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HAROLD H. CARSTENS (1925-2009)


PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER HENRY R. CARSTENS


VICE PRESIDENT JOHN A. EARLEY EDITOR


E. STEVEN BARRY


ASSOCIATE EDITORS WALTER C. LANKENAU OTTO M. VONDRAK


CONTRIBUTING EDITOR JAMES D. PORTERFIELD


COLUMNISTS


ALEXANDER B. CRAGHEAD THOMAS KELCEC GREG MONROE GEORGE M. SMERK JEFFREY D. TERRY WES VERNON


THE STORM-DAMGED MAINLINE OF THE PORT OF TILLAMOOK BAY'S RAILROAD HANGS IN MID-AIR AT SALMONBERRY, OREGON IN JULY 2008. PHOTO BY ALEXANDER B. CRAGHEAD


Don’t Wait: Get It Before It’s Gone


THE RAILROAD INDUSTRYis one of con- stant but sometimes difficult to discern change. Whether it is an event as large as the shut- down of a route, or as small as the disap- pearance of an age-old practice such as loose car freight switching, these changes always seem to sneak up on the outside observer and the enthusiast. They are nearly glacial in their pace, and just as unstoppable. In the railfan hobby, it is not unusual for such changes, once noticed, to produce a sudden flurry of activity. Take, for example, the final curtain call of the Rio Grande Zephyr in 1983. The rump of the old Califor- nia Zephyr, this stainless steel beauty was the last streamliner operated by a Class I railroad. When its cancellation became im- minent, railfans flocked to ride, see, and photograph the train. As a result, there are probably more photographs in existence of the RGZ’s last few months than of its entire 12 previous years of life.


Yet we don't always have warning, and don’t always get there in time. Take, for a personal example, the case of the Port of Tillamook Bay’s railroad. Operating one- hundred-odd miles of former Southern Pa- cific branchline from Oregon’s Willamette Valley to the coastal port town of Tillamook, the POTB ran some of the roughest, tough- est railroading in the country. The route climbed higher than any other coastal branch in the region, and came complete with high steel viaducts, narrow canyon trackage, and rock-cut tunnels.


For a fan, the POTB took some serious ef- fort. Trains were not daily, and most loca- tions along the line were accessible — if they were accessible at all — via narrow, windy gravel roads notorious for being populated with fast-moving logging trucks. Buried un- der severe operating conditions and a hun- dred miles of under-maintained track, the company was the black sheep of the region’s railroads. Few railfans spent their efforts on


4 MAY 2012 • RAILFAN.COM


the line, and most ignored it, including my- self. Maybe I’d get to it some day? In 2007, however, the dream came to an abrupt end. A strong December storm slammed into the Oregon coast, hammering the mountains with heavy rainfall that flooded the Salmonberry River along which the POTB’s track descended to the coast. The most


spectacular damage occurred here, when 11 miles of inaccessible rail washed away down the canyon. Though the port secured some money from the Federal Emergency Management Administration, estimates for rebuilding the line climbed well past the $50 million mark. The following summer, I made one trip up the canyon, going in about as far in from the coastal side as one could get. There, above the victorious Salmonberry, the rail line hung in space, all hopes of renewal lost amid indecision and exorbitant costs. Almost all that I have of the POTB is the experience of photographing its resting place. The POTB had hardly been perfect. The port’s stewardship had frequently been questionable, and to describe its hopes for the route as “optimistic” would be to make an overstatement. That this route would be swept from the face of the present by the wrath of a Pacific storm is an outcome that was perhaps inevitable. Yet, for all the jokes that might have been cracked at the POTB’s futile efforts over the years — including some made by me — there is little I would not give to see this crazy, haphazard, seat- of-the-pants anachronism live on. There is, after all, a certain kind of poetry to the lost cause, and sometimes we don't know what we have until it's gone.


Alexander B. Craghead is a writer, photog- rapher,


watercolorist, and self-described “transportation geek” from Portland, Ore. You can reach out to Alex on our web site at www.railfan.com/departures.


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