Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

You can thank my friends on the DeLorean forum for me finding this. They didn't point me to it but I discovered it after they referenced a DeLorean parked in the woods which was barely visible on street view. From there I decided to go exploring and found this line which appears to be a flurry of non-railroad activity. Almost every crossing seen on GSV here has the crossing cabinet doors open and/or a maintenance truck present. Many had their gates removed and the mechanisms turned to the side. The FRA hasn't had an update on this line since 1994, but check this out:

Before - Mechanical bell, gateless, 8" lights.

After - New cantilever, 12x24" LEDs and a GS E-bell.

And speaking of activity... Here is a brand new set of median signals, ladder propped against them. These signals or their bases are clearly not visible in the original view.

Even weirder is this. If you look at this crossing, it's got brand new concrete grades, signals and the tracks leading up to the crossing look pristine. But go two crossings to the southeast and it's so overgrown you can't tell there are even tracks. See here.

Do any of our California members know anything about this line? Clearly it is in the process of being re-born but any details?

Thanks

Well, if it's being reborn, that's a good thing. The more train routes, the better!

That appears to be the Northwestern Pacific line that's being reopened since it was washed out 5 years ago.

Also, look at these signals farther up to the north:

At Willits, there's this crossing which was gated, but all that left are cantilever frames, with a hybrid bell on each one.

I wonder why they left the bells to rust away, but took everything else?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 5,,0,-3.93


Up to the north in Fortuna, south of Eureka, there's a triangle gate with a teardrop bell, rusting away!

On the other side of the crossing, there's a very tall gate mast.
Must have some strong ocean winds there.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 4,,0,-4.28

luke wrote:That appears to be the Northwestern Pacific line that's being reopened since it was washed out 5 years ago.

Yup. Thats the Nowrthwestern Pacifc. The expect traffic to resume this fall.

bnsfc44 wrote:

luke wrote:That appears to be the Northwestern Pacific line that's being reopened since it was washed out 5 years ago.

Yup. Thats the Nowrthwestern Pacifc. The expect traffic to resume this fall.

Very cool. Will it just be freight or a commuter rail of some sort?

I can only hope the POTB will be reopened within such a short period of time but knowing Oregon's crooked government, that isn't too likely to happen.

AndrewFields wrote:Very cool. Will it just be freight or a commuter rail of some sort?

I can only hope the POTB will be reopened within such a short period of time but knowing Oregon's crooked government, that isn't too likely to happen.

Plans are for it to carry commuter trains up to Santa Rosa, and have freight along the whole line.

As for the POTB, I have some news about it.

It won't be abandoned. The segment of the line up to Cochran will be in regular service, due to there being a lumber mill there.

As for service in Tillamook, there's talk of doing a carload facility in Toledo or in Astoria, though for the latter a couple of washouts on the O/S segment of the Astoria branch will need replacing.