ABOVE: The American Turn rolls north across Cartney Drive behind two GP39-2s in the lush fields north of Harrisburg on February 17, 2010. At the time, the train was based out of Albany, running south in the morning and north in the afternoon. Now it is based out of Eugene, and that pattern is reversed.
LEFT: Against a backdrop of the Coast Range, three second-generation EMDs lead the north- bound Westsider across a small wood trestle near Amity on December 2, 2009.
and Harris. Rather than driving through the wee
ways on the branch, with woodchips going west and paper coming east. One retired SP employee, who has walked most of the mountain routes of the former Southern Pacific empire, told me that, mile-for-mile, he found more broken knuckles on the Toledo Branch than anywhere else. The Toledo Hauler usually has the
biggest locomotive consist of any train on the system, and it’s the only road train
with P&W power operating regularly on Sundays. The eastbound often leaves Toledo around dawn (listen on the radio for the crew to get a track warrant from the dispatcher), and the western end of the branch offers some of the best scenery, with several clearings allowing views along the Yaquina River. It’s an easy chase that can yield many great photographs, and don’t miss the covered road bridges next to the line at Chitwood
hours to find the Toledo Hauler, consider spending the preceding night in the ocean resort town of Newport. If you like beer, take a tour and have dinner at Rogue Ales & Spirits, one of the best known of Oregon’s many outstanding craft breweries. There are many other excellent dinner options in Newport, as well as the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the spectacular Yaquina Bay Bridge on U.S. Route 101. If you chase the Toledo Hauler all
the way into Albany on a weekday, you might be able to catch the American Turn making its way back to Eugene on the Oregon Electric District. The stretch between Albany and Eugene is my favorite part of the OE, with two
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