Archive for April, 2006

The last couple days I’ve been spending a lot of time on railroad-related things, but nowhere near the tracks. I’m starting to receive final versions of GorgeRail presentations. Each show undergoes a final review to ensure there aren’t any glitches and that it should project correctly in the theater.

I love what I’m seeing. We’ve got a great variety of shows. We’ve got a great variety of non-show-activities as well.

Ticket sales are just over 200% of last year. Have you bought yours?

• Portland Transport
  A blog about Portland-area transportation
  (tags: blog portland pdx oregon transportation transit)

Last night after work I took a trip eastward with Steve riding shotgun, hoping to catch a few westbounds in the late afternoon sunlight in the Columbia River Gorge. Unfortunately the westbounds just weren’t going to cooperate. Heading out of town, we made a quick stop in Washougal and saw the Camas turn shoving 60 cars into the siding.

We went over Cape Horn, finding a westbound grain train in the hole at Skamania, where it apparently had sat for several hours without a crew. Continuing eastward, the scanner was quiet, with no detectors alerting us to any trains. We pushed east as far as Bingen and stopped for a gourmet railfan dinner at the golden arches.

We decided to head back to Cooks to see if anything would happen on the rails. As we passed through the tunnels we realized that the Empire Builder was due soon if he was on time. After a long phone call where Steve had to explain to Julie several times that he didn’t want the train status for Benton, Washington, we found it left Vancouver on time. There werent’ many possibilities for eastbound shots in this lighting so we set up for what we hoped would be a decent going-away shot from the boat launch at Drano Lake. The lighting wasn’t as nice as I’d hoped… later in the summer you get some side light on the near side of the train, but apparently in April you get this:

After watching him go by we heard a westbound going into the siding at Bingen. We repositioned to the west end of Drano Lake and got down near the river. This was a new angle for Steve, and I thought it might be for me as well, but as I climbed down I realized I’d been there once before. The train wasn’t that special, mixed up power and a bunch of empty garbage containers, but the lighting was perfect for this shot and it turned out as planned:

The garbage train went in the hole at Cooks to meet the eastbound Z; we stayed put and Steve went for the going-away shot:

We were losing light at this point and decided to head west in the hopes we might leapfrog our one westbound for the day. He made a quick meet at Stevenson but we didn’t pass him until the Skamania area. We kept going and got off Hwy 14 at East Washougal, setting up for one last shot of the garbage empty as he came into town:

Overall I was disappointed with only having one westbound, but I got at least one good shot, and that’s one more than I would’ve gotten had I stayed home.

I went down to the depot for a bit today at lunch and there were several trains poised to move, with a couple moving while I was there. The lighting was horrible after a cloudy morning attempting to give way to some sun, but everything has that mid-day washed out look.

First, a northbound UP stack train comes off the bridge:

The last thing I saw was the transfer; it’s a bit odd to see it with only one geep. Tomorrow I’m going to get out somewhere with some better scenery and better lighting. Stay tuned.

I am excited to announce a late addition to the GorgeRail activity lineup. On Sunday May 21st, GorgeRail will wrap up with two activities in the Portland area.

At 1:00pm, we will meet at the shops of the Oregon Pacific Railroad, a shortline operation owned by Dick Samuels. A small but active shortline, the Oregon Pacific is probably best known for Samuels’ collection of assorted historical locomotives. The locomotives will be on display and the GorgeRail group will tour the shop facilities and be able to photograph the equipment which is normally off-limits to the public. Among the units are former Portland Traction Company #100, an SW1 which was the locomotive which both placed the SP&S 700 into Oaks Park and then retrieved her for restoration. More information about the Oregon Pacific can be found on Brian McCamish’s website at http://www.brian894×4.com/OregonPacificRR.html

Following the tour of the Oregon Pacific Shops, the group will take a short excursion along the line into the Oaks Bottom area along Portland’s Springwater Corridor. The tentative plan is to have folks riding in a locomotive, caboose, and possibly open air car. As this is an operating freight railroad, exact excursion plans and equipment cannot be guaranteed.

Following the Oregon Pacific tour and ride, the group will head to the Brooklyn Roundhouse, home to Portland’s three steam locomotives. We will be likely to see the SP&S 700, SP 4449, OR&N 197, as well as other historic equipment such as Doyle McCormack’s Alco PA and Chris Fussell’s Amtrak F40PHR #231.

These events are part of GorgeRail and are included in the price of a GorgeRail show ticket. For a complete listing of GorgeRail events, as well as registration and ticketing information, see the GorgeRail website at http://www.gorgerail.com

What if we were to add something to the GorgeRail activities… something we’ve never done… at no additional cost. Something like… a train ride. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?

Got your GorgeRail ticket yet?

The PRPA is hosting a celebration to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of SP&S’s Farewell to Steam event. Essentially it’s a party at Oaks Park featuring the SP&S 700, classic cars, cab tours, and train rides.

For more information see the official website.

An eastbound vehicle train V-PTLHAU crosses the causeway at Rowland Lake on a brisk December afternoon with Mt. Hood in the background.

Random observation: Every time I take an image that isn’t perfectly level, and I mean every time, it needs counterclockwise rotation. Never clockwise.

It must be because I am right-leaning

In 1969 the Disney company hired George Britton to work with the then-under-construction Walt Disney World railroad. His original duties were to restore the locomotives for use at the park. Mr. Britton stuck around, working as an engineer and railroad foreman. In 2004 I had an opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the railroad, and met Mr. Britton briefly. He couldn’t chat with us long; he was busy preparing one of the locomotives for the day’s trips.

Our tour guide noted that although this was Disney’s park, everyone knew that they were George’s trains.

News article with more information

Double-track-parked, that is.

The BNSF put several cars on the ground early this morning in the Vancouver, WA yard. Here’s a few shots of how things looked 12 hours later:

I’m settling in at the new job, I need to sneak away at lunch for some new photos. Tomorrow’s weather is promising so perhaps that’s what I’ll do.

Here’s a photo from less exciting weather, taken on March 12th of an eastbound Capitol train at CP Vista with Martinez in the background.