Railroaders' Nostalgia > Scrape your student off the ceiling

My first professional railroading job was for the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad. I started in the summer of 2002 in the Maintenance of Way department and moved to train service a year later. By 2005 I was an engineer in training.

If you are not familiar with the topography of the Tillamook Line it is pretty simple. Once you leave the stretch along the Oregon Coast the rail line snakes up the Nehalem and Salmonberry Rivers and climbs a grade approaching and sometimes exceeding 3%. At Cochran, the top of the hill, the railroad transitions from 3% up to 3% down in very short order. It feels very much like the start of a roller coaster. With four aged SD-9s of SP and BN heritage we could lift 15 to 20 loads up the hill at a time, so most days we'd have to cut the train and double the hill since trains averaged 25 to 30 cars.

On one of my last student trips headed east bound with the loads we doubled the train to the top of the hill. After putting the train back together and charging the air I took a light set and started down the hill. As the line descends eastward from Cochran it is a fairly steady 3% for about 4.5 or 5 miles. At Step Creek the grade slackens to about 2%. At the transition there a section where the grade becomes nearly level at a point where SP built a fill over Step Creek to remove the trestle that was originally built. It was at this point where my instructor moved behind me to keep and eye on things while I prepared to release the air, recharge the train and take another set before the train ran away down the hill.

With my instructor looking on I increased the dynamic braking to bring the train speed from a track speed of 10 MPH down to about 5 MPH in anticipation of releasing the brakes. With the grade change this would give you two or three minutes to recharge the train before the train accelerated enough to need another set. Once the train was at or below 5 MPH I reached over to the Automatic and released the train brakes. About 3 seconds after releasing the train air my instructor put his hand on my shoulder and quietly said "Boo". I was so startled that I nearly had to be scraped off the ceiling of the locomotive. My instructor later apologized for startling me. Apparently I looked too relaxed while bringing our 30 car train down the hill. He was worried I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing. Fortunately, or not, I was concentrating so hard on what I was doing I only paid my instructor half a mind while transiting this tricky part of the line.

It wasn't too long after this that I was qualified to run trains of the POTB. It was a great time and I sure miss running trains in the Salmonberry Canyon.

Aaron Zorko
Oregon Coast Scenic RR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/13 13:25 by shay2305.

Good description of what it takes on grade territory, Aaron!

Agreed! Sad the POTB is gone no thanks to too many mudslides on that route!

Really good description of working the air. Older equipment (and hogheads) really make you learn the fine points of train driving.

Thanks for the story. Would have loved to have a cab ride over that line. I don't run over anything quite as steep as 3%, but my trains are often much longer. Definitely don't want much distraction taking 50~60 grain loads down a 1.9% grade that ends up in a 10 degree horseshoe! If you end up in the Spokane area with some free time, let me know.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR