Southern Pacific Wendling Branch
From Lane Co Oregon
In July, 2004, we explored an abandoned railroad just north of Springfield, Oregon. I had read bits and pieces about this line, but didn't make exploring it a priority until I was emailed some very interesting details by Grant James. Grant was kind enough to detail some of the abandoned bridges and mills that were in the area. One of which is the oldest surviving railroad bridge in Oregon. This I had to visit and photograph.
The Southern Pacific Wendling Branch (later called the Marcola Branch) began construction in 1896. Southern Pacific had made plans to build a railroad into the Mohawk Valley, just north of Springfield as far back as 1890. The area had lucrative timber and several mills had already begun to spring up and were begging for railroad service. One of the most historical railroad bridges in Oregon is on this branch. In 1896, crews began to assemble a structure over the McKenzie River, just north of Springfield. The structure was huge but it was not new. The bridge was 14 years old. It was first used over the Bear River, near Corrine, Utah on the Central Pacific. Later it was used by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation, although I�m not exactly clear where. In 1896, the bridge was reassembled over the McKenzie. Some sources indicate that by 1898, the line to Marcola was completed. However, newspaper accounts from that era, place the date closer to sometime after 1900 and possibly as late as 1901. The line extended to its ultimate destination, Wendling.
Wendling was a small mill town for the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company, but it wasn�t the only mill. A large mill was also located at Marcola along with several other smaller operations up and down the valley. The Wendling branch served as a mainline for several small logging railroads, which branched out on either side of the Mohawk River. Passenger trains would make two runs daily to Wendling and back until 1916, when only one run was made. As cars and roads became more prevalent, all passenger service ceased by the early 1930s. The line became exclusively a freight and logging railroad.
In 1946, the Booth Kelly Mill in Wendling closed down due to a labor dispute and then burned to the ground later the same year. This alleviated the need for the line to continue on to Wendling. The line between Marcola and Wendling, which included a bridge over the Mohawk River, was abandoned and torn out by 1948. The town died shortly there after. Southern Pacific apparently kept about 1 mile of track in place for many years afterward, including the bridge over the Mohawk River, to store cars. But the rest of the line to Wendling was torn out. After this, the line became officially known as the Marcola Branch of the Southern Pacific.
The line to Marcola survived intact due to the large Fischer Lumber mill and other small mills in the area which still justified railroad service. Southern Pacific abandoned the trackage just north of the Marcola at a point called Hyland, in 1950. In 1956, the Fischer Lumber Mill closed down and Southern Pacific lost its largest customer on the line. Traffic began to significantly drop off and it looked like the entire branch would be abandoned. By this time, the bridge over the McKenzie was extremely old and weak. Severe weight restrictions were on the bridge and only the lightest diesels could be used over the bridge. Some sources indicate that the SP replaced its steam locomotives on the line in 1951 with GE 70 ton diesels, however, steam actually may have continued to be used well into the mid 1950s.
Between 1947-1949, Weyerhaeuser opened the wood and pulp mill in Springfield. Apparently, the mill used logs harvested out of Sutherlin via the Weyerhauser Sutherline Railroad. In approximately 1960, Weyerhaeuser decided to log its property called the North McKenzie Unit of the Calapooya Tree Farm and send those logs to the Springfield Mill. The Southern Pacific Marcola branch was leased to Weyerhaeuser who then began to extend the line almost 9 additional miles via a combination of rebuilding the old Southern Pacific right of way and adding an entire new right of way to their reload area. Most logs were hauled to the reload by truck and taken the rest of the way to the mill in Springfield via the railroad.
While not cost effective to replace the long steel span over the McKenzie River, Weyerhaeuser did apparenty rebuild at least part of the next wood trestle over the McKenzie and possibly several smaller trestles along the line, including adding an entirely new trestle over the local highway to reach its reload.
Weyerhaeuser transfered most of its Sutherlin Division equipment, except locomotives, to the Springfield Division to begin work. The first Weyerhaeuser log ran from the woods to the mill on March, 8, 1962.
