The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad runs from Garibaldi to Rockaway Beach, just north of Tillamook, on the wild Oregon Coast. Once a freight and passenger line, it ‘s now strictly for tourists who love history, and killer coastal views.  The train runs along tracks right on the edge of Tillamook Bay, giving riders stunning views of Cape Meares, the shoreline and ancient coastal lakes and an offshore rock formation called The Three Graces.The 30 minute trip will take you from the fishing village of Garibaldi to the classic old beach town of Rockaway Beach.  In times past, the railroad took freight and passengers over the mountains of the coast range into Banks, Oregon — west of Portland. That line was severed in 2007 by a massive landslide, so the railroad is now cutoff from the rest of the state.

But in its day, thousands would travel from Portland and other inland communities,  to the beach communities along the coast.

“It was jokingly called the Daddy Train,”  Says Payton Tracy with The Tillamook Pioneer Museum. “Wives and the children would all come out and spend like a week at the coast, and then on Fridays the fathers would come out and join them.” She says the museum has some phenomenal photos of the trains and even the large carts that would then take the luggage from the train cars to hotels in Rockaway Beach and Pacific City .

These days the trains are frequently pulled by a 100 year old steam locomotive. The “McCloud Railway No.25” was built in 1925 — and for years lived at the McCloud River Railway, hauling timber and tourists in Northern California at the base of Mount Shasta. It was also used in the film Stand by Me. It was purchased by OCSR in Oregon in 2011, and is a big hit with kids and grownups who love the steam and the sounds of this historic engine.

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad  is a unique railroading museum with both static displays of engines and historic artifacts and several trips along the line — with guides describing the sights and history.  On summer weekends up to 4 roundtrips run each day. Of special interest are the Moonlight Excursion Trains — a three hour round trip from Garibaldi north to Wheeler. When the moon is nearly full, these trips fill up fast, and the views at night are just as remarkable as the daylight runs.

But night or day, sun or rain, this is an extraordinary trip along the wild Oregon Coast. It’s a trip of only a few miles, but will take you back more than a hundred years.