Monthly Meeting

Sunday

May 18, 2008

5:00 P.M.

Yaquina Shortline

published monthly by the

Yaquina Pacific

Railroad

Historical Society

100 N.W. “A” Street

PO Box 119

Toledo, OR 97391

(541) 336 5256

Website is www.

yaquinapacificrr.org

yprhs@peak.org

May 2008 Vol VI-5

This might seem like small stuff, but for Organizations like YPRHS, gifts of money, time or services are important. Annual membership fees hardly ever cover the cost of doing business in not- for-profit organizations. Fortunately, Lincoln County Commissioners annually have found a way to support the efforts of the four historical facilities through taxpayer dol-lars. In addition, many donors have come forward each year to provide gifts of their time, talents and financial contributions. To these “Spikeholders” we are truly in-debted. We highlight just a couple of these folks who recently made a difference with their gifts:

The first “atta boy” goes to Jim Tough, local woodworker, for making an insert for one of the drawers he built last year in the RPO to hold the candle lamps. No charge! These are ten of fourteen original lamps that would have been used by the Rail Mail Service clerks should they havea power outtage. They were purchased from nine different sources through ebay by member Glenn Harris. The second “atta boy” goes to Dana Scarborough,

owner of Air Care Seamless Gutters, who last year came by the caboose office and indicated that he would be willing to re-place our gutters on the caboose (one had blown off). Last week he showed up and,

in about a couple of hours, installed color- matched aluminum seamless gutters with a novel chain downspout. He had already in-stalled two houses. When asked for the bill, he said he was donat-ing time and materials. Should you need his services call 336-2327. So you see, this small stuff really goes a long way. There is al-ways a way to include your gifts or services in the many projects and goals of your Railroad Heritage site.

Geocaching Brings New Visitors Local geocacher, Ernie Bell, has chosen our site to locate a Traditional Cache at “Iron Horse No.l”. For those of you not familiar with this form of recreation, it includes worldwide cache hunting with the use of a GPS. It can be enjoyed by folks of all ages. Those who find the cache are encouraged to go on line and blog their finds. Ernie has provided comments from several who have located the cache:“was on the way home from a caching weekend at the coast and swung through Toledo to get the new ones . I have climbed all over the old #1 Spot engine for years as a kid”….”after making the find we got the 2 dollar tour by the guys at the museum”…”nice folks, a lot going on”….”museum is great”. . . “love those old chuggers”. . .”whoops, sat on newly painted picnic table” ..”. For more infor-mation go to www.geocaching.com . Welcome new visitors. Sorry, we can’t reveal location of cache.

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Myth Bustin’ - ? Trackside Series #20

By: Lloyd M. Palmer, Chapter Historian-February 23, 2008

For this Trackside Series we’re going to revisit the subject of an earlier article. Back in 1999 the sec-ond article for this series addressed the subject of rumors about abandoned locomotives in the woods. The second locomotive that was addressed in that article was about one of the locomotives used by the C.D. John-son Lumber Co. on their operations out of Camp One. This large logging camp was located about two miles north of Yachats, Oregon, one half mile from the beach, in the southern end of Lincoln County. There were about twenty-three miles of railroad lines that extended eastward from the camp up into the Coastal Range of mountains, what’s locally known as the Blodgett Tract. In that earlier article I had mentioned that all of John-son’s locomotives had been accounted for and that my best guess is that there was no locomotive left in the woods. However, I also mentioned that the stories would probably persist . Thus, this installment.

A couple of weeks ago Richard Cullison of our chapter phoned me and told me of a fellow that had vis-ited him and told him about coming across a locomotive behind Camp One several years ago. According to Richard the details of this story seemed to be plausible and were worth following up on. A couple of days later Richard and I got together at my place to go over maps and photos of the area to see if we could make the story fit the ground. It was time to determine if any of these reports of lost locomotives were only myths or were really true stories.

According to this fellow, he had been hunting and started off the road and into the brush from the loca-tion of today’s Blodgett Rock Pit. He had headed west, dropping down the hill from the road and stayed up on the slope out of the creek. He continued west with the creek downhill to his left, staying up on the side hill to avoid the brushy stream channel and steeper sloped just about the creek. As he continued west he was below the gravel road, today’s Forest Service Road No.1046 and above the stream, which is a branch of the South Fork of Big Creek. One of Johnson’s old railroad grades is known to have extended up this same hillside, that being Spur 3B.

