Knappa

In early 2000, Camron Settlemier set out on a trek to find the elusive wig-wag located on the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway's Astoria Line. The Portland & Western Railroad acquired this track in 1998, and operates two freight trains daily on the route from Knappa (about 25 miles east of Astoria) to northwest Portland.

The series of nine photographs were graciously provided by Camron and do a great job of illustrating this signal. It is very similar to a wig-wag Southern Pacific would have installed, and seems to be in great condition. Unfortunately, this is the only wig-wag known to exist on the former SP&S system; however the base to a wig-wag remains in northwest Portland (converted to flashers).

Along with the wig-wag, notice the wooden bridge crossing over the tracks in the sixth picture. A similar bridge crosses this same line just north of St. Helens as well.