40 years of North American photography

[roundhouse]

Cant wait to visit the NW again. Need to do the Point defiance cut off through Tacoma now is has finally opened to Amtrak services.

 

However we are glad hat we didnt over xmas due to the weather. The Coast Starlight has been cancelled on many days in recent weeks  including at present. We stuck to the Surfliners services in SoCal but even they were affected due o high surf and heavy rain. These have been cancelled today between San Luis Obispo / Santa Barbara  and LA. Luckily we left at he weekend when it was a brief sunny interlude and was great to be able to sit in brewpubs with the doors / windows open over xmas and the new year. A number of these in the Santa Barbara area have closed due to the bad weather at present.

EDIT

Los Angeles Union station was partailly flooded Monday but still open using the mobility carts to move passengers through the water in the underpass to access the platforms above.

Edited January 11, 2023 by roundhouse

[Johann Marsbar]

The immediate area around Portland Union station has (or at least it was in 2017) been kept clear of the numerous homeless encampments that are in evidence in parts of the City Centre and it was rather obvious that visual checks were also being made on all persons entering the staion building itself as well.....

 

 

 

Whilst the number of trains that stop there are a fraction of those in its heyday, its an impressive building, constructed between 1890 and 1896.  There were a couple of Private Cars parked up in one of the platforms which were owned by the American Railway Explorer company, the "Kansas" apparently dating from 1950 and, as the livery suggests, was formerly a Denver & Rio Grande RR car.....

 

 

The station signal tower still exists, but it wasn't apparent whether it is still in rail use.  Access still appeared to be from the trackside with a gate provided to get through to there, but the Light Rail now passes closely by on this side.......

 

 

Just to the south of the station is the Steel Bridge, a vertical lift bridge built in 1912, which carries, rail, road and MAX light rail trains over the Williamette River.......

 

 

As well as the MAX Light Rail network, Portland opened a new streetcar system from 2001 onwards which is a much more traditional street tramway operation which uses cars built or designed in the Czech Republic........

 

 

Car #010 shown above is an Inekon Trio T12 dating from 2006, whilst #21, shown below crossing the 1911 built Broadway Bridge, was built in the US by United Streetcar in 2012.....

 

 

After a run out to Clackamas Town Centre on MAX - actually a large shopping centre rather than a "Town Centre" - I paid a visit to Bridgeport Brewing in Downtown before having a wander around one of the parts of the centre that has seen a lot of redevelopment following the opening of the streetcar network - as encouraged by a large sign on one of the structures.....

 

 

This classic Chrysler was parked up in a street nearby as well.......

 

 

Needless to say, Bridgeport Brewing is another brewery that has closed since I was there, the Portland area ones that I visited seemingly being hit very hard over the last 5 years for a variety of reasons and not just the fallout from Covid.......

[Johann Marsbar]

The next morning was somewhat enlivened by the Fire Alarm at the hotel going off at 02.30 in the morning - which turned out to be a false alarm, thankfully.....

After purchasing another $5 day ticket, the first move of the day was to cover the Blue Line out to its eastern terminus at Cleveland Avenue in Gresham.....

 

 

Some quite significant lengths of the Blue Line, both east and west of the city, are constructed on former Interurban electric railway or tramway alignments, the eastern line using frormer Portland Traction Company and Mount Hood Railway & Power Company routes.

 

One other type of rolling stock operated is this batch of 52 "Type 2" cars dating from 1997 and which wee built by Siemens......

 

 

At Gresham Transit Centre, connections are made with the City of Sandy bus system, who have quite a distinctive livery.....

 

 

After this, I covered both the MAX lines to the Airport (Red Line) and the Expo Center (Yellow Line) before backtracking one stop to Delta Park, where I took the connecting C-Tran bus over to Vancouver, WA.  The Portland day tickets are valid in Vancouver and vice-versa, which at least encourages Public transit usage.

