Carlton and Coast Railway

Based out of Carlton, Oregon, the Carlton & Coast RR was a shortline whose primary purpose was to haul logs out of the Oregon Coast Range in Yamhill County and nearby Tillamook County.

I was gong through the abandonment records published by the ICC recently and came across the 1940 order granting the full abandonment of the C&C RR.

The railroad was built in 1910 and 1911 from Carlton to Tillamook Gate in the Coast Range. An extension was built in 1935 to Cedar Creek Junction which eliminated the Tillamook Gate line. The railroad was devoted entirely to the hauling of logs. That timber supply was estimated to last past 1950. However in 1933 and again in 1939 there were two huge forest fires that destroyed all of the timber left for the railroad to haul. These fires were part of a set known as the "Tillamook Burn".

The fires destroyed the logging equipment of the lumber company and the railroad bridges, trestles and track of the railroad itself. Operation of the mainline was suspended after the 1939 fire and only switching around the yards of Carlton was left to do until May 10, 1940 when the mill itself was consumed in it's own fire. Based on the damage done to the railroad by these fires, the order was granted allowing the complete abandonment of the line.

Trainorders.com