A local timber company may soon see the light at the end of the tunnel, literally.
Roseburg Forest Products are in negotiations with Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad about hauling freight once again over the Siskiyou mountain range in Southern Oregon and Northern California.
Allyn Ford, President & CEO for RFP says that if everything works out, loads of logs may be arriving in Dillard by rail later this summer.
It’s been more than 2 years since freight moved over the Siskiyou’s on a regular basis. CORP notified shippers that it was to expensive to operate over the mountain range without a rate increase.
Since that time Roseburg Forest Products and a number of other shippers filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board. In the filing the shippers wanted another rail carrier to operate and move their freight over the Siskiyou’s. That petition is still pending.
Recently CORP conducted a freight test run over the Siskiyou’s using their new cost effective GP-20 locomotives. The test train pulled about 16 loads of lumber and logs over the mountain range. That same group of locomotives may be used on a regular basis to pull some of RFP freight over the Siskiyou’s if a deal can be struck with CORP.