1) When was the Foss Rd. bridge renovated, and why does it now sever the Right of Way ???

Looking at historical imagery in Google Earth, the bridge is shown as still being out in imagery dated 1 August 2011 and rebuilt by imagery dated 6 July 2012. Rest of answer below.

2) Was the North side of Foss Rd. bridge undercut in the big flood ???

Yes, the flood wiped out the north half of the bridge along with a good chunk of the POTB right-of-way at the old grade crossing site. Rather than rebuild where the POTB used to be, it appears they simply extended the bridge over the void where the POTB used to be.

3) Is this the only damage to POTB trackage ???

Lord no. If it were the only damage, we'd likely still be talking about the POTB as an operating entity. The floods wiped out many miles of the railroad through the Salmonberry River canyon geographically east of the Foss Road bridge. There are some pictures and information on the damage to the line here:

[www.cwconstruct.com]

Some other pictures and discussions of the damage here:

[www.portlandhikers.org]
[www.portlandhikers.org]

If you "tour" the line in Google Earth, most of the damage is well hidden by trees, but you can get glimpses of rails hanging many feet in the air, drainage crossings where the railroad is visible in earlier imagery but completely gone now, etc.

4) Has the POTB trackage been officially abandoned, STB - wise ???

As noted, POTB officially abandoned/discontinued common carrier service over the line, but has not abandoned the line itself. I believe that would require additional STB approval if the railroad decided to remove the trackage in the future.

The Oregon Coast Scenic is tackling the whole rails to trails issue head on- they have the railroad restored and operational all the way up to the old Foss Road crossing site and have operated at least a couple passenger trains to the literal end of track. A month or so ago the OCSR invited a couple of the Salmonberry River preservation and hiking/biking groups on a trip up the river, during which the railroad outlined their plans and facilitated discussions between the stakeholders as to how they can coexist and cooperate going into the future.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV