Word has it that the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad may have been knocked out for good by the storm we just had. Several parts of the line have been buried in mudslides and washouts, and while everyone is bending over backwards to get I-5 reopened for the truckers I don't see a lot of aid rushing to help out railroads. I will see if I can find some more exact information, but a conductor with POTB who has been posting on some of the yahoo groups sounded on the verge of tears over the condition of the line. Adam
That's terrible! One downside to working for the smaller company is the prospect of a washout or mudslide ending it all. At last on the Class I's, you would be reassigned while the RR reopened or abandoned the line. It sounds as if the damage caused would require many millions in restoration costs.
Wasn't that always a risk of operating this line even under SP? I sure hope the POTB RR can get things back up & running, but it don't sound good.........:tb-sad:
From the horse's mouth...Dan Larsen (POTB conductor) filed the following report on the Portland & Western group: "To all the POTB fans and foamers... Today I took John up in a highrail truck as far as we could go from Timber. We made it up to 797.8 were we found a slide covering the tracks. He was armed with a camera and supplies and began to walk the line. Things were looking good... until Cochran. I will put it in as simple terms as I can. We are the 3rd line in Oregon this year to be EMBARGOED! We have landslides that have filled tunnel 25 with dirt and trees. We have sections of tracks completely washed out. We have some spots where over 2 tenths of a mile of track are missing. I met John at Salmonberry and Salmonberry is mild to what he found. The road bridge was washed out there and the crossing is no longer there. To the amazement of John and I all the bridges were still standing. Some of the approaches are missing but the bridges are still there. We have huge logs covering most of the canyon along with rocks. It is worse then 1996. If anyone out there would like to see the last POTB train run it will be from Batterson to Tillamook with loaded lumber heading back to the shippers. We hope to be able to run on the coast by Saturday. But the "loggers" are still cutting the down trees and the track still needs to have its final blessing from John. It might be to early to say it but unless the government doesn't step in and help pay for the repairs the line will be abandoned. We will need LOTS of materials for this repair. P.S. If anyone is looking for a conductor for hire let me know! I will try and keep people informed as things progress... but I am still without power at my place so my emails will be late night when I can find someone to steal it off of. Peace and love, Dan" John is POTB's track inspector. He walked the affected part of the line to get these reports. There are photos of the damage done to the railroad starting to appear on local news websites, and the damage estimates accompanying the photos is $20 million. Portland & Western had at least one major washout on their Astoria line, and the Chehalis-Centralia excursion railroad has numerous washouts on their trackage and about a foot of water in their shop building...it sounds like their steam locomotive got its feet wet but may have escaped any substantial inundation. May. Jeff Moore Elko, NV
This report of Dan Larsen's is the main one I have seen. The Oregonian, our daily paper, is showing how truly useless it is by covering almost NONE of this. I considered posting it in my initial post but I wasn't sure whether I should obtain his permission first. Anyway, it doesn't sound good. I sincerely hope that the line isn't totally abandoned and sold off, even if the POTB RR does end up ceasing operations permanently, but it's not looking good. I live in Portland and we came out of it pretty well, but the coast got hammered. If we were a bigger state with more pull we'd probably have some major federal help, but it's mostly a volunteer effort so far. Tillamook is underwater AGAIN. Astoria got pounded. It's really not a good situation, and I think it's going to be a while before some of these towns are back to normal. This goes for a good chunk of SW Washington, too. I really feel for some of these folks.
Adam, KATU had some video of the line and it looks real bad, on tonight's news. They probably won't show it again. Glad I got a chance to ride just a few months ago. :tb-sad:
POTB RR The storm last week did a job on the coast. We got by with just a power outage for four hours. The P&W line is washed out at Westport. This is just short of the paper mill at Wauna. The Port of Tillamook Bay might be abandon but there are several shippers in Tillamook as well as some inbound freight. I had the chance to ride the line from Hillsboro to Tillamook in September 2K+6. A really beautiful trip with lots of high trestles and several tunnels. It would be a loss of a very scenic line if the POTB ends up abandon. :tb-sad:
There are really some great opportunities in Oregon for a foamer if one were to hit one of the big lottery prizes. I would like to offer my services as a highly opinionated Oregon-born-and-raised consultant-foamer-in-chief if anyone with loads of dough is listening.
What has state government done so far? Is there (sadly) enough damage to "declare" a disaster? I wonder if there's any possibility for any Federal emergency funding? BoxcabE 50
The state government is, right now, working at opening up the roadways and working to try and get utilities back together. I believe that Gov. Kulongoski has asked for a federal disaster declaration for Clatsop, Tillamook, and Lincoln counties, but I don't know that for sure. We tend to not whine a lot to the rest of the world when we have problems here. There's certainly enough damage.
Well, I hope he has and I hope it's granted. My current home state was devestated by fire, my former state has now been devestated by Water, by my reconing, that means that Illinois, where I was born and raised is due for locasts.
