Strange things found in the woods

[CamoDeafie]

Back on topic, there exist a lot of stories about weird stairs and short train tracks in the woods that have no apparent path nor evidence of construction... almost always in the forests that have been cut down a few times in the past... They're usually the Remnants of the logging industry.

 

[Flopsweat]

A cottage., much as that of an industry

I was thinking maybe a Hathaway house.

 

[Mikej]

Back on topic, there exist a lot of stories about weird stairs and short train tracks in the woods that have no apparent path nor evidence of construction... almost always in the forests that have been cut down a few times in the past... They're usually the Remnants of the logging industry.

I'm a train buff. Old stuff. I get a thrill from riding in the cab of a steam locomotive with the conductor and fireman.









The engineer on the loco of The Cowlitz Chehalis & Cascade excursion train looked like the original owner. We also did a ride on the loco that runs from Garibaldi to Rockaway.

I'm always looking for old rail road grades. They're easy to spot if you know what to look for. They're all over The Tillamook Forest. For instance, "C-Line Road" is a railroad grade. It is off the summit of Hwy 6 up Beaver dam road. You know you're on an old grade because of how slight the grade is and easy the turns are. There are several old decaying trestles that are hidden in the forest where if you weren't looking for them at the right places you would never see them. I searched for some pics I took some years ago, but couldn't find them.

There are places going up The Gorge where you can see the original grade they did before they put thousands of tons of fill in to support the tracks on straighter line closer to the river.

 

[DeanMk]

A cottage., much as that of an industry

Stratford-upon-the-Avon

 

[DeanMk]

I'm a train buff. Old stuff. I get a thrill from riding in the cab of a steam locomotive with the conductor and fireman.

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The engineer on the loco of The Cowlitz Chehalis & Cascade excursion train looked like the original owner. We also did a ride on the loco that runs from Garibaldi to Rockaway.

I'm always looking for old rail road grades. They're easy to spot if you know what to look for. They're all over The Tillamook Forest. For instance, "C-Line Road" is a railroad grade. It is off the summit of Hwy 6 up Beaver dam road. You know you're on an old grade because of how slight the grade is and easy the turns are. There are several old decaying trestles that are hidden in the forest where if you weren't looking for them at the right places you would never see them. I searched for some pics I took some years ago, but couldn't find them.

There are places going up The Gorge where you can see the original grade they did before they put thousands of tons of fill in to support the tracks on straighter line closer to the river.

Not a train, but I can remember when one of the ferry boats on the Kingston-Edmonds run was steam powered. I thought the tall stacks were cool when I was a kid.
It would woosh as it left the dock. Never shuttered, like the boats do now. Decommissioned in 1971, although she made her last run in '69.
These days, she sits aground, rotting away, up on the Fraser River in Canada.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

I'm a train buff. Old stuff. I get a thrill from riding in the cab of a steam locomotive with the conductor and fireman.

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View attachment 1376219

View attachment 1376220

The engineer on the loco of The Cowlitz Chehalis & Cascade excursion train looked like the original owner. We also did a ride on the loco that runs from Garibaldi to Rockaway.

I'm always looking for old rail road grades. They're easy to spot if you know what to look for. They're all over The Tillamook Forest. For instance, "C-Line Road" is a railroad grade. It is off the summit of Hwy 6 up Beaver dam road. You know you're on an old grade because of how slight the grade is and easy the turns are. There are several old decaying trestles that are hidden in the forest where if you weren't looking for them at the right places you would never see them. I searched for some pics I took some years ago, but couldn't find them.

There are places going up The Gorge where you can see the original grade they did before they put thousands of tons of fill in to support the tracks on straighter line closer to the river

I remember the remnants of the railroad along the road from Clackamas to Estacada in the late 50's-early 60's were still visible. Trestles were still standing and fills had not eroded down. Last time on the road maybe 10 years ago there was hardly anything visible and I was looking. Here is a good site that I found about 15 years ago on NW railroads. It has a lot about logging RR. http://www.brian894x4.com/AbandonedRRmainpage.html

 

[Flopsweat]

Stratford-upon-the-Avon

I was expecting it to be in a small village, like a townlet...

