Donald A. Davis’s The Kerry Line: The Columbia & Nehalem River Railroad documents the engineering and operation of one of the Pacific Northwest’s most famous heavy-tonnage logging common carriers. Davis chronicles how lumberman A.S. Kerry constructed a 27-mile standard-gauge railroad beginning in 1913, driving track from the deep-water log dumps at Kerry on the Columbia River, over the Coast Range summit via a timber tunnel, and down into the Nehalem Valley. The text details the transportation of billions of board feet of virgin old-growth fir logs hauled by massive Mallet and geared locomotives from remote logging spurs at Keasey, Neverstill, Treharne, and Kyser. Davis illustrates the hazardous engineering challenges of maintaining steep trestles, managing runaway log trains, and sustaining isolated worker camps that operated until the timber was cut out in the late 1930s.

City of Vernonia, Columbia & Nehalem River Railroad History, Columbia County (Or.) History, History, Keasey (Or.), Kerry (Or.), Kyser (Or.), Logging Oregon Columbia County History, Logging railroads Oregon History, Nehalem River Valley (Or.) History, Neverstill (Or.), Treharne (Or.)

Includes complete locomotive rosters, route profile schematics, and historic photos.

Includes complete locomotive rosters, route profile schematics, and historic photos.