On the road again - Lake Cascade, ID

During our August RV trip we spent several days in the area of Lake Cascade, Idaho.  We had not originally intended to spend time in this area but changed our plans because of the smoke from several wildfires further north.   This ended up being a great area and an unexpected high point of our trip.  Right next to our camp site was the beginning of a paved trail along the Payette River. 

I knew that at one time there had been a Boise-Cascade lumber mill in this area which had closed in 2001.  This trail was not on the railroad right of way but this sign along the trail indicated some railroad tracks nearby so of course I had to explore.

I did eventually find the railroad tracks.  They appeared to not have been used in quite some time.  What I have read is that this section of track had originally been laid around 1914 by the Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad then taken over by the Union Pacific in 1936.  UP had abandoned the section north of Lake Cascade in 1980 and sold off the southern section to a new Idaho Northern Railroad in 1993.

There did not appear to be anything left of the lumber mill but there were a couple of siding tracks and a wye.  I did notice that all of the turnouts appeared to be maintained and were locked, and that all of the grade crossing signs were still intact.

There was this one RR maintenance shed within the wye.  Inside were boxes and buckets of spikes, tie plates, etc.  The building itself looked as if could fall down at any time.  That is one leg of the wye behind the shed.

Near where the tracks ended I found this elevated passenger platform which made me think that there had been a tourist railroad here at one time.   I later found out there was a tourist railroad here between 1998 and 2016 called the Thunder Mountain Line Railroad.  It ran for 40 miles along the Payette River between Horseshoe Bend and Lake Cascade.  The main page of their website is still operating at thundermountainline.com.

I was able to walk up the ramp and inspect the interior of the station platform.  Still seemed in good shape.  Maybe there is hope that this tourist railroad might reopen some day.