 

Vancouver dates from 1824 when a Hudsons Bay Company trading post was established as Fort Vancouver and this complex has been rebuilt as quite an interesting museum operated by the US National Park Service.....

 

 

 

Adjacent to the HBC fort is another museum, that at the former Pearson Army Airfield, a landing strip still being in use there nowadays for civillian flyers........

 

 

 

 

....part of what became a very large US Military base first established in the 1840's, the airfield itself opening in 1911.  On the photo above of the DH-4 aircraft, you can just see the corner section of a very large HO scale model of the Military base complex which had a very extensive rail network, well represented on the model with appropriale examples of rolling stock & locos.

 

Then it was time to head back into the Downtown area of Vancouver to see what rail activity was evident.......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

There wasn't a lot to be seen in terms of rail activity at the station, the next passenger train being some time away from when I was there.

Apart from the remote-control unit in Santa Fe colours in the previous posting, the only other locos seen moving around were this pair in BN green that seemed to bring a train up from the riverside area on a steepish graded line and then move it into the main yard which is located to the north of the Vancouver Amtrak station......

 

 

The Vancouver station has a distinct European (Swiss) look about it and had a display of photos and artefacts in the main waiting area......

 

 

As not a lot seemed to be going on, I wandered back Downtown and called in at Old Ivy Brewing for something to eat and to sample their beers (since closed and reopened as just a bar under a different name...) before sampling the delights of "The Vine", C-Trans bus rapid transit route.......

 

 

This uses New Flyer articulated buses which call at dedicated "stations" as shown in the photo above. Both the outward and inbound journeys that I travelled on left a lot to be desired - a very rough ride with "lead foot" application of the brakes by the drivers, which seems to be a common problem in North America....

 

Apart from that, C-Tran did seem to be a well presented transit operation, but apart from the "Vine" route there was no timetable information at most of the stops and I couldn't even find an Office anywhere to pick up copies of their timetables/map.

 

 

This large mural is painted on one of the buildings there......

 

 

...which commemorates the landing of a Soviet Tupolev ANT-25 aircraft at Pearson Field in 1937 after completing the first Trans-polar flight from Moscow that ended up in Vancouver, though he was supposed to land in Seattle.

 

This Thunderbird was one of several historic cars that seemed to be driving around the central area as well......

 

 

A visit was them made to Trusty Brewing (since closed....) adjacent to my bus stop, before catching the shuttle over to Delta Park for the LRT into Portland.

Arrival in Portland corresponded with the passage of a southbound UP freight along the east bank of the river, as seen from the Steel Bridge......

 

 

The tracks on the left serve a waterfront grain terminal.

A cople of MAX LRV's in both the old and current liveries are seen on the lifting section of the bridge.....

 

 

.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Johann Marsbar
Geographical errors!!

[Johann Marsbar]

Saturday was going to be quite a long day as the Portland Rose Parade took place Downtown that evening, though, in the event I did get back to the Motel a lot earlier than planned.

First task of the day was to cover the western section of the MAX Blue Line out to Hillsboro', quite a chunk of that route following a former Oregon Electric Railway alignment. Out at Hillsboro' there is still a fair bit of freight only street trackage in evidence, nowadays worked by the Portland & Western RR.

The Blue Line terminates at Hatfield Government Centre.......

 

 

...and the line runs through the area on central reservation......

 

 

I even managed to find a local model RR shop in the Hillsboro', though they had very little N scale available - it was mostly HO from memory.

By the time I got back into Downtown Portland at 11.30, there were already people taking up position to watch the evenings parade, which didn't actually start until 20.30!  I however caught the Orange line out to make a visit to the Oregon Rail Heritage Centre which opened to the public in 2012 and has some fairly significant exhibits, but there wasn't as much there as I was expecting.

At weekends, there is a local train ride in operation along a section of riverside trackage owned by the Oregon Pacific RR but which was formerly a Portland Traction Company route, motive power normally being provided by this ex CN GMD-1.........