This fellow told Richard that as he continued downhill towards the west he came across a locomotive that was setting upright in a stream channel at the bottom of an old trestle where he figured it had fallen through the structure. He remembers climbing into the cab and noticing that all the steam gauges had been removed. He also mentioned that the bell was still attached and that there was a big nut holding it in place. He had thought, over the next few years, about returning to the locomotive and removing the nut and taking the bell off the top of the boiler but that he figured it was be too difficult to pack the bell and wrench back up the hill. Not a one man job with a 100lb. bell.

With this information in hand we looked over maps of the area where he said his hike though the woods had taken him. In years past I had the opportunity to hike all of the railroad grades in the Blodgett Tract and do a detailed report on what I had found and what the construction features of the spurs had been. In do-ing so I had noted the location of all the trestle locations that I had run across and had noted them on some maps. With these maps laid out on the desk, we went about putting the story of the map to see if we could make it fit. To my surprise, it did! The locations of the creeks and hillside fit with his story of where he left the rock pit, there was a railroad spur in the right area and there had been several large trestles located along the line. Of all the stories I’d heard over the last thirty years about some lost locomotive behind Camp One this one seemed to bear some credence.

For the first time I felt that there was enough evidence to warrant the effort to explore the area of a story and see, if by some small chance, we might actually find such a locomotive. Remember, all locomotives known to have been used by Johnson have been accounted for. Maybe here was one that we missed.

The following Saturday dawned bright and sunny and for mid February on the central Oregon coast I figured that must be a good omen. In the time between the evening that we had looked over the maps, Rich-ard had mentioned the story to another local man, Tom Millard. Tom is the scout master for Troop 53 in Wald-port and he and several of his boy scouts had expressed an interest in joining in on the search. In addition, I had mentioned the story to our Conductor Tom Chandler and he also said he would love to join in the hunt.

Yaquina Shortline-page 3

Officers

President - Bill Bain

Vice President- Richard Cullison

Secretary– Charlotte Paulsen

National Director-Jim Webb

Chapter Historian – Lloyd Palmer

Staff

Appointees

Time Keeper- Ellie Kaps

Senior Director- Harry Dangler

President - Bill Bain

Vice President- Richard Cullison

Secretary–

Treasurer- Allan Preece

National Director-Jim Webb

Chapter Historian – Lloyd Palmer

Conductor-Tom Chandler

C.C.B.W—Leonard Freidberg

Time Keeper-

Senior Director- Harry Dangler

Webmaster –Misty Lambrecht

Small Engines - Lane Plotner

List of Officers, Staff and Appointees (to date)

We were all to meet at Richard’s place, which just happens to be at the site of the former Camp One, at 8:00 AM. I told Tom that I would take along an album of photos depicting Camp One and the logging op-erations in the area and a couple of maps. I’d show these to the boys and give them a little background infor-mation about the area we were headed into. Conductor Tom (I’ll use that name for our own Tom to distin-guish him from Tom Millard in the rest of this article) and I met in Waldport shortly before 8:00 and headed south to Richard’s. Tom and several of his Scouts were already there. Included were Elliot Webb, Mack and Joe Cullison, Larry McElroy and Nathan Mirelez. We laid the photos and maps on the table and went over some history of the area. After about an hour of that we devised a plan for our day in the woods and headed out. However, before leaving, Conductor Tom and I realized that we fell a little short of the Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” and hadn’t thrown any lunches in for our-selves. That problem being corrected by Mack with PB&J sandwiches, we headed for the brush.

We piled into two rigs and headed up towards the Blodgett Rock Pit. About fifteen minutes later we arrived at the point where we planned on beginning our search. We were at the top of a piece of ground that had been clear cut about 1997 and I knew that the railroad grade had passed through this old unit. Plan A was to hike along the grade, from east to west, through the eleven year old clear cut, to the area of existing timber west of the unit where we were to concentrate our search.

As it turned out this wouldn’t work since the clear cut was covered with a thick layer of brush under the young stand of trees and walking along the old grade would be next to impossible. It was time to turn to Plan B. We hiked back up the road, heading for the west side of the unit. Reaching the far side, we started downhill off the road, hoping to cut across the grade as we went. After diving into a couple of draws and stumbling though the brush on the hillside for awhile, we found ourselves right back on the road, albeit far-ther down the hill. All that effort for nothing.

