01-01-2011, 12:27 PM
My initial assignment was to a Coast Guard ship home ported in Coos Bay, Oregon. Driving out there was the 1st time I had ever been west of the Mississippi by car. I was smitten by the Blue Mountains and the names of places in Oregon as we drove through there. So I developed a history and concept for the Picture Gorge & Western Railway. As I learned more about Oregon, I anchored the western terminal of the PG&W at Tillamook Head, and it would be built eastward from there. The only problem was that my version of Tillamook Head kept looking more and more like Coos Bay. The initial concept (in 1975) was to start the layout in 1875 and move it forward in time one year for each year until I got to 1925. My ambitions were far bigger than my achievements. Family and life happened.
By the late 1990s, the Lionel phase for the kids was pretty much over. Being stationed in Alaska had rekindled my interest in narrow gauge. But before I built anything, we moved to the Bay Area of Northern California. There I discovered the rich history and a confirmed interest in dog hole schooners and lumbering. I conceived of a narrow gauge lumbering line delivering the logs to a mill at or near a dog hole port, and then taking the lumber to the port for delivery to the schooners. Putting dates on the lumbering operation, I came up with 1900. Knuckle couplers and air brakes could be justified, and a few sailing schooners would still be in service. The remaining issue was how to link the narrow gauge with the Picture Gorge & Western.
So I looked through the topographic maps for the Oregon coast, looking for a dog hole harbor at the base of some cliffs. It couldn't be too much further north than Southern Oregon because of the transport distance of the lumber to San Francisco (the primary market). And coastal redwoods didn't extend that far into Oregon. At the time, Douglas Fir was considered an inferior wood to the coastal redwood. I remembered during my Oregon assignment visiting the Port Orford harbor. Then it all fell into place. Port Orford cedar was prized and valued above redwood, especially for mine shoring, upscale construction, and boat building in California (and Japan). The extra sailing distance from San Francisco could be justified by the premium price for Port Orford cedar - which only grows in a small area near Port Orford. A study of the topographic maps showed the current small boat harbor at the base of some cliffs. Go back in imaginary time, and there was a rail-served pier for the dog hole schooners. A switchback would lead the narrow gauge line up the cliffs. The same topo maps showed remains of dams for log ponds on the nearby Elk River. So the mill would be the Elk River, and the river would be the path into the stands of Port Orford cedar, Alaska yellow cedar, coastal redwood, and Douglas fir. Even back then, Myrtlewood, which also grew in the area, would be harvested and used for items like bowls and plates due to the tight grain.
The PG&W port was moved to the western end of Coos Bay - which is now Charleston. Although Charleston has an easier bar crossing than any other harbor between Seattle and San Francisco, the prevailing fog stymied development of Charleston in the age of working sail. In my 1900, Charleston is a fishing village, with aspirations of someday being more, especially if the PG&W ever becomes the transcontinental it dreams of being. The route of the PG&W would be the southern route that was actually surveyed but never built from Coos Bay to Roseburg. At Roseburg, the PG&W interchanges with the Oregon & California (in my alternate world the SP never took over the O&C). I transplanted the town of Lebanon to a western tributary of the Umpqua River as it flows north to Roseburg. Lebanon would be where the narrow gauge and standard gauge lines would meet. I chose the name Lebanon for the town because of the "tall cedars of Lebanon" Biblical reference.
That's the where and the why of the
Picture Gorge & Western Railway - ....None more picturesque!
Port Orford & Elk River Railway & Navigation Co - Home of the Tall Cedars
Fred W
....modeling foggy coastal Oregon, where it's always 1900....
By the late 1990s, the Lionel phase for the kids was pretty much over. Being stationed in Alaska had rekindled my interest in narrow gauge. But before I built anything, we moved to the Bay Area of Northern California. There I discovered the rich history and a confirmed interest in dog hole schooners and lumbering. I conceived of a narrow gauge lumbering line delivering the logs to a mill at or near a dog hole port, and then taking the lumber to the port for delivery to the schooners. Putting dates on the lumbering operation, I came up with 1900. Knuckle couplers and air brakes could be justified, and a few sailing schooners would still be in service. The remaining issue was how to link the narrow gauge with the Picture Gorge & Western.
So I looked through the topographic maps for the Oregon coast, looking for a dog hole harbor at the base of some cliffs. It couldn't be too much further north than Southern Oregon because of the transport distance of the lumber to San Francisco (the primary market). And coastal redwoods didn't extend that far into Oregon. At the time, Douglas Fir was considered an inferior wood to the coastal redwood. I remembered during my Oregon assignment visiting the Port Orford harbor. Then it all fell into place. Port Orford cedar was prized and valued above redwood, especially for mine shoring, upscale construction, and boat building in California (and Japan). The extra sailing distance from San Francisco could be justified by the premium price for Port Orford cedar - which only grows in a small area near Port Orford. A study of the topographic maps showed the current small boat harbor at the base of some cliffs. Go back in imaginary time, and there was a rail-served pier for the dog hole schooners. A switchback would lead the narrow gauge line up the cliffs. The same topo maps showed remains of dams for log ponds on the nearby Elk River. So the mill would be the Elk River, and the river would be the path into the stands of Port Orford cedar, Alaska yellow cedar, coastal redwood, and Douglas fir. Even back then, Myrtlewood, which also grew in the area, would be harvested and used for items like bowls and plates due to the tight grain.
The PG&W port was moved to the western end of Coos Bay - which is now Charleston. Although Charleston has an easier bar crossing than any other harbor between Seattle and San Francisco, the prevailing fog stymied development of Charleston in the age of working sail. In my 1900, Charleston is a fishing village, with aspirations of someday being more, especially if the PG&W ever becomes the transcontinental it dreams of being. The route of the PG&W would be the southern route that was actually surveyed but never built from Coos Bay to Roseburg. At Roseburg, the PG&W interchanges with the Oregon & California (in my alternate world the SP never took over the O&C). I transplanted the town of Lebanon to a western tributary of the Umpqua River as it flows north to Roseburg. Lebanon would be where the narrow gauge and standard gauge lines would meet. I chose the name Lebanon for the town because of the "tall cedars of Lebanon" Biblical reference.
That's the where and the why of the
Picture Gorge & Western Railway - ....None more picturesque!
Port Orford & Elk River Railway & Navigation Co - Home of the Tall Cedars
Fred W
....modeling foggy coastal Oregon, where it's always 1900....