The Boxcar Rapids are Class 3 rapids on the Deschutes River, located south and upriver from Maupin, Oregon, United States. The rapids were named the Boxcar Rapids in January 1954, when Engine No. 857 on the Oregon Trunk Line of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway turned a curve in the railroad and hit a rock slide. The engine hit it hard, deraili…
The Boxcar Rapids are Class 3 rapids on the Deschutes River, located south and upriver from Maupin, Oregon, United States. The rapids were named the Boxcar Rapids in January 1954, when Engine No. 857 on the Oregon Trunk Line of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway turned a curve in the railroad and hit a rock slide. The engine hit it hard, derailing all three locomotives and all twelve boxcars, and because the railroad is built on the side of the steep valley's hills, two cars tumbled into the river. The boxcar was visible in the middle of the rapid. It took over two weeks to get a line on the engine and another two to pull it out of the Deschutes. The engine, fire car, boxcar, and all of the train crew were lost in the deep, turbulent water, and the crash was one of the worst in the history of the Oregon Trunk Line. Shortly after, the rapids were named the "Boxcar Rapids." An earlier train derailing accident occurred in the lower Deschutes area in September 1949.
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