We again entered the timber, again heading downhill, trying to find the old grade. I knew that there had been a couple of trestles in the immediate area and that we’d be in and out a several draws so that find-ing a good segment of the grade was going to prove difficult. On that point I was correct. I also knew that there was good grade near the western border of the clear cut so after crawling in and out of the several draws we headed out of the timber and into the brushy clear cut. After battling uphill through the thick brush laced with blackberry vines and intermixed with felled trees which had been cut for thinning purposes we fi-nally found the railroad grade we were looking for.

With this part of the problem solved we again headed back into the timber and found the sites where a couple of the old trestles had stood over seventy-five years ago. A large fire had burned though the area in 1936, shortly after the logging operations in the area had been completed and it had burned up many of the old wooden bridges. That, in addition to the many winters of wet, rainy weathers, has obliterated almost all remnants of all of the former structures. These two particular trestles were where we figured we would have the best chance of finding our elusive abandoned locomotive.

After a fair amount of exploring we failed to turn up our prey. The area is fairly open, and being win-ter, all the leaves were off most of the brush. This made it easier to look around but still, no abandoned loco-

Yaquina Shortline-page 5

Minutes of 173rd meeting of the YPRHS called to order by President Bill Bain at 5:04 PM

Flag Salute was led by Richard Cullison Present were Bill Bain, President, Allan Preece, Treasurer, Leonard Freidberg, Lane Plotner, Glenn

Harris, Jim Webb, National Director, Richard Cullison, Vice President, Quinn Murk. Officers’ reports:No report from President, Vice president. Treasurer presented a P/L, Balance Sheet.

National Director reported receipt of material from National. Minutes of the March meeting was read and approved. MSP

Old Business. 1. Steel plates for disconnects reported. Drilling of hole for signal discussed. Locators have marked, waiting for response from GP. Motion made to authorize the construction when all parties have responded.

3.Gutter clean out by PUD, Wayne Sechrist and partner, found gutter detached from rafters. Need to find someone with a lift, possible rafter tail repair or fascia installed.

Projects Investigate/propose once a month rail use – 9 (Bill) – No action

Finish baggage car display – 4 (Glenn) – Tom, Glenn both provided diagrams for recommendation of layout. Redo doors needed, and trim needs to be installed. Some baggage and express now in proper loca-tion. New access plank made, Greg Smith and Dan Barrett formed new plank, Leonard primed and painted.

Security system – Kay Spang is waiting for the cable, Mark is still scouting a pole for one camera and light. We have all the equipment for the security system otherwise.

Time Line Display – 8 (Tom) – No action , Locomotive information board – 2 (Len) – No action Lay more track – 6 (Bill) – Need to find more ties, tie plates and joint bars. Richard was asked after

last meeting, has tie plates and may have joint bars. Document for “docent story-telling”, Tom enlisted several members to assist in the formation of a

document/hand-out. – No action yet.

New business.

Great County Yard/Garage sale April 19, 2008, Even thought he weather turned cold and wet Glenn and Bill provided the staff, and merchandise, resulted in sales of $67.25, Bill purchased 4 hollow core doors for railroad and other display uses for $20, net $47.25

Recommendation was made to work with the other three chapters, primarily the PNWC in future train shows to put out information and sell merchandise, books, tapes/cd’s, etc. General agreement .

Announcements, events, other business. May10, 2:00 PM at Waldport Senior Center, Margie Howell will talk on railroads.

No Program. Conductor on vacation. Meeting adjourned at 6:00PM. A 20 Minute Renovation? 285 miles south of Toledo on Hwy 1, sits this bobber caboose that probably dates to

early 20’s by the looks of the link & pin coupler. Conductor Tom stopped to see if the private owner was interested in parting with this antique No response yet. Make a great gift shop. It stands out in the middle of a viewing area used by local pasturing wild elk. How about a steak?

Behind the Yreka Western Depot in Yreka, California, are these two interesting narrow gauge (2 foot) rail cars (like our dis-connects under restoration). They have the same type of coupling device, link and pin. The one on the right looks like it

might have been used in a mining opera-tion. The business car below would really look nice on our Heritage Site. Maybe we need to go look for one like this?