 

 

The train ride is about 4 miles in length and remains next to the Williamette River for the whole journey and whillst hardly spectacular scenery, it was a pleasant enough journey, give or take the assorted areas of homeless encampments passed on the way.

 

Back at the Heritage Centre, their prize exhibit has to be the SP Daylight 4-8-4 #4449, built in 1941........

 

 

....which is one of 3 steam locos based there. They also have an SP&S 4-8-4 (#700) of 1938 and this former Oregon Railway & Navigation 4-6-2 (#197), built by Baldwin in 1905.....

 

 

On the diesel front, there is a UP SW-10.......

 

 

An NKP liveried Alco RSD-5 which is actually the former Utah Railway #306, new to them in 1955......

 

 

..and one of the two Alco PA locos in the USA which were repatriated to the Country from Mexico in the early 2000's. This one ended its US service as D&H #18 and is being restored as NKP #190...

 

 

Apart from the locomotives, there were a selection of passenger cars and other items of rolling stock on display there....

 

 

This rather impressive bridge - for MAX, Streetcar, cyclists and pedestrians only - spans the Williamette River near to the Heritage Centre......

 

 

 

A quick visit to sample the (rather expensive compared with other local breweries, which could be why their tap room has since shut...) products of Hair of the Dog Brewing then followed , where I observed them having a bottle of beer on sale (called "Dave") for a mere $1500 if you felt particularly rash, before heading back Downtown to attempt to get something to eat at Deschutes Brewing.

Attempt appeared to be the operative word as the place was an absolute bunfight and I had more or less given up any hope of getting a table when one became vacant in the bar area. As space was at a premium, a Man and his Wife asked whether I minded them joining me, which turned out to be an interesting encounter. The chaps Father (a US Citizen of Polish ancestry) had apparently come over to Britain in 1940 and joined a Polish RAF Wellington bomber squadron and served in that capacity until the American bomber squadrons started arriving in the UK, after which he had transferred to the USAAF and ended up on B17's operating out of Polebrook!   He apparently saw the war out, completing a total of 47 missions by May 1945.

 

From there, I covered the Max Orange Line out to Milwaukie and back, before taking up a suitable position to observe the much vaunted parade that evening.  After the passage of some sort of road-race, the parade duly started and it was fairly obvious that all of the local transport was going to be disrupted big-time, and after being totally underwhelmed by the first 20 minutes of the Parade - with huge gaps between the display floats - I decided to give up and managed to get on what was most probably one of the last Blue Line trains back to the Motel for several hours!

 

Once back at the Motel, I was able to watch most of the Parade on TV anyway......

[Mike_Walker]

For those not familiar with the machine, here is SP&S 700 on its home turf at Lyle on the north bank of the Columbia River whilst working from Portland to Pasco on 20 April 2001.

 

 

 

At the time both it and the SP Daylight were regular main line performers and were under the custodianship of Doyle McCormack's Daylight Locomotive Management company although 4449 at least and possibly 700 also were actually owned by the City of Portland.

 

Before the opening of the heritage centre which Johann visited, both were kept at the former SP Brooklyn roundhouse which was deep inside an active UP yard and therefore strictly off limits to casual visitors.  However, having got to know Doyle through my friendship with Jim Boyd, I was able to arrange a private viewing for a party of us in 2003.

 

At that time, 4449 was wearing its 1976 American Freedom Train scheme once more which, to my eye, is far less attractive than its normal Daylight garb.

 

Also at that time the PA was still partly restored.  It had arrived from Mexico as a total wreck having been involved in a derailment which saw it roll down an embankment.  It arrived without trucks but Doyle was able to source a pair from a former FM "Erie built" B unit which CP had rebuilt into some form of power generator car whilst a 251 engine was acquired from BC Rail.  The reason why Doyle chose to paint it in Nickel Plate livery (along with the RSD5 - both are owned by Doyle) is that Doyle grew up along the Nickel Plate and has an affection for it.  190 was actually originally a Santa Fe unit.

