Steaming into Wheeler. Polson Logging Company #2 and her short freight train put the finishing touches on a bucolic scene as they enter the little seaside village of Wheeler, Oregon on a chilly March morning. Our photo freight is running on the former Tillamook Branch of the Southern Pacific, which is now operated as the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. Normally, the railroad operates both steam and diesel-powered excursions out of Garibaldi, which rarely venture much north of Wheeler. The railroad has one steamer in its stable, the former McCloud River Railroad #25, but has also hosted guest locomotives, such as the privately-owned Polson #2 pictured here, and the Columbia River Belt Line Railway #7 "Skookum", which was restored and tested out of the line's Garibaldi Shops.