Weyeraeuser's Baldwin DS-4-750 diesel was last used on the Sutherlin division and might possibly have been used through early 1962 in the rebuilding and construction work on Weyerhaeuser's new line. However, by early 1962, the engine was traded to Southern Pacific for two GE 70-tonners, SP-5104 and SP 5105, because of the 80 ton weight limit on the Hayden bridge. After being renumbered No. 104 and No. 105, these would remain with the Weyerhaeuser Springfield Division for most its operating years. In 1977, Weyerhaeuser added an ex- Southern Pacific GE 70-tonner, No. 5100 to the operation. It was renumbered No. 2901. In 1983, they purchased two more GE70 tonners, from British Columbia Hydro, No. 940 and No. 942. No. 940 was stripped of all usable parts, while No. 942 was put into service and renumbered No. 2918. By this time, Weyerhaeuser No. 105 was retired and stripped for parts. No. 104 was completely rebuilt in 1984.
Weyerhaeuser also employed an ex-Southern Pacific wood caboose, which was last used on the Weyerhaeuser Sutherlin division. It was an SP C-30-C class, built in 1929 last numbered SP-159. Apparently Weyerhaeuser saved the caboose after the Springfield Division closed down and put it on display inside the Weyerhaeuser Springfield Mill for use as museum, however it's not clear if it's still there.
By 1987, it was all over. The line closed for good on September 3, 1987. It was scrapped in from November 1987 into early 1988.
When John and I visited the area, we first discovered that the McKenzie River bridge is very much still in existence. The tracks are long gone and the grade is heavily grown over, but the bridge looks to be in extremely good condition for its age. It was probably last repainted not long before it was abandoned. Both ends of the bridge are fenced off, as the decking is nowhere near safe to walk on. This bridge is the oldest railroad bridge still standing in Oregon, and probably the entire Northwest, if you only factor in the age of the structure itself (1882). The location of the bridge dates to between 1896 and 1900.
The next structure we found was a very interesting mid level trestle over the Mohawk River. Some of the trestle decking was removed, probably to discourage people from walking over it, but it�s mostly intact. I�m not sure of the date of this structure. The original bridge here was a covered trestle. Weyerhaeuser appears to have rebuilt it, removing the covered portion around 1961.
The next major bridge was in Mohawk. But to our disappointment, it was removed. Grant James mentioned this was steel plate girder bridge. I imagine it was later removed for scrap. In Marcola, we found the remains of the Fischer Mill. The property is mostly fenced off and has a number of concrete structures remaining, but not much else. Just north of here, the line used to cut directly east, over the Mohawk River and into the town of Wendling. Grant said that the pilings to this bridge still exist, but we didn�t stop to look for them. Instead, we headed straight to Wendling. We didn�t find much remaining. A historic covered road bridge exists here, which dates to 1938, but not much else. We found several concrete structures in a creek near the mill site. The mill site was totally overgrown. A sign indicates that Weyerhaeuser replanted it in 1989.
From Wendling, we continued north and followed the grade that Weyerhaeuser built in 1961. This grade was pretty obvious along the entire route. It doesn�t appear to have been turned into a road, so it was very overgrown except for a few small sections. About 5 miles north of Marcola, the line cuts almost directly east over the county road to its reload station. At first we couldn�t find the bridge that crossed the county road, but soon we found the site. Very little exists and the trestle is long gone, completely torn out by Weyerhaeuser. The grade continues east and is pretty easy to follow from the county road that parallels it. Weyerhaeuser has the road gated off just before the reload station, so this pretty much ended our exploration of the line.
While very little remains north of the McKenzie River bridge and the first Mohawk River trestle, however just those two historic structures, made this line very much worth exploring. Thanks again to Grant James for the information and the motivation to come out and take a look.
Sources:
Special thanks to Jeff Moore for several major corrections and updates. Check out his McCloud Rails and High Desert Rails websites.
Special thanks to Curis Irish, local historian
"Southern Pacific in Oregon" by Austin/Dill - 1987
�The Last Rocket�, Weyerhaeuser�s Springfield Woods Railroad - 1990 (via Jeff Moore)
�Weyerhaeuser Springfield� by Ed Collar Jr., July 1986 (via Jeff Moore)[1]
