This railroad leaves a special energy ingrained within the town of Independence. Although I didn't live there during the times of any operation on the Valley & Siletz, I feel a certain subtle sorrow that it's now dead. I can sense a connection to it, when walking amongst the former right of way, where traces of the line still exist in the form of wooden cross-bucks and fading crossing paint, or the dormant, rusted rails that vanish away south of the interchange. I've been interested in the V&S for some time, partially because it's akin of the rail history from my own backyard, another because it's. . . well, a [former] railroad. Does anyone here remember much of what the line was like or have any photos of it? Anyone else have a fondness for this old branch?
Tann, Welcome to Trainboard! We're glad you're here. Can you give a bit of background on this railroad? I have never heard of it.
Why, thank you. Here's the basic rundown of it: Abandoned Rails: The Valley and Siletz Railroad Hopefully it isn't uncouth to simply throw up a link in such response, but I'd imagine the above would explain it better than I could.
Tann- Welcome to TrainBoard! If I interpret that web site correctly, Valsetz was as far west as tracks ever reached? Boxcab E50
Another thought- There is a small piece of V&S history on my web site here: http://www.train-orders.com/TOUR/LogWest/LogWest.html Boxcab E50
When I was working in Salem during the winter of 2006/2007, I drove over to Independence and took several pictures of what is left of the V&S trackage (about 1/4 mile, with several SP MoW cars parked on it and an SD9 or two in storage that was occasionally leased to the Portland & Western). One of the cars is shown here: Water car: Another SP Harriman-type car, lettered for WVRR: And the aforementioned SD9: It may look like crap, but it DID run in service on PNWR.
*chuckle* Ah, it's a good, hard-worn machine. I think it still does run in service, too. It's not parked there any longer, to my knowledge. However this geep I shot back in October '09 still is... I wish the old SD9 was there now also, though.
Are you sure that's a geep? That looks lot like an SD9 to me (I say that primarily because it's 6-axle)
It applies only to EMD GP (General Purpose) series engines. Which are indeed four axles. Especially the GP7 and GP9, as those were the points of the terms origins. GP being used in slang way and pronounced as "Geep." Boxcab E50
