The
Medford Corporation ran
on the rails of the former Pacific & Eastern through the
1930's. Eventually Medco and other lumber and business interests
in the Rogue Valley became frustrated with the iron grip the Southern
Pacific had on freight traffic in the area. These companies began
to reconsider a rail line over the Cascades tying in with the Great
Northern. When the Great Northern got wind of these plans, it
took another look at completing the Pacific & Eastern and offered
financial assistance in exchange for preferred interchange in Klamath
Falls. It came as little surprise that Weyerhaeuser
Timber Company's West Block Lines, radiating out of Keno toward Buck
Lake, came within thirty miles of Medco's lines heading southeast
out of Butte Falls. Weyerhaeuser was contacted and it was agreed
that the Great Northern and Rogue Valley interests would form a common
carrier railroad
and take over certain Weyerhaeuser lines in exchange for handling
Weyerhaeuser log trains to Keno and Klamath Falls. By 1940, money
had been raised, a route surveyed and construction begun. <Map of the Pacific & Eastern> As
the
United States entered World War II, the Pacific & Eastern entered
Klamath Falls.
Over the years improvements were made. Grades and curves,
acceptable on a logging line had to be eased for the P&E.
Heavier rail and additional ballast was installed. The railroad
was rebuilt to allow 25 mph freight service and 35 mph passenger
trains. In the winter of 1942, a slide took out 450 feet of main
line on a cut west of Summit and a westbound freight was unable to
stop, the engineer and fireman perishing. The following year, a
heavy eastbound failed to stop on the grade into Keno and collided
head-on with a fast westbound, again with tragic loss of life. A
decision was made to install Automatic Block Signals in the mountainous
part of the P&E in order to detect slides, other trains and track
defects.
1989 was last full year that Medco operated its plywood and saw mills
in Medford and is the year we've chosen to set our model of the Pacific
& Eastern. Business is good, there's lots of timber and
lumber moving as well as other freight. The Great Northern has
become the Burlington Northern and the P&E interchanges with them
as well as the Southern Pacific. P&E shippers enjoy a choice
of routes out of Klamath Falls: BN's Inside Gateway to Stockton, CA.
and points south; BN's Oregon Trunk to Wishram, WA. with connections
east and west; and SP's Modoc Line to Nevada and points east. In
Medford, the P&E interchanges with the SP's Siskiyou Line with some
traffic to and from the California and Oregon Coast* in Grants
Pass.
*The California and Oregon Coast
was once envisioned to connect Grants Pass, OR with Crescent City,
CA. While it actually only made it as far as Waters Creek, just
west of Wilderville, OR, in our scenario, it was completed to Crescent
City, which has become a secondary west coast port.
