Railroad FadngMammoth Repair Job in Wake of Flood, but Trains are Beginning to Roll

fT'S A LONC ROAD back for the Northr western Pacific-but trains are beginning to move along part of that road.

Up in the northwestern corner of Cali' fornia, more than 650 men are toiling to repair the Northwestern Pacific railroad, which links the redwood lumber area around Eureka to San Francisco. The 285 mile-long line runs for over lffi miles through the steep Eel River canyon, and it was largely wiped out through that canyon in the devastating floods o{ Christmas week.

Charles E. Neal, vice president and general manager of the NWP, has moved his office from San Rafael to Willits, near the entrance of the canyon, so that he can supervise reconstruction.

"In the canyon, there are at least 30 miles of roadbed completely wiped out, just as if it had never existed," Neal says. o'For 20 of those miles, we can't even find the rails that were onc€ there."

NWP has brought Morrison-Knudsen Co., one of the nation's largest builders, in to help rebuild the line. Also, the American Bridge Co., International Engineering and Tudor Engineering, plus local people with their available equipment. All material, labor and equipment is being obtained locally if possible.

Reconstruction problems are complicated by the difficulty of getting men into the canyon through which the railroad runs. At Spyrock, 14 miles of road had to be constructed to move equipment into the railroad and to permit opening of a camp to houso workers. At Kekawaka, another road was built to make a second camp possible. Both camps, Neal says, went into action this week.

"With access to the railroad in the canyon, we can space crews all along the route,o' Neal points out, "Currently, we're working from each end of the canyon, and both ways from I0 different locations."

Construction forces have rebuilt the line from Eureka southward around Scotia

Bluff, and trains are operating into Scotia. From the other end, crews have relaid rails to a point near Dos Rios, about 25 miles north of Willits.

Between these points, though, there are formidable obstacles. As Neal points out, many parts of the Eel River canyon no longer contain a place to put a railroad. o'We'll simply have to carve out a new roadway in many parts of the canyon, because the river has changed the topography of the area," he says.

Three major steel bridges which were washed away by the rampaging river must be replaced, and Neal says the bridges are being made heavier and stronger and where possible the waterway for the Eel River will be increased. The two deck pin connected spans at Island Mountain (first crossing of Eel River) will be replaced by through-truss spans so that they will ofier less resistance to debris in another flood.

Neal is a little wary about forecasting when the entire railroad will be back in operation.

'ol'm hopeful we'll make it in June," he says, with one eye on the skies. "Of course, there could be a lot of rain yet, and the soil is so saturated with water that it would be bound to give us additional trouble, if we should get some March storms,

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