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Post-Winterail Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad Excursion with McCloud Railway 25 3/20/2016 Part 2

We all reboarded the train.

The RDC has a face you can only love!

Steve Barry now aboard our train.

Elizabeth posed for a picture.

The eyes are always watching!

The train now heads north to our photo runbys at the Nehalem River Bridge.

Chris Parker and Bob Riskie.

We are leaving Wheeler behind us.

The Nehalem River.

A recent mud slide came down this hill.

The remains covers the siding.

The train crossed the Nehalem River on a 707 foot long single truss structure. This was my first time detraining for a photo from a railroad bridge and we all walked down into the floodplain to form a photo line.

Reverse move at the Nehalem River bridge.

Photo Runby 1.

Reverse move 2.

Photo Runby 2, after which everyone returned to the train.

McCloud Railway 25 waited for the passengers.

The last of our passengers making their way back to the train. Once aboard we departed for Garibaldi.

We travelled along Nehalem Bay to Wheeler.

McCloud Railway 25 cut off our train to run around it at Wheeler.

The engine made it by the train on the siding but then the switch lock would not work.

A nice location for a picture. I suggested that if someone hit the bottom with a rock, it would probably shake the tumblers and the lock will work. Someone on the ground heard me and went and did just that.

Still waiting. The crew finally managed to unlock the switch.

The engine reversed onto the mainline.

The engine coupled onto our train and after an air test we started back to Garibaldi. I relaxed and talked with Elizabeth on the return trip. We were almost back when an air hose between the RDC and open car came undone. It took a few minutes to reconnect it and soon we were on the way back.

One last picture of my old friend, McCloud Railway 25. It had been a fantastic trip aboard the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad but now I had to get back to the Portland Airport. I was first off the train and out of their parking lot onto US 101 and was on my way leaving Garibaldi at 1:48 PM.

I drove carefully over the coast mountains and then onto their freeway system and made my way back to the airport and returned the rental car. I obtained my boarding passes and went through security pre-screened which was very quick and nice. I found Chris at his gate and we talked before I walked over to my gate and waited to board my flight to Sacramento.

We boarded this flight and were warned about a bumpy ride. It was not too bad but there were clouds all the way to Sacramento where I arrived safely. I called my friend Robin Bowers with the news that we would be leaving twenty minutes late.

I boarded this flight which made up time and it was a smooth ride and we came straight from the south tonight, something I had never done before. Once on the ground, I called Robin who was at Interstate 405 and Euclid Avenue, so I walked outside and when I arrived, he pulled up and we were off for home, arriving before 11:00 PM. It had been a great Winterail trip to Corvallis, Oregon and yes I will be there in 2017.

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