Wednesday, July 25, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Pedal-powered rail travel od the Oregod coast
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Correspondent
It’s always fun to discover
new adventures right here in
Oregon, and this is certainly
one of the more unusual ones.
When the Pacific Railway
& Navigation Company
(PR&N) began work on a
new rail line in 1905, they
certainly had no idea that,
more than a hundred years
later, part of that rail system
would become a popular tour-
ist attraction with pedal-pow-
ered rail cars!
With its smoking steam
engines, steep grades, har-
rowing trestles, and tight
curves, the PR&N acronym
earned the uncomplimentary
nickname of “Punk, Rotten,
and Nasty” because it often
left passengers feeling uneasy
or even nauseous. Its primary
use was for the logging and
lumber industries, as well as
for delivering tank cars of
milk to the Tillamook Cheese
Factory. The PR&N line was
closed in 2007 due to land-
slides and flooding and was
never reopened.
Meanwhile, Railriders
began official operation in
Oregon at the instigation of
avid bicyclists Kim and Anita
Metlen in the northeastern
Oregon town of Joseph. The
custom-made four-person
aluminum pedal cars are
descended from railroad
handcars and velocipedes.
This generation of rail vehi-
cle was first tested in 2013,
with informal commercial
operation in the Wallowa
Mountains beginning in
2014; regular scheduled ser-
vice began in 2015. Officials
in Tillamook learned of the
operation and persuaded
the Metlens to expand their
business to an idle sec-
tion of PR&N track linking
Tillamook and Bay City in
2016.
Railriders focuses on fam-
ily fun and also encourages
group activities. The twelve-
mile round trip crosses the
Kilchis and Wilson Rivers,
along with numerous
unnamed creeks and sloughs
and offers views of Tillamook
Bay, estuaries, and wetlands
of the region. The very scenic
route mostly follows a for-
est corridor lined with abun-
dant coastal flora, including
spruce, alder, Douglas fir,
blackberries, elderberries,
and many others. An unex-
pected highlight of the route
is the almost constant sere-
nade of Swainson’s thrushes,
one of the most beautiful and
musical of all bird calls.
The railroad has a grade
of no more than one-half of
one percent and can be nego-
tiated by persons of all ages.
The route highlights many
forms of coastal Oregon’s
agricultural economy and
passes several farms with
varying crops, then ducks
beneath Highway 101. The
tracks also skirt a 4,000-cow
dairy farm and the back of
the famed Tillamook Cheese
Factory, which is well worth
a separate visit from the front
entrance!
The Tillamook Cheese
Factory, with its 1.3 mil-
lion annual visitors, is the
most popular tourist attrac-
tion on the Oregon coast and
just opened its brand-new
38,500-square-foot visitor
center last month. The new
center is a must-see attrac-
tion for any visit to the area.
Last year, Tillamook Cheese
donated $1.5 million to
Oregon State University for
a fermentation research facil-
ity for the Food Science and
Technology Department of
the Agricultural College.
Historical highlights of
the Railriders tour include
the two railroad river bridges,
both of which were fabricated
in New England more than
a century ago and shipped
by rail to Sacramento,
California, where they were
in use until the 1950s when
they were sold to the PR&N.
The bridge over the steel-
head-rich Kilchis River was
built in 1898, and the Wilson
River bridge was completed
in 1901.
Each Railriders tour
includes the services of two
guides who look after safety
and logistics concerns. The
guides stop vehicle traffic at
each road crossing and – at
one major crossing — even
hand operate an actual rail-
road crossing signal, com-
plete with lowering cross-
ing arms, bells, and flashing
lights.
On our trip, the guides
also fixed a dropped bike
chain and retrieved a lady’s
purse dropped on a trestle.
Fortunately, the purse did
not fall between the ties or it
would have been lost. Riders
on this attraction should be
advised to wear clothing or
devices with pockets (pref-
erably with zippers) because
the recumbent cycling posi-
tion can cause objects to
fall away or work their way
loose. There are slots for
water bottles, but nowhere
to stow loose gear. Clothing
should be comfortable, and
appropriate for circumstances
requiring moderate exertion.
Plan accordingly.
Currently, the tours leave
at 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m.
Riders should arrive a half-
hour early. Allow an extra
10 minutes if child car seats
are to be used, and you
must provide those yourself.
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A group of
Railriders finish a
two-hour pedal-car rail
excursion near Tillamook.
PHOTO BY CRAIG F. EISENBEIS
Reservations are recom-
mended, as pedal car capac-
ity is very limited. Also, due
to the nature of the pedal
devices, individual passen-
gers must weigh less than 250
pounds. Prices are currently
$24 per person, and half that
for children 11 and younger.
The entire round trip
tour takes about two hours
at speeds that typically run
around 10 mph or less,
although it is reported that
one group of four “hard-core”
cyclists were able to bring a
pedal car to a top speed of 20
mph.
Oregon Coast Railriders
is located on Highway
101 at Hayes Oyster Drive
in Bay City, just north of
Tillamook. The tracks and
“station” are on the west side
of the highway next to some
large piles of oyster shells.
For further information see
www.ocrailriders.com.
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