 

  

That's Brian Daniels of this parish taking a snap of the 700.  The roundhouse was too cramped to permit much internal photography.

 

There were other members of Doyle's fleet in the yard.

 

Great Northern 274 (it's true identity) is a 1950 EMD F7A.

 

SP&S 866 is an ALCo FA1 of similar vintage which is a major rebuild project as it ended its operational days as Long Island push-pull power pack 613.  I've actually driven it in that form but that's another story...

 

Whenever 4449 was out on the road it was accompanied by Doyle's tool or support car "Yes Dear". 

When I quizzed him about the origins of the name he simply replied: "Have you met my wife?"

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Mike_Walker
Correcting finger trouble!

[Johann Marsbar]

1 hour ago, Mike_Walker said:

For those not familiar with the machine, here is SP&S 700 on its home turf at Lyle on the north bank of the Columbia River whilst working from Portland to Pasco on 20 April 2001.

 

 

 

At the time both it and the SP Daylight were regular main line performers and were under the custodianship of Doyle McCormack's Daylight Locomotive Management company although 4449 at least and possibly 700 also were actually owned by the City of Portland.

 

Before the opening of the heritage centre which Johann visited, both were kept at the former SP Brooklyn roundhouse which was deep inside an active UP yard and therefore strictly off limits to casual visitors.  However, having got to know Doyle through my friendship with Jim Boyd, I was able to arrange a private viewing for a party of us in 2003.

 

At that time, 4449 was wearing its 1976 American Freedom Train scheme once more which, to my eye, is far less attractive than its normal Daylight garb.

 

Also at that time the PA was still partly restored.  It had arrived from Mexico as a total wreck having been involved in a derailment which saw it roll down an embankment.  It arrived without trucks but Doyle was able to source a pair from a former FM "Erie built" B unit which CP had rebuilt into some form of power generator car whilst a 251 engine was acquired from BC Rail.  The reason why Doyle chose to paint it in Nickel Plate livery (along with the RSD5 - both are owned by Doyle) is that Doyle grew up along the Nickel Plate and has an affection for it.  190 was actually originally a Santa Fe unit.

 

  

That's Brian Daniels of this parish taking a snap of the 700.  The roundhouse was too cramped to permit much internal photography.

 

There were other members of Doyle's fleet in the yard.

 

Great Northern 274 (it's true identity) is a 1950 EMD F7A.

 

SP&S 866 is an ALCo FA1 of similar vintage which is a major rebuild project as it ended its operational days as Long Island push-pull power pack 613.  I've actually driven it in that form but that's another story...

 

Whenever 4449 was out on the road it was accompanied by Doyle's tool or support car "Yes Dear". 

When I quizzed him about the origins of the name he simply replied: "Have you met my wife?"

 

 

All three of the steam locos at the Heritage Centre are actually owned by the City of Portland and there is more information about them here.....   https://orhf.org/visit-orhc/locomotives/

 

#700 was, along with #197, being worked on at the time I visited the centre.....

 

 

...and it seems they are looking at getting that loco back into operation sometime during 2023.    They still seem to be working on #197 at this time and #4449 appears to have been steamed last in 2019 for their Christmas trains.  They actually "borrowed" a Baldwin 2-8-2 (Polson Logging #2) for the 2022 Christmas trains, supposedly as the riverside line used by the excursion trains (the same one used by the GMD-1 trips) is now off limits to the larger steam power.

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Sunday was a day for getting out of Portland for the day in the car, so I headed off south along I-205 and I-5, stopping on the way for breakfast, to arrive at Brooks, OR, and this place.......

 

 

I was actually only really interested in one of the fourteen museums mentioned on the entrance sign, and, like the San Jose Heritage Park the previous year, there seemed to be a complete lack of co-ordination between them as to when each one would actually be open and a few of them - including one of the fairly major ones - were shut the day I was there.  However, one that I was expecting to be closed was actually open for the very first time that day in the new building complex they had just had constructed!

