I hope to see you there!
Technorati Tags: gorgerail, railfan, railfanning, trains, railroad
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I need to apologize for my lack of updating on this site lately… things have been busy in my offline life and I haven’t had a chance to shoot much new material. One of the things going on is me accepting a new position, which happens to be a few blocks away from a mainline in Southeast Portland… so you might start seeing some new material from that area.
GorgeRail plans are coming together with only a couple little logistical pieces needing to be worked out before we start selling tickets. Stay tuned.
I’m bringing at least one more person on board to post here, and he has already shared some interesting ideas for ways to add material to the site. His name will be familiar to those in the northwest as well as the locomotive preservation crowd… expect to see something in the next week or so. Until then you can just wonder who he is 
And since all good posts have at least one photo, here’s a short of our “train” from GorgeRail last year for a ride on the Oregon Pacific Railroad:
Technorati Tags: gorgerail, dogcaught, oprr, oregonpacific, trains, railroad
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Even though GorgeRail is over 6 months away, I’m starting to look at the slideshow and find out who is interested in giving a presentation this year. If you’ve thought about presenting, I’d love to hear from you.
What sort of material are we looking for? We’re not too picky… pretty much anything railroad-related is fair game, whether it be modern or historical. In general, shows should be no longer than 20-25 minutes (longer than that and folks tend to lose interest, even with a good subject). I ask that shows have pre-recorded audio of some form, whether it be music or a verbal narration.
If you have a show idea, please send me an email at ahockley@gmail.com and we’ll talk. In the next month I’ll be looking at possible shows so that we can announce most of the lineup when ticket sales begin in January.
Technorati Tags: gorgerail, railroad, trains
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The Northwest has experienced its own heat wave over the last three days with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees on two occasions. Today on my weekly trip around the Vancouver terminal my motivation to get out of the truck and photograph was low due to the fact its was over 80 degrees with >50% humidity at 9am. I even had a chance to photograph a couple of locations I’ve never shot before, but for some reason standing out in the sun holding the camera didn’t intrigue me. I’m sure all of you who live in places where it is regularly this warm and humid are getting a hearty laugh. Ok, enjoy yourselves.
In place of something from Sunday I offer a photo from the weekend before GorgeRail 2006. After changing crews at Eigth St., a northbound traverses the middle lead past the Vancouver Yard office.
Technorati Tags: trains, railroad, photos, vancouver, washington, bnsf, railfan, railfanning, pictures
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Since I haven’t had a chance to take a bunch of new photos in the last week or so, I figured I need to entertain y’all with something, and I decided I’m going to post a few things over the next few days in a “GorgeRail Unplugged” series, offering a bit of behind-the-scenes insight into putting together the annual railfan event. Even if you have yet to attend GorgeRail, there might be something of interest.
Each year, GorgeRail has had an “official” lodging arrangement including a group rate at a hotel/motel in the area. Attendees are able to stay wherever they choose, but staying at the group motel has often had some benefits.
The first to years, we held GorgeRail at the Best Western Hood River Inn and so that became the natural choice for our group loding. We received a discount on the conference room based on the number of folks which chose to stay at the motel. The motel was nice, clean, and offered rooms with a river view for those who wanted the scenery outside their patio door. The hotel bar stayed open until a good hour so that we could toss back a few pints on Friday night and again on Saturday after the show.
In 2005 we changed the show venue to take advantage of the wonderful theater facilities at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles. Holding the show in a hotel conference room was adequate, but the theater at the Discovery Center provided more comfortable seating, better viewing, and a better sound system for about the same price as we had been paying in Hood River. Of course, being a museum, the Discovery Center doesn’t have a hotel in the building.
Last year we setup a group rate with the newly-built Comfort Inn, which was on the opposite end of town from the show. The facility was new and clean, and offered a continental breakfast included with the price. Unfortunately, my impression of the facility was marred by the fact that my reservation was screwed up and they had me in a room with a single bed instead of two.
This year, we setup group lodging at Cousins Country Inn. The rooms were clean, the prices were right, although no breakfast (or coupon for their restaurant) was included. One disappointment was that they shut down the bar at 10pm, even though we had probably 25 people who wanted to continue purchasing drinks. They lost money and made us unhappy.
Next year, I’m going to do a bit more planning. I want to find somewhere with affordable railfan-friendly rooms, with a bar that’s going to stay open past 10. If anyone has suggestions, or any sort of feedback, feel free to let me know.
Technorati Tags: gorgerail, hood river, the dalles, hotels, motels
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