At home in the woods. Former log-hog McCloud 25 is right at home in the deep woods as she hauls a mixed freight along the shore of Oregon's Nehalem River toward Salmonberry on a rainy October day.
The route of the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad is former Southern Pacific track, which runs north from the old Tillamook Naval Air Station along the Pacific Coast through numerous bustling, touristy towns. When it reaches Wheeler however, the landscape changes dramatically. The railroad suddenly hooks east and runs along the Nehalem River, through the Salmonberry Canyon, leaving civilization far behind. The scene you see in this photo is quite typical of what you'd see for miles and miles on this line. It's very wet country too. If you look at the trees, there's moss growing on everything. When it's actually raining, the railroad crews have to keep a sharp eye out. Washouts and slides are a real problem. Just days before this Lerro Productions Charter, the OCSR had a slide up here, and it was thanks to some serious, last minute effort on the part of the railroad folks that we were able to bring our train into this remote wilderness area.