Some hope? This is from the Sunday Oregonian. Kulongoski is our Governor. Wyden and Smith are our Senators. Gregoire is Washington's Governor. ______________________________________________ Oregon, Washington will get federal aid for recovery Repairs - Oregon's two senators tour the state and pledge to get a Tillamook railway fixed Sunday, December 09, 2007 SUSAN GOLDSMITH and TED SICKINGER The Oregonian Staff On a day when Oregon and Washington got federal aid to help with flood recovery, Oregon's two senators toured storm-damaged areas and pledged to make the repair of a Tillamook railway a priority as hundreds of jobs are at stake. The 95-mile rail line, which runs from Tillamook through Nehalem over the Coast Range toward Portland, is a crucial link for wood shipments from three area lumber mills and brings in dairy feed for farmers. The line, which was damaged in the 1996 flood, runs through a forested area with steep canyons, and it will cost at least $20 million to repair, officials said Saturday. About 25 miles of the line were severely damaged by wind, rain and erosion. "It's quite a substantial section that has been blown out," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., shortly after his helicopter tour. "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the jobs potentially lost could approach 1,000. That's a lot of jobs in our state, and the federal government needs to pull out all the stops to get this infrastructure restored." Smith and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Saturday that the state received a federal disaster declaration from President Bush to provide assistance to public agencies in Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, Tillamook and Yamhill counties. Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski requested the emergency declaration Wednesday. Smith said federal disaster relief for individuals in those counties will take longer. The senators said they would try to find money to help the counties pay their federal match for the disaster assistance, which is usually set at 25 percent. "I am beginning this weekend because of the urgency of what I heard in there to look under every rock for money to get that railroad up and running," Wyden said after meeting with officials from several affected counties. "They can't do it." Mark Labhart, chairman of the Tillamook County Commission, said the railroad is owned by the Port of Tillamook Bay, which has hired a contractor to begin repair work. "This is a huge economic impact on Tillamook County," he said. "We're asking the federal government for a 90-10 split." In addition to the rail line, Labhart said, the storm destroyed three key telecommunications lines between the United States and Asia. All phone and Internet connections from those lines are severed, and, so far, there is no cost estimate for repairs, he said. Smith said there is no statewide estimate for total storm damage. Bush's disaster declaration in Washington state allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse six southwestern counties -- Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific and Thurston -- at least 75 percent of debris removal costs and up to 75 percent of infrastructure improvements or repairs. Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire welcomed the news but said the aid falls short of what she requested: federal money to help people get back on their feet. She said she would issue $300,000 in emergency state funding for that purpose. Gregoire also said Washington state would become the lead sponsor of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to protect Lewis County -- including a flood-prone section of Interstate 5 -- from future inundation. A 20-mile section of I-5, the region's main north-south route, finally reopened Friday after being covered by as much as 10 feet of water for much of the week. It was the third time in the past 17 years that flooding submerged I-5 south of Olympia. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sounds like good news. Let's hope they stay on top of the situation, and see the project through. Boxcab E50
Good to hear. Thanks for the update, and please keep them coming! I expect a full railfan report (read: pics) when the first train rolls again!
I have several questions about the POTB: How many carloads do they move a year, on the average? Besides shippers in Tillamook, where else do they serve customers? What was the average rating of the track (FRA Class 1,2, excepted, etc) before the washouts? Would those who want it rebuilt want it brought to FRA Class II standards if possible? Is there enough revenue to keep this line open? Believe me when I say I want to see the POTB back up & running, especially when the roads going east would be overloaded with truck traffic otherwise. Combined with the closure of the branch to Hull-Oakes and the Coos Bay line, it's been a rough year for shortlines in Oregon (and I haven't mentioned Albany & Eastern's filing to abandon a stretch of their track).
Friscobob, I am not the best source for information on the Port of Tillamook Bay, other than I just love foamin' it when I am out that way. I have a link to a railfan site here, which I have used to glean some information. Essentially, the POTB runs up the coast from Tillamook to about Wheeler (near Nehalem Bay) and then runs up over the coast range and connects on the other side of the mountains with my favorite foamin' subject, the Portland and Western. If you look on the railfan site and check out operations you can get answers to some of your questions. As to the rails... well, think about how most other SP branchlines were when SP unloaded them and it's about like that, with some improvements made to keep the trains going. The storm was pretty major on the coast and caused numerous landslides and washouts. The terrain is steep in a lot of places and it was probably a pretty plucky thing to do to have built a railroad there in the first place. The coast isn't bad because a lot of that is flat, but heading up over the Coast Range is something amazing... though no crazier than, say, most of what DRGW ever did. Adam
Here's one other railfan page, mostly of photographs. Here's the Port of Tillamook Bay's own photos of some of the damage from the floods of 1996. The thing with the Coast Range is that you gotta go over them somewhere... there's no such thing, with the exception of the Columbia River, as a valley cutting through there. The roads over the Coast Range routinely have to be cleared of slides and blow-down. It's kind of how good chunks of the country are built in historic flood plains, or fires seem to be magnetically attracted to large homes the edges of development in California. Very little about the terrain we live on or run our trains over is static. Discontinuing the railroad would have much larger ripple effects than simply the laying off of railroad employees. Adam
