END OF THE LINE FOR AMERICA’S LAST LOGGER
Shelton, Wash., closed in June 2015. With the closure of the mill and its associated operations, 270 family wage jobs were also lost. The announcement came on April 27 after the Simpson Lumber mill and property were purchased by California-based Sierra Pacific Industries. Sierra Pacific also purchased all of the railroad rolling stock and locomotives, but Simpson will continue to retain ownership of its railroad right- of-way, tracks, and tidelands. Sierra Pacific has plans to construct at least one new, state-of-the-art sawmill and lumber planing operation by 2017. Although plans have yet to be released, Simpson is considering options to re-
44 JULY 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
Simpson Finale A
BY ROBERT W. SCOTT/PHOTOS AS NOTED
CHAPTER OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST logging railroad history ended when the Simpson Timber Mill in
purpose its railroad. Sierra Pacific has no plans to utilize the railroad to serve its future development and will rely on trucks to haul product. The Simpson Railroad was known
for its unique operation (March 2014, RAILFAN & RAILROAD) with smartly painted red and white EMD switchers, some being equipped with dynamic brakes. The Simpson Railroad has operated from the south end of the Olympic peninsula to the Puget Sound tidewater at Shelton since 1890. Once boasting more than a hundred of miles of track across the southern part of the Olympic Peninsula, Simpson pared back its lines over the years as areas were harvested and trucks became more useful in the delivery of raw logs to the mills. Railroad beds were converted to
truck haul roads. Even the impressive 347-foot-high Vance Creek trestle, which was the second highest rail bridge in North America, lost its tracks in 1985, the same year rail operations ended in the “high country.” In 2000, the railroad was cut back to Mill 5 at Dayton, leaving only ten miles of what once was an extensive rail network. Although it is a relatively short distance between the mill at Shelton and Mill 5 at Dayton, the Simpson ran several trains a day on the route delivering raw logs in one direction and rough cut lumber in the other. Rail operations to Mill 5 were suspended in late December 2013 after a train hauling machinery caught a low-hanging power line in Shelton, which brought increased scrutiny to the railroad. Only a handful of trains
SPECIAL REPORT
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