In the summer of 1955, Fruit Growers Supply Company announced it would close their mill at Westwood. Another important event happened that year when in December the region experienced severe flooding, causing tremendous damage to the railroad tracks between Susanville and Westwood. The Southern Pacific deemed it too costly to make the repairs to that section of the railroad with the pending mill closure.
However, with all this bad news, Westwood Depot had some salvation. It should be noted, the depot was utilized by the Western Pacific on its Highline route between Keddie and Klamath Falls. Oregon. Thus, the Westwood Depot remained opened, how long was any one’s guess.
In the spring of 1971, it was announced that the Westwood Depot would close on April 15, 1971. Just by happenstance, two Lassen College students, Roy Lopez and David Martin, paid a visit to the depot late that afternoon of the final day. One of the duo’s first encounter was to witness the Southern Pacific’s trainmaster from Redding to remove the station’s clock. The remainder of time was spent visiting with the Depot’s agent, J.C. Hoxie. When Hoxie escorted them out, the door was locked for good from the public.
On a follow up, the Southern Pacific transferred Hoxie to Wendel. The depot stood vacant for several years and was finally dismantled in either 1975 or 1976, as I have conflicting data. If anyone has more information on that event, please let me know, so I can update this post.