Every year when ORHF puts on their annual Holiday Express my daughter and I go visit.  She absolutely loves steam engines so having them in a small area on a predictable schedule works out wonderfully.  Each year we get more and more adventuresome with the photographs we choose.  Last year we hung out near the turn around point in Sellwood and were rewarded with some interesting images of the Daylight.  This year we did something similar with the 700 only from the other side of the tracks.

In years past my daughter has been apprehensive about the locomotives thanks to their size and the unpredictable nature of the noises they make.  She really doesn’t like to be startled.  This year, like every other, I explained to her exactly what would happen, when the engine would whistle, and what she would hear.  As the 700 pulled away from the Oaks Park station she stood strong next to me and her body rocked with the chuff of the exhaust.  She said “Christmas” as the front of the engine came into view and waved like crazy as the train passed.  She was thrilled and I snapped off a nice photo of the 700 charging (at 10 mph) out of the station.

After the train backed past us headed north for East Portland we walked north to the lake in the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.  I decided I’d like a photo across the lake so we walked along the trail until I found a suitable location.  My daughter is always up for a hiking adventure so I guided her away from the trail down a a reasonably steep slope towards the lake.  I miscalculated the slipperiness of the slope and one point we both slipped on the wet leaves and fell on our behinds.  The one thing she likes less than being startled is falling.   She was very shocked but stood strong once we brushed ourselves off.

Once along the lake we could hear the 700 once again approaching from the north.  I snapped off a photo of the engine with wonderful billows of steam rolling out.  My daughter talked continually about how awesome the engine was and in doing so completely forgot about the slip earlier.

We walked back towards the Oaks park station and enjoyed looking at the 700 as the volunteer crew unloaded and reloaded the train.  It departed on its next run to East Portland and we stood near the tracks to watch the motorcars go south.  I think both of us liked the car with the reindeer leading the best.  Though all the cars look wonderful it appeared as the most Christmas spirited.

As is normal my daughter asked about going on a train ride.  I explained to her that we have tickets to ride behind the Daylight next Saturday. Oh boy, that was perfect.  She was beside herself with thrill.  When she got home she told her mom all about what she saw and the fact next weekend she’d be going to ride the train.  She also reminded mom she’d be shopping at the gift shop set up for the Holiday Express.  That will be our family’s annual contribution to the roundhouse cause…for the love of steam.

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