Railroad Ends Service in Washington State

It’s been repeated countless times over the years as railroads come and go – the closure of a railroad or rail line. The endless parade of mainline Class I trains makes it difficult to look to the more obscure lines for what they have to offer. On March 9th, 2015, it came to an end for Patriot Rail’s Weyerhauser Woods Railroad at Longview, Wash. Trains have plied the rails and climbed the foothills of the Cascades for the past 87 years, but the rails will now be silent. Florida-based Patriot Rail operated the 30 miles of railroad, after purchasing it from Weyerhauser Company in 2010.

The woods railroad was a busy operation until the closure of the Green Mountain Mill in 2008. After the closure the railroad still hauled pulp mill waste from the Longview mill to the headquarters Landfill. A newly completed pipeline will now make the railroad operation obsolete. Under Weyerhauser, trains for the line were led by smart yellow painted switchers and followed up with a caboose. When Patriot Rail took over the cabooses were dropped, and the power was updated to more modern units. The route was still the same. Grades in excess of 2 percent, the right of way winding out of the city of Longview, up and over the Cowlitz River on a soaring trestle and then into the remoteness of the northwest forest including a rare tunnel on an original logging railroad.

Just like the Joni Mitchell song “Big Yellow Taxi” says, “You don’t know what you got til it’s gone”. There are still many railroads and routes out there with unique characteristics that may not be there in the future. Be sure we take the time to get out and see and record them while they are still around. Changes can occur so quickly we may not have time otherwise.