Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad
The Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad is an American railroad company in the state of Oregon . It connects the city of Tillamook on the Pacific over a 152 km route with the Portland and Western Railroad in Shefflin (near Banks). From there, route rights provide connections to the BNSF in North Plains and to the Union Pacific Railroad in Hillsboro. The Port of Tillamook Bay company operates the railroad. In 2004 it had 13 locomotives, including a Heisler steam locomotive .
history
The company was founded in 1952 to establish a route to the former US Navy base for airships. An airfield and an industrial site were built on the base. In 1986 the company was granted route usage rights on the Southern Pacific Railroad route to Hillsboro. The line was built by the Pacific Railway & Navigation Company from 1906 to 1911. In 1915 she took over the Southern Pacific. The transport volume had decreased from 7,000 truckloads in the mid-1970s to 454 truckloads in 1986. The operation on the line took place from 1986 by the company "Rail-West" of the Root brothers.
On February 1, 1990, the State of Oregon and the Port of Tillamook Railroad acquired the route from Tillamook to Shefflin for a price of $ 2.8 million including three locomotives. From then on, the line was operated independently. In 1996, prolonged rainfall washed away over a distance of 26 km. The reconstruction of the line cost $ 12 million. The operating company has so far invested more than $ 30 million in the railway line. After further severe floods and landslides in December 2007, which washed away large parts of the route in the Salmonberry River Canyon, operations had to be stopped again. The repair costs are put at 57 million US dollars. FEMA provided US $ 44.6 million to rebuild the line . However, the port company is unable to raise the remaining funds. For the time being, the railway company will only ensure operation on the section between Banks and Cochran.
The Spirit of Oregon and the Oregon Coastline operate as tourist trains . Since the region around Tillamook is best known for the cheese produced there, the operators of the railway company came up with the idea of painting locomotive No. 101 like a Holstein cattle for advertising purposes .
Web links
- Official website
- Website POTB (Engl.)
- Comprehensive site for POTB (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on the destroyed route ( memento of the original from January 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Trains News Wire October 1, 2008
- ↑ Port of Tillamook Bay: FEMA Project Requests ( Memento of the original from May 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. As of April 28, 2010
- ^ Trains News Wire February 18, 2009
