Olympic Discovery Trail - Francis Street Park Access Point — Port Angeles, WA
Posted by: Dunbar Loop
N 48° 07.008 W 123° 25.014
10U E 468971 N 5329366
The Olympic Discovery Trail is partially completely and partially under development. When finished it will span the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula.
Waymark Code: WMRQMF
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 07/25/2016
Views: 4
The Seattle and North Coast Railroad (SNCT) was a short-line railroad that operated on the northern part of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State from Port Angeles to Port Townsend. The line was unique in that it was a "rail island" with no outside rail connection to a mainline railroad. Instead, rail equipment was brought in via barges that traveled between Port Townsend and Seattle.
At one time there were actually 3 different Companies (the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, Port Townsend and Western, and the Port Angeles and Western) controlling the lines which ran from west of Sekiu, Washington. and west of Lake Crescent east to Port Townsend with a spur that went south toward the Hood Canal. The consolidated Peninsula Line was part of the Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific RR (MILW), which at one time was the longest electrified railroad in the world (the Peninsula portion was not electrified). A long bankruptcy and abandonment process for the Milwaukee created service and maintenance issue throughout the system. Seattle based private entrepreneurs purchased this section of railroad from the Milwaukee's bankruptcy court. As the new carrier started, an extended period of weak markets for the pulp, paper, plywood and lumber markets, produced on the Peninsula, seriously weakened the enterprise. New efforts to improve the rail freight loadings were met with stiff competition from a barge-to-rail service (Puget Sound Freight Lines) and Piggyback services to the main-line rail carriers (Union Pacific and Burlington Northern) proved overwhelming to the highly leveraged new company. Steadily increasing maintenance costs, after years of neglect by the prior operator, finally caused a complete service shutdown followed by abandonment in 1984. The rails, ties and equipment were removed in 1987. Many adjoining property owners and public land holding agencies sought a legal end to the right-of-ways on the majority of the Line. This also included Pier 2 in Seattle's Elliott Bay, key to the Port of Seattle's expansion plan.
Source: Wikipedia
Country: United States
State/Province/etc.: Washington
Trail Start (town): Blyn
Trail Finish (town): Port Angeles
Trail Length: 69
Trail Surface: Paved
Pack Animals Allowed: no
Fees: no
Internet Link(s): http://www.olympicdiscoverytrail.com/
Rail-to-Trail Sign: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions: A Trail Review
Please tell about the trail conditions the day you were there, If you used the trail please share your experiences. Things to see and do, possible problems etc.
If possible please post a photo of you OR you and interesting things along a trail OR just interesting things along the trail.
Also if you know of any additional Internet links not already mentioned about this rail trail please include that in your log.
Recent Visits/Logs:
There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|