Maybe it is just me, but that river looks awfully narrow to be the Columbia....

Charlott on 27th March 2015 @ 7:10am

Fun Friday for Arlen!!

And a Mystery Monday to solve where this is taking place. Because of the pilings in the river, I think it could be the Columbia. That isn't an island on the right so could this just be a slough?

L.E. on 27th March 2015 @ 7:29am

Interesting place for a switch and spur or siding...

I dunno, folks, any chance this is from somewhere completely different? Perhaps Arlen knows of another NPR? Looks awful coast-like to me - no gorge bluffs, clear low horizon, the sand, almost tidal inlet? just my inflated two cents...

spinsur on 27th March 2015 @ 8:15am

Cannot be in the gorge, the SP&S was completed with tie plates between rail and tie, this photo has none.

Kenn on 27th March 2015 @ 10:59am

I see no binders, cables or chains on the loads, I would guess this to be on a private logging line rather than a mainline.

Kenn on 27th March 2015 @ 11:41am

But Kenn, would they use a caboose on a logging road?

spinsur on 27th March 2015 @ 12:03pm

Interesting hillside to the left with no brush or trees. Looks like more than one slide occurred in this area.
The stream in the background looks like it has several meanders which along with its size indicates rather slow moving water. Doesn't look like a lot of debris comes down the river. The river bank beach looks fairly clean 10-20 feet away from the body of water. There some debris further up the hill but not much. The body of water is an impoundment or subject to tidal action.

NPR had thousand of miles of trackage, from the Midwest to the West Coast but my guess is aligns with Spinsur. Maybe up around the Puget Sound area.
The pilings in the water are a mystery to me.

Given the lay of the land I would like to agreed with Spinsur that has the broad flat valley look you get near a coast.

LMH on 27th March 2015 @ 12:29pm

Arthur...where did you get the photo?
I agree with Spinsur, in that the body of water has a tidal flat look.

L.E. on 27th March 2015 @ 1:10pm

This is from a collection which is 90%+ Vancouver WA. and environs. When I said "north side of the Columbia River" I didn't mean it was necessarily the shore of the Columbia itself, though this does have the feel of some of the sloughs around Washougal/ Camas to me.

Arthur on 27th March 2015 @ 1:47pm

I was guessing that the picture might have been taken next to some sort of higher elevation mill pond. The trees aren't very large and look more like species that you would find at the 3000 4000' elevation at this latitude.

The tender looks to be completely full of coal so they are likely near their base area.

The pilings may have been used to help sort the logs if this is a mill/log storage pond.

What is the cable or rope running across the closer side of the pond there for?

Longshot on 27th March 2015 @ 1:50pm

Where would they have a supply of coal?

L.E. on 27th March 2015 @ 2:59pm

Hauling coal to run steam engines (mobile and stationary) was a big business for the railroads. Many railroads owned extensive areas of the coal fields both in the Appalachians and in the plains states. I would guess that some coal may have arrived on the west coast by ship as well.

Longshot on 27th March 2015 @ 5:39pm

I just noticed that the engine is just entering or leaving a switch depending on whether he is going forward or is reversing. Maybe the switch is at the entrance to a rail yard of some sort?

Longshot on 27th March 2015 @ 5:43pm

Spinsur, most if not all logging pikes used cabooses, normally wood cabs retired fom mainline RRs. As to location, no clue as NP had thousands of miles of rail.

Kenn on 27th March 2015 @ 6:40pm

I wondered about access to coal because Washington had extensive coal mining at Chehalis and Black Diamond. I thought that might limit where the photo was located, but Pacific Coast Coal shipped to Portland, Spokane and Alaska.
NPR made agreements with lumber companies in the Tacoma area to transport their logs.
Work was done by engines like #924. She doesn't look exactly like this one, but similar.
I would like to go see her when she is restored and I am not even a big train fan, like of you around here.

"Built in 1899 by the Rogers Locomotive Works as their serial number 5425, she was built for the St. Paul & Duluth RR as their #74. She later was purchased by the Northern Pacific who renumbered her as their #924. She was part of the L-5 class of NP locomotives that served as yard goats all over the NP system.
This engine was deemed to be surplus by the NP in the 1920's and was sold to the Inland Empire Paper Co. of Spokane, Washington. In this role #924 at IEP #924 was "discovered" by rail fans in the 1930's and was often photographed by them going about her duties at the IEP plant. …By the late 1950's … #924 was kept as standby for the new diesel that had been purchased to replace her. She was retired in the late 1950's and kept in storage at IEP until 1969 when she was donated by IEP for preservation.
Initially #924 was taken to Chehalis, WA where she was preserved and even operated on rare occasions. Finally she became part of the collection of steam and trolley equipment at Snoqualmie, WA where she is today."

L.E. on 27th March 2015 @ 9:52pm

Arthur...can you read any kind of number on the front of the engine?

L.E. on 28th March 2015 @ 11:23am

The NP line from Chehalis to Raymond and South Bend had mostly log traffic. It followed the Chehalis and Willapa rivers, and the Willapa is about this size near the coast.

Kenn on 28th March 2015 @ 3:56pm

The locomotive has the number "5" right on the front of the boiler. The engineer is in the cab looking at the camera, as is a crew member who is standing between the locomotive and the coal tender. There's a switch right even with the cow catcher, so they must have been stopped to set the switch.

Arthur on 28th March 2015 @ 8:23pm

I'm worn out looking at train engines and western Washington logging companies. I didn't learn much because I still don't know if this engine is a Baldwin, Shay or Mikado.
I thought this bit of history was interesting. It applies more to Washington than Oregon history.

"On January 3,1900, railroad magnate James J. Hill (1838-1916) sells 900,000 acres (1,406 square miles) of Washington state timber lands to Frederick Weyerhaeuser (1834-1914) for $5,400,000. This is “one of the largest single land transfers in American annals.”

The story about the two neighbors, one a railroad man and one a timber man and the deal they worked out in their St Paul living rooms.
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5241

If this photo is of a drained mill pond, is it possible the "slide" area was actually a log dump?

L.E. on 30th March 2015 @ 6:13am