 

[sobo]

I was expecting it to be in a small village, like a townlet...

Maybe not a townlet, but a Hamlet... But really, I heard she didn't have a home, but preferred to travel around the Globe...

 

[Ura-Ki]

I remember the remnants of the railroad along the road from Clackamas to Estacada in the late 50's-early 60's were still visible. Trestles were still standing and fills had not eroded down. Last time on the road maybe 10 years ago there was hardly anything visible and I was looking. Here is a good site that I found about 15 years ago on NW railroads. It has a lot about logging RR. http://www.brian894x4.com/AbandonedRRmainpage.html

There are a bunch of old articulated side winder Shay Loco's scattered around still, a few in private hands, and one for sure getting a restoration, I always thought those sidewinder Locos were super cool, would love to see a runner doing it's thing!

 

[Flopsweat]

There are a bunch of old articulated side winder Shay Loco's scattered around still, a few in private hands, and one for sure getting a restoration, I always thought those sidewinder Locos were super cool, would love to see a runner doing it's thing!

You made me curious so I looked up images of sidewinder locomotives. They're beautiful machines.

 

[Ura-Ki]

You made me curious so I looked up images of sidewinder locomotives. They're beautiful machines.

View attachment 1376344

We have one on display in Keiser just up the road, she is a beauty for sure! There are two ( I think) over off highway 97 at the logging museum, and there is another manufacture of these, but I cant remember which, but that one is out on the coast near Tillimook!

 

[CamoDeafie]

We have one on display in Keiser just up the road, she is a beauty for sure! There are two ( I think) over off highway 97 at the logging museum, and there is another manufacture of these, but I cant remember which, but that one is out on the coast near Tillimook!

Would it be at Camp 18?

 

[Flopsweat]

We have one on display in Keiser just up the road, she is a beauty for sure! There are two ( I think) over off highway 97 at the logging museum, and there is another manufacture of these, but I cant remember which, but that one is out on the coast near Tillimook!

Here's a cool story:

"Buried for 47 Years" - The Amazing Preservation Story of the Rogers K88 "Washington"

An Eclectic Appreciation of Things Old, Stately, Quirky or Simply of Historical Interest

the-lothians.blogspot.com

 

[sobo]

I'm a train buff. Old stuff. I get a thrill from riding in the cab of a steam locomotive with the conductor and fireman.

I'm always looking for old rail road grades. They're easy to spot if you know what to look for. They're all over The Tillamook Forest. For instance, "C-Line Road" is a railroad grade. It is off the summit of Hwy 6 up Beaver dam road. You know you're on an old grade because of how slight the grade is and easy the turns are. There are several old decaying trestles that are hidden in the forest where if you weren't looking for them at the right places you would never see them. I searched for some pics I took some years ago, but couldn't find them.

There are places going up The Gorge where you can see the original grade they did before they put thousands of tons of fill in to support the tracks on straighter line closer to the river.

Have you ever driven down Old US 95 from roughly Culdesac to Cottonwood, Idaho? The rail line was abandoned from active use around the early 1990s, but there are still lines of empty log and plywood flat cars parked along the tracks for about 50 miles between the two towns. The track parallels the highway for most of the route, but there are areas where it deviates from the road by quite a distance, both in horizontal separation as well as vertical distance. There are about a dozen old wooden trestles along the stretch, still standing, and the track disappears for a good bit in the lowest part of the river valley. This is where the route crosses over the highway several times and goes through a bunch of spiral curve tunnels to regain the altitude back up to the canyon rim. Being an old train buff myself, I always found that part of the drive down to Grangeville (last town nearest to my favorite climbing area) the most pleasurable part of making that drive.

