eimage039-Cottage-Grove
Oregon California & Eastern, Oregon Pacific & Eastern Sept 1983
I spent 2 to 5 September 1983 on a rare mileage excursion run by Great Western Tours. Several private cars were added to the northbound Coast Starlight on 2 Sept, en route to Klamath Falls, Oregon, where they were detached and added to other cars for an excursion on the Oregon, California and Eastern. The OC&E was a logging line that ran east from Klamath Falls to Bly, about 60 miles, where it connected with other logging lines operated by Weyerhauser Lumber. After many years of split operation between SP and Great Northern/Burlington Northern, it had fairly recently gotten its own power in the form of Morrison Knudsen TE53-1-4-E units, which were GE U25Bs rebuilt with EMD 567 engines. They looked like GEs, but that EMD chant sound caused some cognitive dissonance!
Anyway, an SW1500 pulled the Great Western and Sierra Western cars off the Starlight in K Falls, added them to some other cars that had arrived earlier, and OC&E headed east with us. The line had a switchback and we had a photo runby there, then we continued to Sycan, Oregon, where we had the run of the place, checking out Weyerhauser Baldwins and an ex-BN GP20, as well as a couple of slugs. On the way back, we had another runby, in the desolate wilds of Oregon.
We spent the night in a hotel in K Falls, then our equipment was added to the northbound Starlight the following morning for the run to Eugene, where we got off and buses took us to Cottage Grove and Oregon Pacific and Eastern, for a ride on their steam excursion train, pulled by 2-8-2 #19. The OP&E supplemented its lumber hauling revenues with regular steam excursion service, so this wasn't quite as rare mileage as the OC&E, but it turned out to be the only time I ever rode the OP&E. The movie "Emperor of the North" had been filmed on the OP&E about 10 years earlier.
After our steam ride, the buses returned us to Eugene and the southbound Starlight took us home to California. The train was on time, or close to it as it was dawn in Sacramento when we arrived. An SP track geometry car was parked at the station.
On the drive home, I stopped and photographed a UP track train heading north on the former WP at J Street.
Post script: As logging has declined in the western US over the years, both the OC&E and OP&E have been abandoned, so these trips cannot be repeated.
eimage039-Cottage-Grove
Oregon California & Eastern, Oregon Pacific & Eastern Sept 1983
I spent 2 to 5 September 1983 on a rare mileage excursion run by Great Western Tours. Several private cars were added to the northbound Coast Starlight on 2 Sept, en route to Klamath Falls, Oregon, where they were detached and added to other cars for an excursion on the Oregon, California and Eastern. The OC&E was a logging line that ran east from Klamath Falls to Bly, about 60 miles, where it connected with other logging lines operated by Weyerhauser Lumber. After many years of split operation between SP and Great Northern/Burlington Northern, it had fairly recently gotten its own power in the form of Morrison Knudsen TE53-1-4-E units, which were GE U25Bs rebuilt with EMD 567 engines. They looked like GEs, but that EMD chant sound caused some cognitive dissonance!
Anyway, an SW1500 pulled the Great Western and Sierra Western cars off the Starlight in K Falls, added them to some other cars that had arrived earlier, and OC&E headed east with us. The line had a switchback and we had a photo runby there, then we continued to Sycan, Oregon, where we had the run of the place, checking out Weyerhauser Baldwins and an ex-BN GP20, as well as a couple of slugs. On the way back, we had another runby, in the desolate wilds of Oregon.
We spent the night in a hotel in K Falls, then our equipment was added to the northbound Starlight the following morning for the run to Eugene, where we got off and buses took us to Cottage Grove and Oregon Pacific and Eastern, for a ride on their steam excursion train, pulled by 2-8-2 #19. The OP&E supplemented its lumber hauling revenues with regular steam excursion service, so this wasn't quite as rare mileage as the OC&E, but it turned out to be the only time I ever rode the OP&E. The movie "Emperor of the North" had been filmed on the OP&E about 10 years earlier.
After our steam ride, the buses returned us to Eugene and the southbound Starlight took us home to California. The train was on time, or close to it as it was dawn in Sacramento when we arrived. An SP track geometry car was parked at the station.
On the drive home, I stopped and photographed a UP track train heading north on the former WP at J Street.
Post script: As logging has declined in the western US over the years, both the OC&E and OP&E have been abandoned, so these trips cannot be repeated.