Category Archives: Jeepin’

CORP Job #701 ~ Weed to Black Butte

Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad (CORP) has an Engine  in Weed, CA  (GP38-3 #3809) that switches the local mills, and trades out cars with the Union Pacific RR  from the junction at Black Butte, CA.

CORP runs on the older, more mountainous, former Southern Pacific Siskiyou Line, Union Pacific runs on newer, less mountainous,  former Southern Pacific “Natron Cutoff” mainline. The two meet near Weed, CA at Black Butte, just off of the South Weed exit of I-5. There is an old water tower there and there used to be an old water spout for filling the tenders, until a misfortunate accident involving an Amtrak train and some cars fouling the main line, causing the Amtrak to derail and wipe out the old spigot.

Read more about the history of Black Butte Yard/Jctn.  here

It is a rare thing indeed to actually see the job #701 in action when you have to travel 80 miles and only get down there once or twice a year or so. Northern California recently had storm after storm dump tons of snow in the area, and I was anxious to get down there and get some train/snow shots (actually, my Jeep was threatening to cut me off if we didn’t go play.) It was just by luck that I was there about 5 minutes before it arrived at Black Butte. It must first climb around a steep grade to get there and I could hear the horn and laboring prime mover.

I knew right away what it was, as earlier in the day, I had seen the load and engine waiting at the Weed yard.

(above)  taken at Weed Yard

(above) Arriving at Black Butte.

(above) backing train to existing load. Mount Shasta, (middle) Black Butte, (right)

(above) Old water tower, CORP employee SUV, he ran around throwing switches for them, probably no conductor on board.

Up until this point it was not a great day for spotting trains. I stopped at Yreka Western RR on my way down there, no action, just a few of the engines sitting at the depot. Then I went down to Dunsmuir where the snow was deeper but no trains. Just the snow removing equipment sitting idle in the yard.  (below)

I did see a train however, just as the CORP train got next to the mainline, backing it’s load, a south bound mixed freight rolled through with two helpers on the end.

Burnin’ up the slash

Today we went up to our cabin in the mountains to close it down for the winter and got to watch the logger, who cleared some timber for us two years ago, burn the “slash” piles that were left as a result of the logging. I had been wanting not to miss this because the piles were huge! We’re talkin’ a pile the size of a house with huge logs in it.

 

It started out slow, mainly because the loggers must wait until this time of year, after a few good rains to light the piles. It is good and dry, having sat for two summers but the rains do moisten it up a bit. once it got going we had to get back 100 feet and could still feel the heat.

That’s my son Chris standing there to show how large the pile was.

The Jeep is seen far back from the fire. He did get to play some today. We found a logging road left over that was cleared of major debris and we rode around the property, definitely a 4-wheel road.

Dress up those greying – fading Jeep exterior trims!

I recently purchased a beautiful ’99 Jeep Cherokee Sport. The only problem with the exterior is the faded greying black exterior trim pieces. I tried a couple solutions, “Back to Black” and “Black Again” exterior trim finisher. They work on all colors, not just black.

There are others on the market but these were highly suggested in newsgroups and by friends. Simply wipe on the product with a clean cloth or cheese cloth then wipe off excss with another clean cloth. They both had identical results but the “Black Again” seemed to remove the oxidation better, judging from the darker areas left in application rag.

See images for a before and after. You can click them for a closer view

 Above you can see unfinished on the left and finished on the right

Above you can see, that even from a distance there is quite a difference in color.

These are the products I used. If you have a newer Wrangler, those fender wells are probably, or someday will fade. This is a cheap alternitave to replacing them at about $3-$4 a bottle. One drawback is it must be reapplied in about 2-3 months, depending on weather and washing conditions