SP5103 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Circa 1990 - Lakeview had three lumber mills
> running - Lakeview Lumber, Goose Lake Lumber and
> Fremont Lumber, only the latter is still in
> business now a Collins Pine mill. All three mills
> were shipping lumber and chips. They were also
> trucking salvaged rail from Weyerhaeuser's woods
> line, loading it at Lakeview and shipping it to
> Mexico. A few years later, there was a whole log
> chipper installed that only ran for a while. The
> former Goose Lake site at the end of track was
> originally an uranium plant, now is the perlite
> plant. After the county bought the Lakeview
> branch, Kyle was given the contract to operate it,
> but backed out at the last minute so Great Western
> got the contract. The county ran it themselves for
> a while after that, then to Modoc Northern, now
> Lake Railway. Great Western's NCO division ran 2
> or 3 times a week with around 20 cars each trip.
> At Alturas, they weighed the cars, separated east
> and west, and if they were short on empties might
> wait for the Canby local. The Canby local came out
> of K Falls, but not sure how many days. Had a set
> of SD9s, took chips and any northbound lumber back
> to K Falls. There was also a propane dealer in
> Alturas, and there was a lumber mill at Juniper
> just outside Alturas. I'm not sure when the mill
> at Canby quit. (Canby, California not to be
> confused with Canby, Oregon outside Portland) The
> line was DTC, and Great Western had to get the
> Alturas block to go around the wye, using the main
> to back into the yard (no longer yard limits).
> There was some kind of mineral (perlite?) loading
> at Perez using a ramp.
>
> Historically, the Lakeview branch had a variety of
> lumber mills along the line, plus some grain,
> livestock and general freight. Alturas had the
> same, and the mill at Canby used to have a logging
> railroad supplying it. I don't think there were
> any major shippers other than the Lakeview and
> Susanville branches, Alturas and Canby, and up
> towards the Klamath Valley.
>
> "The Modoc - Southern Pacific's Back Door to
> Oregon" by Bowden and Dill is an excellent
> resource including first hand accounts. It pretty
> much covers the history up until the Modoc
> Northern fiasco and current operations by Lake
> Railway.
>
> I know the Susanville branch is scrapped, but is
> the line still in place to Wendel from Flanigan?
> There was some scam to buy that in the
> abandonment/OFA process.
>
> I wouldn't compare APB to CTC because I don't
> think the dispatcher has any controls over the
> signals. I would equate it more with an automatic
> interlocking - first train to hit the approach
> gets the block.
>
> Wendel had one of the older rotaries assigned to
> it years ago, presumably for the line between
> Susanville and Westwood which can get some snow. I
> believe there is a picture of a rotary in steam
> days on the Lakeview branch after an unusual
> storm. Great Western did end up with a train stuck
> in the snow that had to be dug out, but that was
> primarily due to snow drifting into a cut to
> several feet between trains.

You're correct; I was mistaken in my understanding of APB, thinking that somehow a local operator has some degree of control. A little research indicates that's not the case. I have no personal experience with APB, only what I picked up from perusing SP timetables.