MNRR: OTH-B radar station's train ride

April 20, 2007

Excerpts from my one-existing page documenting the Over The Horizon Backscatter Radar receive station near Perez:

"Part of what was once arguably the world's largest radar system, the Over The Horzon Backscatter Radar (OTH-B) facilities near Christmas Valley, Oregon (transmitter) and Tulelake, California (receiver) are now part of Cold War memories."

"April 20, 2007: Demolition crews have been busy at the radar site.  They have torn down all three 65 ft. high x 8,000 ft. long backscreens with their 549 supporting towers and framework.  As of this writing, the wire screens (think hogwire fence stretched across three, 1-1/2 mile long, 65 foot tall fences) are now nothing but mountains of spaghetti piled up on the field of one of the receivers.

"The steel towers and framework that once stood tall and proud have been chopped into bite-sized pieces and neatly stacked in several piles. An excavator with an electromagnet was standing by to load the now-scrap steel into a semi-trailer dump truck, and a section of the wooden fence at one end of Sector 4 has been removed, replaced with a chain link gate for vehicular access.

"UPDATE 6/12/07: All but one pile of the scrap has been hauled to a railroad reload site at Perez siding and is being transloaded into gondola cars for shipment to a scrap yard/recycler. The acres of ground screen have been disturbed in all three segments but has not yet been pulled up. The fences and remains of the concrete footings for the towers still remain."

Perhaps I will rebuild the OTH-B part of my website someday, after all my railroad photos are reinstated.  Or maybe not.  I doubt if many railfans would be interested in techonology of the Cold War Era.  If I'm wrong, let me know.  Feel free to email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Here is what Perez looked like on April 20, 2007.  Map location

Cars loaded with Pumice wait to be picked up at Perez

What remains of the OTH-B Radar receive antennae from the nearby former Tulelake AFS location

Empty covered hoppers waiting to be loaded with pumice from Glass Mountain in Tionesta while a semi with a dump trailer brings in another load of scrap steel to be loaded into gondolas waiting at the wye.

Next: 700 pit stop at Malone

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