 

[RVTECH]

This is the famous 'Alien rock formation' just West of the of the Paulina Peak observation site.

I have not been to it myself and only learned about it a while back from a local UFO 'enthusiast'.

It is at 43°41'22.1"N 121°15'33.0"W if you want to locate it on Google maps.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Would it be at Camp 18?

I don't know if Camp 18 has a Loco!

The other manufacture I was thinking of is Climax, there is one up near Pit Lake in Vancouver and another over off 97!
I believe there is also a Willamette down near Scio in private hands, though I haven't actually seen it, only heard of it from family near there!

 

[Diamondback]

We have one on display in Keiser just up the road, she is a beauty for sure! There are two ( I think) over off highway 97 at the logging museum, and there is another manufacture of these, but I cant remember which, but that one is out on the coast near Tillimook!

IIRC the big three of Geared Steam were Shay, Heisler and Climax--you even found Shays working the street-running lines in New York City on the NY Central with special "box cabs" built up around the boilers because TPTB thought "just another railcar other than barfing smoke" would somehow not freak out the horses that still populated NYC streets into the 1910s-20s the way a typical steamer would.

Richard Leonard's New York Central Collection -- Lima Shay 7189 (1900)

Here's a cool story:

"Buried for 47 Years" - The Amazing Preservation Story of the Rogers K88 "Washington"

An Eclectic Appreciation of Things Old, Stately, Quirky or Simply of Historical Interest

the-lothians.blogspot.com

View attachment 1376351

IIRC Rogers was one of the works that merged together to form ALCo around the turn of the 20th Century. There were some Rogers engines in the early days on NYC, but strong preference was given to the on-line (and high-volume freight customers) Brooks and Schenectady Works.

As for strangest things I've ever seen in the woods... well, they generally walk on two legs, and claim to be human but I'm not totally sure about that.

 

[oremike]

Out by Banks Oregon is a collection of train stuff

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

One company in Portland built steam locomotives, Willamette Iron & Steel that also built steam donkey's. They built a better version of a Shay called a Willamette. In fact Shay was loosing sales of locomotives to it and built a copy of it named the Pacific Coast Special to counter the competition. A few years ago Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad ran a Heisler for a while and I went for a ride on the train.

 

[Mikej]

Not a train, but I can remember when one of the ferry boats on the Kingston-Edmonds run was steam powered. I thought the tall stacks were cool when I was a kid.
It would woosh as it left the dock. Never shuttered, like the boats do now. Decommissioned in 1971, although she made her last run in '69.
These days, she sits aground, rotting away, up on the Fraser River in Canada.

That would be so cool!

I remember the remnants of the railroad along the road from Clackamas to Estacada in the late 50's-early 60's were still visible. Trestles were still standing and fills had not eroded down. Last time on the road maybe 10 years ago there was hardly anything visible and I was looking. Here is a good site that I found about 15 years ago on NW railroads. It has a lot about logging RR. http://www.brian894x4.com/AbandonedRRmainpage.html

I'll be looking into that.

We have one on display in Keiser just up the road, she is a beauty for sure! There are two ( I think) over off highway 97 at the logging museum, and there is another manufacture of these, but I cant remember which, but that one is out on the coast near Tillimook!

There's the run from Garibaldi to Rockaway and back on The Oregon Coast Scenic railway #25 that we did too. They have a Heisler geared engine and an old diesel/electric engine they run also. Cab is really cramped on a Heisler .

Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad | Steam Train Rides in Oregon

Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OCSR) is a unique heritage railroading museum and also provides interpreted train rides along the coast. Book a ticket online!

oregoncoastscenic.org

You know where the old Trolley Park used to be out by Gales Creek? There is a RR grade to the West that you can see from the highway. It's likely there are hundreds of short spurs all over the Tillamook forest. After reading a book called "Logging Railroads of the West" it was amazing how those guys put spurs in everywhere. Frequently just using round logs from the forest for ties.