Photo # sb01
As of November 1, 2005, operation of the Klamath Falls to Alturas segment, the last remaining part of the northern end of what was once Southern Pacific's Modoc line, will transfer to the Modoc Northern Railroad.
On the foggy morning of October 27, 2005, UP #300 heads from Klamath Falls to Stronghold to pick up a string of stored cars and get them off the property prior to Modoc Northern Railroad taking over operations the line on November 1. In the first picture, she is approaching the crossing at Lombardy Lane just south of Kingsley Field.
Photo # sbCrossing
The GP38-2 shows a bit of its Southern Pacific heritage -- or perhaps two of her engine room doors have been replaced with older ones? (Pace shot - sorry about the telephone pole, radio antenna and bugs on the windshield!)
Photo # sbElliot
At MP 543, a short spur serves Sam Wong's potato warehouse. This location was the site of a tragic accident on the afternoon of September 17, 1991 after a maintenance-of- way worker left the switch lined into the siding. A train, Southern Pacific's extra 6829, was running at track speed and by the time the engineer and fireman were able to see that the switch was in the wrong position it was too late. The train entered the siding at speed and quickly ran out of track. The locomotives plowed across the county road adjacent to Wong's Potatoes and dug a furrow deep into the field on the south side of the road. The second unit was destroyed and seventeen of the train's thirty-eight cars derailed behind the engines, some of them striking Wong's plant. The crew was uninjured, as were the workers at the potato warehouse, but unfortunately a transient riding the train was killed. There is a photo of this accident on page 252 of the book, The Modoc: Southern Pacific's Backdoor to Oregon, by Jack Bowden and Tom Dill, published by OSO Publishing Company, 2002.
Here, the 300 passes Wong's on its way to Merrill.
Photo # sbatChinRd
In the next shot, she crosses the state line into California at Hatfield.
Photo # sbStatelineRd
Passing through Tule Lake, California:
Photo # sbTuleLake
Crossing the BNSF at Stronghold:
Photo # upbnsfStronghold
More UP in 2005 on next page
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