Cab Rides on the Sumpter Valley RR

The Sumpter Valley Railroad today is a narrow gauge steam tourist line in eastern Oregon. The original Sumpter Valley line was a 3 foot gauge logging railroad extending from Baker City Oregon up the valley to Sumpter and over the summit to Prairie City. Today’s line, rebuilt by volunteers of the Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration Inc., is a short 6 miles from McEwan to the town of Sumpter. The railroad’s shops, facilities, and departure point is at McEwan, about 15 miles southeast of Baker City. See the Sumpter Valley RR website.

My first introduction to the Sumpter Valley was in August 2002, thanks to my friend Larry’s dedication to the organization and his being qualified as both engineer and fireman on several of the road’s locomotives. The locomotive that weekend was Number 3, a rare wood-burning Heisler steam locomotive. In 2008, I returned with two St Louis area friends, to share a fantastic Engineer for a Day experience, firing and operating Number 19, an oil-burning Mikado 2-8-2. Most of these photos were taken on that day.

Engineer for a Day, 2008

Under the guidance of two qualified engineers and firemen, Dan and my friend Larry, my St. Louis friends Rich and John had a truly fun and memorable day in September 2008, actually running and firing a narrow gauge steam locomotive, Mikado #19. That day we made three round trips from McEwan to Sumpter and back, giving each of us an opportunity to both fire and drive the locomotive. Behind us was a short freight train: a tank car, a drop bottom gondola, three flat cars, and a caboose.

It was early in the morning on September 8, 2008, and #19 was being reawakened after the weekend runs. While Larry and Dan were lubricating the running gear, our job was to wipe down the boiler and cab with rags to remove soot. Yes, this meant climbing all over the locomotive; John was cleaning the cab roof.	We are on our way. Rich took his turn as fireman, here pulling on the injector to force more water into the boiler, while watching the water gauges and the boiler pressure.
John was first up as engineer, under the watchful eye of Dan (out of view). We all learned that running the loco was about 20% using the throttle and 80% using the brakes – something we did not anticipate.	A view over the back of the loco’s water tank and oil bunker toward the train. The landscape near McEwan is somewhat barren, as this area was dredged for ores years ago.
Closer to the town of Sumpter, our train passes through some new growth pines.	This shot of the fireman’s side of the backhead shows the injector in the upper left (momentarily pulled back and open), the view inside the firebox, and the many gauges that the fireman operates. I confess that the fire always looked the same to me, so I needed LOTS of help.
This view out the engineer’s front window shows the approaching end-of-track at the Sumpter depot.	Here I am in the engineer’s seat, with my hand deftly on the throttle, later that day. It may not show here, but I was smiling bigtime inside. What a great day!
Here’s most of the crew that day, posing at the Sumpter depot before breaking for lunch in town. Left to right are host and fireman Larry, John, engineer Dan, and Rich. Not shown are brakeman and President of the railroad, Taylor Rush, and myself.	Caboose No. 3 at the Sumpter depot.
On the return trip, fireman Rich pulls the whistle cord while Larry checks the gauges.	Having arrived back in McEwan, we pull into the locomotive area for a fill-up of oil for the next trip. Larry throws the switches as we back into the fuel area.
Dan supervises the transfer of oil into the loco’s bunker while Larry and John look on from the cab.	Now fueled up, we back up to the train and push it past the water tank at McEwan for the next run. Taylor Rush was the brakeman that day.
At the McEwan tank, I guide the spout into the loco’s tank for the next run to Sumpter. Photo by John.

After refueling, John, Rich and I rotated positions between engineer, fireman, and photographer, so each of us made a round trip at the throttle to Sumpter and back.

Operationally, the Sumpter Valley Railroad has passing sidings at both ends, McEwan and Sumpter, and a wye, shops and a small yard at McEwan. Since there is no way to turn a train at Sumpter, the locomotive runs around the train at Sumpter and runs backward to McEwan, where it again runs around the train. The railroad hopes to build a turning loop at Sumpter in the future, so these moves can be avoided.

The photos below were taken on September 7, 2008, the day before our turn in the cab of No. 19, when someone else was Engineer for a Day. It gave us a great opportunity just to be railfans and chase the train.

Number 19 heading to Sumpter after leaving McEwan.	Here #19 has just run around the train at McEwan, and is coming towards the camera to couple onto the tank car on the main. The track at the left is for storage of rolling stock, including some former East Broad Top hoppers.
Number 19 is about to back up and couple onto the train at McEwan.	No. 19 and train is departing McEwan for another run to Sumpter.
Mikado #19 approaches Sumpter. The depot is less than a mile ahead.

Cab Ride in Heisler Number 3

These photos were taken in August 2002 on my first visit to the Sumpter Valley. My friend Larry was the engineer this weekend, so I spent a lot of time riding in the cab. I also unofficially got to fire the wood-burning Heisler #3 (built in 1915) on the downhill ride from Sumpter to McEwan. Tossing that cordwood in the firebox, and keeping them parallel so no holes formed in the fire, wasn’t as easy as it might seem.

Early Saturday morning, the first order of business is to shovel the cold wood cinders and ash from Number 3’s smokebox, left from last weekend’s runs. Here I caught Larry with shovel in hand.	Later that morning, #3 Heisler is building steam outside the locomotive shop at McEwan.
This is the fuel for the steam engine. No pump, shovel or auger feed mechanism, this cordwood has to be thrown into the firebox by hand. Yes, it’s tiring and does require some skill, as I later found out.	A close-up of #3 and its beautiful stack.
The square water tank and stack of cordwood at McEwan. This view is from the fireman’s window, looking northeast, toward Sumpter.	A view ahead from the open gondola.
Cab view of taking on water at McEwan.	Larry in the engineer’s seat, looking contented.
The train parked in the yard, early on Sunday morning.	At one point, we de-trained and had a photo run-by of the train outside McEwan.
The facilities at McEwan include the depot, square water tank, passing siding and a spur. Out of the picture to the left are the locomotive shops and a small storage yard.	This dredge, which was used to recover precious metals from valley floor, resides at Sumpter. There are not many of these historic behemoths remaining from yesteryear, and they caused a lot of environmental damage in search for riches.

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