Page 6

Yaquina Pacific Railroad Historical Society

P.O. Box 119

Toledo, Oregon 97391

UPCOMING EVENTS HERE and OUT OF AREA

• General Membership Meeting—May 18 • May 24-Sept 28– Oregon Coast Scenic RR

trips– Weekends plus Fri and Mon, July & Aug. See www.ocsr.net or call 503.842.7972 • Cruisin’ Sherwood, SP 4449 live static display during auto show, June 14, Sherwood, OR

(Myth Bustin’ ? Continued from page 4)

Alas, after spending the next half hour or so climbing into and out of the two creeks we had failed to find the subject of the old fellow’s story. This was the last trestle site that we would be exploring on this day and had failed to find any locomotive. A short time later we had arrived back at Richard’s and concluded our day’s adventure. Despite the long hike, the sore feet and the leg cramps that I was beginning to get, it had been a great way to spend the day. Tom and his Scouts had quite the outing and the boys had gained a little better appreciation for the history of the area. Their enthusiasm had never wavered.

So, had we answered the question about whether any of these rumors are true or are only myths? Not really. All we could say for sure was that we had not seen any abandoned locomotives on this day. As Richard said in parting, “it might be out there, we just haven’t found it yet.” That sounds like more days in the brush .

motive, at least not where we were. Having come to that conclusion we pondered our next move. Now, normally it would seem most logical to head back uphill to the road, probably no more than five

hundred feet above us, and back to where we had parked the rigs. However, it was still nice and sunny and a perfect day to be out in the woods. We decided to have a quick bite of food and come up with a new plan. Be-sides, we still wanted to answer the original question, myth or true story?

By this time we had spent over two hours hiking up and down the hills and in and out of the steep stream channels. We discussed the fact that the next closest railroad grade that contained old trestle sites was about a mile to the southwest, as the crow flies. While I didn’t think it possible that the fellow that had told us the story, had made it that far, that didn’t keep us from deciding to go have a look for ourselves. However, to bushwhack through the timber to reach the area would mean crossing several additional streams and ridges. This meant that we had a pretty good hike ahead of us if we decided to go to Plan C.

Conductor Tom, Richard and I kind of looked at each other out of the corners of our eyes as Tom and his young boys decided it would be fun to do. Being too stubborn to admit defeat, and not wanting to look bad in the

Scouts eyes, the three of us mustered up what may have been some slightly false enthusiasm and agreed to the plan. So, down the hill and away from the comforts of the rigs, we headed. A short while later we enter the first draw then it was up a short steep hill to the next ridge. Reaching the ridge top we took a breather. I noticed a small opening in the timber, overgrown with small alders located only a short distance up the ridge. From hav-ing worked in the area for over thirty years I figured that we were looking at the end of an old gravel road. A quick check by one of the Scouts proved my suspicions right, it was a road. And, if we hiked up this road about a mile we’d be back to where our trucks were parked! However, it was not an option. We had decided to hike cross

county to the next railroad grade and there was no turning back. So, it was downhill into the next deep canyon. Reaching the bottom several of us took advantage of the opportunity to stick our faces in the cold creek water and have a good drink. It tasted good and gave some of us the energy to head up the hill to the next ridge. If you’re keeping track that’s two steep stream channels we’ve been into and two ridges we’ve crossed since start-ing cross county.

A short time later we reached the top of the next ridge. Again, we stopped for a breather and it was at this point that Conductor Tom gave us all some valuable information. He asked us if any of our group knew where “a General would keep his Army.” None of us had an answer so he told us, “up his sleevy.” It’s a good thing at least a few of us caught on because I don’t think he had enough energy left to explain the joke.

At this point we began heading across the hill towards the final ridge where we hoped to find the next portion of old railroad grade. After crossing one last small draw we started up towards the top of the hill. With-out too much effort we were able to locate the grade. Having hiked this line several years earlier when I was documenting all the old grades, I knew that we would come to two more trestle locations before finally reaching the road that would lead us home. Maybe one of these was the one that the fellow had seen the locomotive resting. Again, myth or true story, maybe we would answer the question.

We started up, along the top of the ridge, following the route of the old grade. This segment is quite interesting as it contains several through-cuts and a couple of nice earthen fills in order to keep the rail-road bed on a continuous grade. The boys were still enthusiastic about hopefully finding our locomotive and the elders in the group (that would be Conductor Tom, Richard and me) were still finding enough energy to keep moving forward. Everything was going good.

Reaching the first of the two former trestle sites we headed into the small draw to check it out. A quick search revealed nothing so we climbed back up to the railroad grade on the far side of the creek and continued on across the hillside as we again followed the old grade. I knew that the next trestle, and the last one we would be visiting, had been a large one. Maybe that’s where we would find our abandoned engine and finally answer the question of myth or true story. (Myth Bustin’ ? Continued on back page #6)

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