Rayonier's steam operations officially ended with an open house at Railroad Camp, near Humptulips WA on 3-31-62. There was still some steam operation until sometime in 1967, but the main show, with daily steam powered log trains was over, as the diesels came on the property.

I recently acquired a group of negatives taken at RR Camp in the early 60's, including several shots on that fateful day. Here's the first of the series, taken early in the morning.



One of my favorite photos in this bunch is of Rayonier's 2-8-2 No. 90, on display that day. She is now on display in Garibaldi Oregon.



Rayonier put on quite a show for the railfans, lots of cameras out that day!



Here's #70 a couple months earlier, at Railroad Camp.



It will be nice to see her running again, up at Mt. Rainier Scenic!


My first visit was in 1964. By this time #120 and I think 14, were on the deadline, looking pretty sad. 110, 111 and 38 were still shiny and the 111 and 38 were hot, but just sitting. I never got to see any of them in operation at Rayonier.

A few years later, I finally got to see a Rayonier engine in operation, # 70 was double heading with Weyerhaeuser #6 at Snoqualmie. This photo is by my long gone friend, Jack Anderson. Shot in very dim light, it's not real sharp, but all the action makes up for it!

Very cool, thank you for posting that...

49 Years later (and awaiting some additional test runs before the installation of jacketing).



Restoration work on Baldwin 2-8-2 #70 has recently reached the point where the locomotive is operational. The Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad shop crew did an amazing job, and the engine looks and runs great! Some final restoration work remains to be completed after her test runs, the most obvious of which is installing lagging and the boiler jacket.

And today would be the 50th anniversary.

I'll be sure and give #70 and the #2 a pat on the flank when I see them later today.

Got me looking, and here is some video footage from YouTube:

Somebody's home movie footage, and with sound! Check out the two guys riding on the tender. It also seems strange to see a "new" 1962 Chevy with regular, in-service, non-tourist steam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NAcuyS_vjs

A preview of a commercial video on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmniR8zi ... re=related

A beautiful operation. . .

MRSR did a really nice job with the 70...she is a real pleasure to listen to and ride behind.
Rayonier's other operation, the Clallam line out of Sekiu, continued to use 2-6-6-2T 8 as a spare and in work train service through the summer of 1964. This operation called it quits in 1974 if I have the date correct.

Also some good Rayonier films here by D. Wilkie. Engine #70 (pictured above) appears about half way into the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idByoo-prFU

#70 was sleeping peacefully in the "rod house" today, but she'll be back in service soon as our 2012 season warms up. She may even be running next weekend, I'm not sure if she's pulling the Easter Train or the Willamette will do the honors. They're both Rayonier locos, so I guess either one is fitting (#70 is currently lettered for Polson Logging)

Also, in a fitting coincidence, #70 graces the cover of this month's Trains Magazine, and also a full page shot on Page #18.

http://trn.trains.com/Magazine/Issue%20 ... Video.aspx

Thanks to FLO, for finding more footage on the late steam era at Rayonier.

Other than seeing the whole of the "End of an Era" film by Rayonier, I'm not too familiar with the operation. It's mentioned as a steam holdout in Kramer Adams' "Logging Railroads of the West" (1960), and we now recall the 50th anniversary of the end of steam operations in 1962, but I don't know how much longer the line ran after that, or if it even still runs today.

One interesting thing from the "End of an Era" film is that the line was isolated from direct outside rail connections, that it had to rely on barges to get equipment in or out.

The film also mentions that the railroad practically had to be rebuilt to handle what were apparently much heavier diesels, despite the reputation steam had for requiring better track and bridges!

Finally, I must also thank and congratulate Bob Harbison and the people he works with who keep these and other Pacific Northwest steam engines around. Keep it up, keep it up. . .we never have enough operating steam engines, and that's no April Fool's joke, not from me. . .

Thank you on behalf of the MRSR. I typically work on the operations end of things, along with doing a lot of photography, rather than in the shop, so I'm not the one who deserves credit for the excellent restoration work on this engine.

The work literally took years, and Brian Wise and Stathi, along with many volunteers finally got the project completed, and did an amazing job of it. They're the ones who made this happen, and they do some wonderful work.