hiking around where the SP had a derailment back in the 60's when we heard a rumbleing noise and a westbound train came over the top of the hill at Crest.  We raced back to the truck and the chase was on. We were able to get several shots along the way back to Alturas before we lost the daylight, so I will show 3 shots here. This was the last train that I would ever see south of Alturas.

The first 2 shots were up on Sage Hen Summit with SSW 9396 leading a Roper Eugene Manifest.

The last shot is at Mc Arthur about 8 miles south of Alturas along the South fork of the Pit River. Mc Arthur is where the tracks end now. We ran into a couple of more railfans and around 10 million Mosquitos.

Thanks for looking, Hope you enjoyed.

Tom 

---

---

---

Nice work, Tom. I always admired the tranquil beauty and solitude of this remote corner of California. I can't read the number of that Grande unit but thinking it's 5343, longtime workhorse on the Modoc.

I love your Modoc images. My last Espee shots between Wendel and Alturas were back in September 1996. I miss seeing that wonderful operation.

Tom,

Great shots.  Were Lloyd & Al the other 2 along for the chase?

Martin

Whew, I thought this was going to be the train pulling up the old rail. Nice photos.

Yes, very nice!  I had always wanted to get out to see a train in Sage Hen ever since I'd seen Stein's photo of the "station" sign.
But I waited too long.
The back-up plan was to take the old M-19 out there for some Superior Trespassing...
But I waited too long
I did finally get there, but the track itself was long gone.  I never even saw a Sage Hen ( 'tough I'm not I'd know one if I saw one)
SR

Tom, I figured that last shot deserved a little PS to bring out what I figured was there. Thanks for posting these great shots of a line that is no more. I hope you dont mind.

---

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Whew, I thought this was going to be the train
> pulling up the old rail. Nice photos.

Actually I would appreciate a 'last train' of that sorts, however unpleasant the thought may be. For example there are pics somewhere online of a UP SD40-2 pulling up the Oregon eastern line (to Hines/Burns, OR) in the middle of the desert... AFAIK A&K only used spike pullers and trucks. It's a shame what became of the Modoc, but compared to other abandoned lines (cf. Milwaukee) it's not half bad. When I drove the segment from Ravendale to Wendel in 2012, most mileposts, SP power lines, phone "booths", and even a (stripped) microwave repeater station remained. Some segments were plowed to the subgrade, others they had seemingly just lifted the track off of the ballast. At one of the 395 crossings, the outline of advance warning marks remained, and, and some of the Sage Hen balloon track ties were left in place. Offhand the only places you'd have difficulty rebuilding is at Madeline and maybe south of Alturas.

---

---

And if you want to run steam, the water tanks are still at Likely and Madeline south of Alturas on June 25, 2015.
Bill Pyper
Salem, OR
 

---

---

Awesome shots :)

On this memorable subject, don't forget Charles Smiley's excellent video memoir "Extreme SP" for a nostalgic look at this area, with fine commentary and haunting musical background.