Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad

Formation

The line to Tillamook was constructed by the Pacific Railway and Navigation Company (reporting mark PR&N) between 1906–1911. The Pacific Railway and Navigation Company, was sometimes known as the "Punk, Rotten, and Nasty" because of the wet and muddy working conditions for crews building the railroad through the Coast Range. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SP) took control of the company in 1915, and the line became the Tillamook Branch.

In 1943, the United States Navy established a short branch line within Tillamook to serve Naval Air Station Tillamook. The Port of Tillamook Bay created the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad in 1952 to assume operation from the Navy.

Storms

In January 1990, the railroad was significantly damaged by a storm, and the cost of repairs was about $1.3 million. In February 1990, after having leased the railroad, the Port of Tillamook Bay purchased it from the Southern Pacific Transportation Company for nearly $2.9 million.

In February 1996, more storms damaged the Hillsboro–Tillamook line. About 7 miles (11 km) of line was "nearly completely destroyed", two bridges washed out, and the flooding Salmonberry River washed "boulders the size of cars" through one of the line's tunnels. A preliminary estimate of the damage, given by the Oregon Department of Transportation, was $5 million. In March, Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, convinced that repairing the railroad would not harm steelhead runs, permitted repairs to continue through the end of the month. In June, the state determined that the Port of Tillamook Bay had violated state environmental laws, such as by failing to control erosion in the Salmonberry River canyon.

2007 storm and shutdown of the railroad

During a storm on December 2 and 3, 2007, known as the Great Coastal Gale, the railroad was again significantly damaged in the Salmonberry River canyon. The cost of repairs to the railroad was first estimated at $20 million. Tillamook County logging companies faced increased costs because they had to transport timber by truck.

When the repair cost estimate was revised to $57.3 million, fisheries groups suggested permanently abandoning the railroad because they thought "that economically, the railroad is not viable, and environmentally, rebuilding it would affect fish runs already hammered by last winter's storms". Workers began assessing the railroad damage in February 2008 in snowy, rugged terrain, and found that the flooding Salmonberry River had eroded steep embankments, damaging tunnels and collapsing trestles and bridges. Later that year, they hiked as far as 18 miles (29 km) each day to the canyon to further assess the damage. The Port of Tillamook Bay opted to not repair the damaged track over the mountains, but it still owns more than 101 miles (163 km) of railroad right-of-way, including main line, spurs, and sidings.

The port also leases a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) section of track from Banks to Hillsboro to the Portland and Western Railroad (P&W; PNWR) and leases the coastal portion of the line to the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (OHCR).

The following locomotives listed here are locomotives used by the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad (POTB). Most of which were scrapped at the Tillamook Air Museum based in Tillamook, Oregon.

Accidents and incidents

On the night of January 28-29, 1999, POTB SD9E #4381 was hauling a string of freight cars from one track to another at Cochran Summit Wye in Timber, Oregon, when the locomotive crashed into a tree. The locomotive was retired and scrapped in April 1999.