The local barber that has cut my hair since I was a child told me a story some time ago about the conversion to trucks. His dad went to work for SVRy in 1947 driving one of the new trucks. He said the trucks had to often run 24 hours a day to keep up with the lumber to be hauled. He said a trip over Dooley Mtn. in the winter at night with deep snow and mud was quite an ordeal. He said the headlights on the trucks weren't much. He said his dad would turn his lights out briefly when approaching a curve on the narrow mostly one lane mtn. road to ascertain whether another truck was approaching hopefully catching a gleam from the headlights. SV Cartoad has also said that Floyd Carpenter SVRy's master mech. then superintendant said after it was too late to turn back they realized it was a mistake to abandon the rr. This is perhaps the most agonizing aspect of the demise of the mainline to me. Many NG shortlines outlived their usefulness, but in this case abandonment proved to be a mistake. It makes one wonder if we might have had mallets running into the 1960's had this error not been made.
Incidently Martin's first photo shows the highway and rr from the opposite direction as the earlier shot of the mallet on the trestle (red bridge) The pinacle of rock along the highway on the ledge is what has been blasted away to make room for a full width highway on the rr ROw.
The shot of 16 at the tank is interesting as earlier shots of this tank show a trestle work bringing water across the Powder river from the creek in the canyon on the other side. This photo shows a frost box as if the piping was put underground and maybe dug under the river bed. Across the river and up the canyon there are some remains of the water diversion for the tank.
Thanks Martin. Martin would you please contact me backchannel about some photos you might be interested in.
