Last Update:  August 9, 2008
Molalla River Bridge Log Jam Removal
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Brian McCamish
In Search of History Expeditions
Active & Abandoned Railroads of the Northwest
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The winter provides many challenges for a railroad, especially when it comes to bridges and here's a great example of why.    
The Molalla River railroad bridge is the largest and longest bridge on the OPR.   Unfortunately it's size helps to obstruct logs
and snags that get caught in the river during major winter storms.   This isn't always a problem, but the winter of 2007/2008
had it's share of floods, snags and downed trees that found their way into the rivers and later collected in front of the Molalla
River Bridge.   Because the river is considered navigable by the State of Oregon and for other reasons, these obstructions
had to be removed.   The crew of the OPR are jacks of all trades and do most of their own work and this project would be no
different, being entirely handled by the Tim, Brian and Craig Samuels.

All of these photos are courtesy of Tim Samuels, of the OPR.
Log jam up against the Molalla River bridge, Tim Samuels photos
Logs had to be yarded out, which meant someone had to climb down onto the jam and start wrapping cable and cutting up snags,
Tim Samuels photos
Making progress, Tim Samuels photos
Hauling logs out, cutting them up and loading the good ones into the OPR hi-railer, Tim Samuels photos
More progress, Tim Samuels photos
Almost done, Tim Samuels photos
The log jam now gone.  Tim Samuels photos