July 27 work on the Pine Street crossing.There's been a lot of talk lately about running an excursion train from Sherwood South into the Willamette Valley. The train would have to cross Rex Hill to get there. Lots of luck! "Rex" is said to be a play on the word "wrecks." As in "train wrecks." For example, according to the
Sherwood News-Sheet, April 10, 1912, a steam train once "...reached a point where the grade is considerably of a downward pitch, and where the bank is in the neighborhood of forty feet high, owing to which fact the engineer had slowed down, when suddenly they struck something that raised the engine into the air, almost turning it on its side. Several Sherwood citizens were on the train at the time... and they testify that when their coach reached this mark the jar was anything but pleasant." After some investigation, "a small boy" was found to be the cause of the mishap.
In spite of it's shakey reputation, Sherwood's train is regarded as one of the most historically significant railroads in Oregon. It was done the Oregon Way!
1 comment:
They may be crazy, attempting to restore that stretch of track. But then again, we were a little crazy here in the 19th Century for building it in the first place.
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