Here's a photo I took on April 18, 1996, TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, of a "rare mileage" special train operated by Clark Johnson and Nona Hill's High Iron Travel company that ran on the Coos Bay Branch of the then Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad, which was a spin-off of a Southern Pacific branch line. This was before CORP was owned by Genesee & Wyoming so their locomotives with their distinctive paint scheme had yet to show up on the property.

The line between the outskirts of Eugene and Coos Bay has since been spun off yet again and is now owned by the Port of Coos Bay and operated as the Coos Bay Rail Line (CBRL). The line came close to being abandoned. This was a rare example of where the pro-railroad interests won out over the pro-trail interests.

Here's a general overview of the train in Coos Bay where we were spotted overnight. The trip from Eugene to Coos Bay was largely at night due to the late arrival into Eugene of the passenger equipment we needed for the trip, but the return from Coos Bay to Eugene was in daylight. On the extreme left of the photo, you can see an Espee baggage car situated above the pickup truck. Recent GOOGLE streetview pics reveal that the baggage car is still spotted there today, albeit quite rusty. See:

[goo.gl]

Sequentially, I took this photo prior to the one I posted previously at the swing bridge.

I can't believe I held the camera a little bit crooked. If you look at Coos Bay on the right, you can see that the water looks like it's sloping toward the town. Perhaps I was shivering from the cold. If I ever have this photo printed in a book, maybe it can be straightened out