David:
“Construction started in this area, Tallman. And equally
we were starting with the staging because because that’s how
the railroad runs. Then we simply followed on around the cor-
ner into Irvinville and then on to Lebanon and beyond. As each
crew got farther and farther along, another crew would start
up behind them. So everything is in stages.
“Once all the trackwork was in here, then along came ballast-
ing, along came the turnouts, which are whole separate crews.
Then we continued on through. Then scenery. The goal was
to get operations up as quickly as possible. From the time we
started this, which was approximately three years ago, we were
up and operating in six months. We had it all the way through
to Lebanon. Then we just continued.
“It was fairly well formed that there were four phases to what
we were doing, this being the first phase taking us to Lebanon.
Columbia Cascade &Western -
8: An abandoned
branch curving
off into the woods
at Shelburn now
serves as a conve-
nient lead for the
crews switching
the grain elevator
and other industries
there. Shelburn also
provides a crew to
switch a paper mill
at Lyons, several
miles away.
8
MRH-Feb 2013
