Welcome!
Authors Dr. Frank Telewski and Scott Barrett are dedicated to preserving the history of Weyerhaeuser’s Vail-McDonald logging railroad operation and the Chehalis Western Railroad through field and archival research. We intend to share our research through social media and books and invite you to share your stories and questions or comments via our comment link.
Thank you!
1932 Ford Speeder Special tour
In this video (taken in May of 1989), author Scott Barrett discusses and demonstrates a 1932 Ford Speeder Special. This speeder was used for railroad track patrol by the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company.
Instagram feed:
Hi, CWRail here (Scott Barrett). I`m at one of the remaining trestle bents on the 44 line on Weyerhaeuser`s Vail (Washington) logging railroad, running out to Camp 4.4, which was the last logging camp at the Vail operation and the farthest logging camp from Vail.
It took a long time on Sunday to make the trip from Vail to Camp 4.4 to be ready for work on Monday. This is CWRail, over and out.
Photo: July 29, 1947 – taken by Bob Gehrman who worked at Vail.
#logging #logginglife #loggingtrain #logginghistory #history #washingtonstate #washingtonstatehistory #thurstoncounty
@thurston_county
Hi, CWrail here (Scott Barrett) here. I`m at the junction of the Ten Line and Branch Two on Weyerhaeuser`s Vail logging railroad that ran into the woods from the 1920s until the late 1940s when all the tracks in the woods were pulled up and Weyerhaeuser ran log trains to South Bay until the 1980s from their log truck to train transfers.
The grade to the left ran to Camp 5 and the grade to the right was Branch Two running up the hill to the Twin Bridges where the line switched back running to Siding 8. Train crews in the steam era leaving Siding 8 with loaded log cars ran down the hill to the Twin Bridges ran around their train and headed back down the hill to Vail (Washington).
This is CWrail over and out.
#logging #logginglife #loggingtrain #logginghistory #history #washingtonstate #washingtonstatehistory #thurstoncounty
Hi, this is CWrail here (Scott Barrett). I`m at the junction of the 40 line and Siding 8 in the Weyerhaeuser woods. Out of Vail (Washington), where train crews would bring in loaded log cars from the sides in the woods, on the 30 line, 40 line, and the 50 line, they would drop off their loaded logs and then log cars and then pick up empties and head back out to the sides.
Usually a train crew out of Vail would bring empties up to Siding 8, leave the empties, and then take the loads down to Vail, and then later they would either swing the loads down to South Bay to be dumped in the water and taken to Everett, or they would leave the loads at Vail, and another train crew would take them to South Bay.
This is CW Rail, over and out.
#logging #logginglife #loggingtrain #logginghistory #history #washingtonstate #washingtonstatehistory #thurstoncounty
@thurston_county
Weyerhaeuser Vail office and warehouse building constructed in the late 1920`s located near Rainier, Washington
#weyerhaeuser #logging #logginglife
Logging camp, daily life. Vail, Washington – Thurston County
Date: early 1940`s
#history #logging #railroad #washingtonstate
Crew transport. Logging camp daily life. Vail, Washington – Thurston County
Date: early 1940`s
#history #logging #railroad #washingtonstate
Logging camp, daily life.
Vail, Washington – Thurston County
Date: early 1940`s
#history #logging #railroad #washingtonstate
Weyerhaeuser Timber Company – Vail, Thurston County, Washington
Date: early 1940`s
Contextual Notes:
Vail was a community 16 miles southeast of Olympia in southeast Thurston County. It was named for William Vail who owned farmland and timber land in the vicinity, by a logger named Cosby.
#history #logging #railroad #washingtonstate
