Willamette Valley Railroading

[funnelfan]

In the middle of March I was in Oregon for my Brother's wedding. Here is a series of images from Monday, the day after the wedding. At the time, a high was centered over western Oregon creating two weeks of perfect weather. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom too.

1. Coast Starlight #14 lead by #114 blasts by the north end of Renard siding preparing for a stop in Salem just ahead.

2. In albany, a P&W SD7 brings a cut of cars over from the ex-BN yard to the ex-SP yard. P&W is forced to use the short stretch of UP mainline between the two switch stands in the image to get between the yards.

3. A closer view of the train on the lead into the ex-SP yard.

4. Meanwhile, the MHKCO is making a drop on the other end of the SP yard at Page.

[funnelfan]

5. The power of the MHKCO with two "flares" leading.

6. The south end of the ex-SP Albany Yard. mostly owned by Portland & Western now.

7. The MHKCO went into the hole at Hallawell on the south side of Albany to allow Amtrak #11 to run around.

8. #11 crossing the Calapooia River south of Talent, OR.

[funnelfan]

9. And the MHKCO shortly afterwards.

10. P&W's Toledo Hauler working it's way through Albany.

11. And crossing the Golf Course.

12. A little closer.

[funnelfan]

13. And finally heading toward Corvallis

14. The engineer of the MPDEU has a fight on his hands with two SD40-2's and a long train. But he has just clawed his way to the top of Hito Hill.

[Larsenisi]

WOW those are some great Photos. Thanks for sharing those with us.

[Orfan]

Good stuff, I really like the one at Hito hill. I've wanted (but haven't had much luck) to get something there for awhile now. The SD40's make it even better!
Geoff

[Jon Bentz]

Nice weather - nice work!! I've got to get down there.

[roee]

Nice shots Ted. Question, in the shot where the P&W SD7 is using the UP Main Line, what's the yellow signal off to the right for (looks like its in the middle of nowhere), and it looks like the mainline has a line up, while this train shuttles across. Also, in the P&W 3001 shots, what is the second (and 5th) units? Are those B units?

[B_Kosanda]

A shot of that SD7 would make the trip worth it.

Bill

[wigwagfan]

Originally Posted by roee

Nice shots Ted. Question, in the shot where the P&W SD7 is using the UP Main Line, what's the yellow signal off to the right for (looks like its in the middle of nowhere), and it looks like the mainline has a line up, while this train shuttles across. Also, in the P&W 3001 shots, what is the second (and 5th) units? Are those B units?

Roee - I hope you don't mind me jumping in.

That yellow signal is for the UP mainline. The P&W has to use...just a couple hundred feet of mainline to get from the UP/W&P yard lead to the track leading to the OE yard. The signals are ABS and are spaced pretty close together - there is another set of signals near the wye for the Toledo Branch (not too far ahead of the SD7), and yet another set of signals around the curve on the other side of the Amtrak station.

The area is actually a residential neighborhood (not the best neighborhood, but better than some other neighborhoods I've railfanned in) in the northeastern part of Albany, but looking back towards that signal, with two railroad tracks spaced out about 40 feet or so, the right-of-way is pretty wide. There are several pedestrian crossings as well as road crossings along this stretch. So it's more of Funnelfan's photography skill to make it look like it's "in the middle of nowhere".

Here is a link to an aerial view from Terraserver:

http://www.terraserver-usa.com/image...ny%7cOregon%7c

The wye to the Toledo Line is virtually in the center of the image, the UP/W&P yard in the lower left hand corner - the Amtrak (ex-SP) depot is on the north side of the tracks, just southwest of the Highway 99E overpass. To the right, where the UP mainline crosses over the street that is at an angle, you can see the OE interchange track diverge to the north from the UP mainline; the UP/W&P yard begins to the east of the Toledo Branch wye, so it's about one-two city blocks at most that P&W trains must use the mainline.

The Oregon Electric district of the P&W passes underneath the bridge, visible in the very far upper left hand corner of the image - just north of the street that makes a slight curve east of the bridge.