Parker Gibson
California Exodus- the final Siskiyou run
They say all good things must come to an end, sooner or later. On Thursday December 11th, the Central Oregon & Pacific would run one last train out of Weed to finish clearing all the cars out of California and forwarding them to Medford, Oregon barely 10 years after reopening of the line in November 2015.
With the closure of the RFP veneer mill in Weed, virtually no shippers remain on this nearly 100-mile section of the railroad. And thus before a maintenance embargo can be implemented, every railcar must be cleared out of the trackage affected. On this last run, the train would have nearly 50 cars by the time they reached the state line, making it quite possibly the biggest train over the Siskiyous since the SP or maybe even the RailAmerica years.
From dawn to dusk on Thursday, me and my buddy Luke would follow the train northbound as it slowly built in size. Many more people from as far north as Albany, and as far south as the bay area would show up to see the action (and it certainly lived up to the hype) even though the weather was not always ideal.
It is quite unfortunate that many railroaders and laborers' hard work of keeping the railroad open in recent years is all going to waste thanks to the closure and exodus of another. While there is still hope that the mill in Weed can be reopened under new ownership, only time will tell. Interchange traffic from the Rogue Valley might also still be in the cards, but only if Union Pacific cooperates. If not CORP will more than likely let the route rot like Tennessee Pass, and even pull out of the lease all together.
South of Gazelle in the Shasta valley, dozens of broken code lines still scatter the right of way as 2067 approaches.
California Exodus- the final Siskiyou run
They say all good things must come to an end, sooner or later. On Thursday December 11th, the Central Oregon & Pacific would run one last train out of Weed to finish clearing all the cars out of California and forwarding them to Medford, Oregon barely 10 years after reopening of the line in November 2015.
With the closure of the RFP veneer mill in Weed, virtually no shippers remain on this nearly 100-mile section of the railroad. And thus before a maintenance embargo can be implemented, every railcar must be cleared out of the trackage affected. On this last run, the train would have nearly 50 cars by the time they reached the state line, making it quite possibly the biggest train over the Siskiyous since the SP or maybe even the RailAmerica years.
From dawn to dusk on Thursday, me and my buddy Luke would follow the train northbound as it slowly built in size. Many more people from as far north as Albany, and as far south as the bay area would show up to see the action (and it certainly lived up to the hype) even though the weather was not always ideal.
It is quite unfortunate that many railroaders and laborers' hard work of keeping the railroad open in recent years is all going to waste thanks to the closure and exodus of another. While there is still hope that the mill in Weed can be reopened under new ownership, only time will tell. Interchange traffic from the Rogue Valley might also still be in the cards, but only if Union Pacific cooperates. If not CORP will more than likely let the route rot like Tennessee Pass, and even pull out of the lease all together.
South of Gazelle in the Shasta valley, dozens of broken code lines still scatter the right of way as 2067 approaches.