Oregon Coast May 2018

A heck of an engine house!. During WW2 the Navy opened Naval Air Station Tillmook as a base for anti-submarine "blimps". Two of these huge hangars were built to house the blimps. When the NAS closed after the war the Port of Tillamook Bay Authority was created to redevelop the base. It inherited the huge hangars as well as a 5 mile rail line that connected the base to the SP at Tillamook proper. In 1990 the POTB purchased the SP branch from Hillsboro, and ran it as a through route until damage in the mountains from a storm in 2007 made it uneconomical to continue. The OCSR leases the remaining west end of the line, and while they have their principal engine house at Garibaldi, they occasionally use space inside this huge building to store and work on equipment. On Friday Polson Logging Company No. 2 picked up some a few cars at POTB and headed for Garibaldi late in the afternoon.

PLC2 deadheads a short cut of cars from Tillamook to Garibaldi over a section of line not currently used for passenger service. The noticeably rough track is on a small pile trestle that obviously needs some attention. In the future the OCSR hopes to provide tourist passenger service over this stretch, to connect Garibaldi and their current service with the relocated Tillamook station now next to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company, a major Tillamook tourist attraction.

During a brief stop at Bay City the engine crew attends to their machine.

6:30 a.m. Saturday at Garibaldi and the crews are getting the engines ready for a day of photo runbys. The 25 is former McCloud River Railroad and still carries that lettering.

Morning shuffle at Garibaldi as the engines move onto their trains.

Northbound from Garibaldi.

Around 7 a.m. PLC2 heads east out of Garibaldi.

Smith Lake causeway.

Smith Lake causeway. In the distance behind the train is Milepost 843. 843 miles from San Francisco when the old Tillamook branch was part of the SP.

Nehalem River bridge. This is characterized as the second crossing of the Nehalem, since the original through route which is closed now also crossed the Nehalem farther east.

Nehalem River bridge.

Nehalem River bridge.

This bridge was originally built in 1896 as the fourth crossing of the Truckee River by the Central Pacific. About 1930 the mainline along the Truckee needed a newer heavier bridge, so this bridge was relocated to the Tillamook branch were it no is the second crossing of Nehalem River. Interestingly, the metal diamond over the track that usually shows the built date of the bridge has the date plated over.

The 2 has run around its train and is heading back to Garibaldi tender first from Wheeler. There are no turning facilities on the railroad (or at least I didn't see any).

Stasek Slough. This is about as far south as the OCSR can go with passengers since just beyond here is a truss bridge with some issues making it FRA "excepted" track on which passengers are not allowed.

Stasek Slough.

Hathaway Slough. The pops lifted just as the engine got close and I couldn't adjust quite fast enough to include the suddenly higher smoke plume.

Northbound out of Garibaldi after dinner. A great spot but like so much of the OCSR along the coast, the vacation home development is very intrusive.

Passing the rocks known as the Three Graces just north of Garibaldi.

Three Graces.