Touring the Greeley Freight Station Museum Part 1
David TrussellDescription
The tour of the Oregon California and Eastern of David Trussell begins with the Rio Grande Zephyr leaving Chiloquin staging and heads to Klamath Falls. The lead F-unit is number 5771. Klamath Falls sits above the two tunnels. This town used to be one of the largest log producing areas in America. The zephyr continues past the engine facility and then passes through the Sixth Street Tunnel with the Crater Lake Brewery in the foreground. That section of yard is often occupied by three full trains interchanging traffic.
The OC&E headquarters building is located in the massive Klamath Falls Yard. Continuing through the yard, the Klamath Falls glassworks come into view. Lumber continues to be big business in Oregon and the lumber drying racks can be seen. The area called East Klamath Falls Switch features a large log unloader. Number 5771 leads the passenger train by Klamath Falls Union High. Next is a gorgeous scene at the base of Bly Mountain along the Williamson River. Coming out of Tunnel Four, the line then goes through Tunnel Five.
A lower helper pocket is where the Zephyr enters Tunnel Seven. The F-7s stand at the ready for their next job. This whole area was built with a series of switchbacks because of the difficulty in breaching Bly Mountain. Then in 1964, all of these loop tunnels were blasted out. East Sprague river is the start of a huge passing. This passing siding is shown in purple on the upper deck while East Sprague River is the opposite end of the siding. This curve continues up to 2.2% grade around Bly Mountain. High Bridge is perhaps the most scenic spot on the railroad. The tour continues in part two of this series.
Watch more from Allen Keller’s Great Model Railroad series.
The Rio Grande Zephyr leaving Chiloquin staging and heads to Klamath Falls. The lead F-unit is number 5771. Klamath Falls sits above the two tunnels. This town used to be one of the largest log-producing areas in America. The Zephyr continues past the engine facility. It then passes the Sixth Street Tunnel. That's the Crater Lake Brewery in the foreground. This section of yard is often occupied by three full trains interchanging traffic. This is the OC&E headquarters building located in the massive Klamath Falls yard. Continuing through the yard, the Klamath Falls Glassworks comes into view. This is the warehouse of finished products building. Lumber continues to be big business in Oregon. Here are the lumber drying racks. This area is called East Klamath Falls Switch. It features a large log unloader. Number 5771 leads the passenger train by Klamath Falls Union High. This gorgeous scene is at the base of Bly Mountain along the Williamson River. This is the beginning of the serpentine helix. Coming out of tunnel four, the line then goes through tunnel five. This is the lower helper pocket where the Zephyr enters tunnel seven. The F-7s stand at the ready for their next job. The tunnel down to the right is where the train was a few minutes ago. This whole area was built with a series of switchbacks because of the difficulty in breaching Bly Mountain. Then in 1964, all of these loop tunnels were blasted out. West Sprague River is the start of a huge passing siding. The passing siding is shown in purple on the upper deck. East Sprague River is the opposite end of the siding. This curve continues up to 2.2% grade around Bly Mountain. High Bridge is perhaps the most scenic spot on the railroad. Dairy is a tiny town in the midst of marvelous scenery. Having left tunnel 10, the upper helper pocket appears in view. Here is the breathtaking Windy Point trestle. This is the big Quartz Mountain curve. The Zephyr has run all the loops and now continues its climb to summit. Three section houses adjoin the summit on Quartz Mountain. The wye of the summit is not used much now that steam is gone. It was needed to turn helper engines. We'll continue this in part two.
Where can you get the detail layout of the the klamath falls area to build your own setup at home? What scale train was that zephyr?