 

The museums themselves vary considerably and cover a wide range of subjects, from the local town historical society, through agricultural, rail, logging equipment, cars etc, etc, and the quality of the displays and the buildings (assuming they can afford a building) depend heavilly on the number of members and the financial abilities of each group.  There was also rather a lot of rusty and untouched equipment of all types scattered around the site owned by the various groups, so the place seemed to lack cohesion in that respect and resembled a scrapyard in places.

 

I got there soon after it opened and paid my site admission at the entrance building which did contain a number of smaller exhibits and displays........

 

 

I had actually budgeted to spend about 3 hours at the place, moving on to another location later in the day, but actually ended up being there for over 6 hours, the afternoons museum visit to Tilamook being scrubbed as it would have shut by the time I got there.

 

The local Historical Society have transplanted the former station building to the site and that contains an extensive collection of local artefacts/photos, including rail related subjects. The chap manning the place was a bit thrown when I asked him why they had a BR (Scottish Region) Guards handlamp on display though!

 

 

One of the former Brussels trams from Grand Cypress Resort (a type seen at the National Capital Trolley Museum the previous October) is parked on the obviously disused spur from the OERM line that runs to the building......

 

 

There is also a very extensive minature railway operation on the site - which was shut that day, though this was parked at the main station.......

 

 

This small switcher seemed to be being used as a buffer stop at the end of the U-shaped OERM line, though I think it may be owned by the local rail historical society group rather than the tram museum........

 

 

The site is used once a year for a major traction engine rally and there were a few rather less than pristine examples on display out in the open in part of the site.....

 

 

 

To be continued.......

[Johann Marsbar]

The main museum that I wanted to visit at Powerland was the Oregon Electric Railway Museum who had moved to the site at Brooks in 1995 from elsewhere in the State.

The main building and car shed was locked up when I first got to that area and I was initially limited to looking at the items which were parked outside, though whilst I was there, a car pulled up and a volunteer got out.  I went to have a word with him and was told it looked as though he might be on his own as nobody else appeared to be coming in that day and he wasn't particularly happy about the situation!  Nothing was due to start running until 12.00 anyway so he was going to try and "kick ass" and get at least one other person in to help him, otherwise they couldn't run anything......

 

This was their most recently arrived exhibit at that stage, a 1912 built GE loco built new for Oregon Electric, later going to BC Electric/Hydro where it was one of their last electrics in use in the early 1970's. It then went to Edmonton Transit to work on their new LRT line, going to the Fraser Valley Museum in BC after withdrawal, from where OERM purchased it in 2017.....

 

 

A 1912 Baldwin-Westinghouse built electric loco, formerly used in Butte, Montana........

 

 

A 1903 GE built electric loco, delivered new to the Missoula Street Railway in Montana......

 

 

A former Milan (Italy) area Interurban car that was scrapped not long after I visited the museum, though you can see why from the visible state of the bodywork, let alone what can't be seen underneath the panels.......

 

 

STIB PCC car #7020 of 1952, one of the private collection of former Brussels cars that had been put together somewhere in British Columbia and which had been sold off a few years prior to this visit. Some ended up at the NCTM in Washington DC but the rest all seemed to have been acquired by the OERM and were scattered around the Powerland site......

 

 

1934 built STIB tram, later converted to a works car...........

 

 

A body of an unidentified Interurban freight motor.........

 

 

Former San Francisco Muni PCC car 1118 - They have a restored/operational one as well........

 

 

At the time of my visit they also owned three trolleybuses, all of which seemed to be fairly complete but in poor condition, with a former Vancouver one of 1954 on the left, whilst the other two dated from the 1940's and originated from Seattle.  The green one in the centre, which was the one in the worst condition, has since been scrapped.........

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Continuing the walk round the site before the display buildings that were opening that day burst into life, there were a few railway related items there, but a search of the websites of the various groups based at Antique Powerland doesn't throw up much in the way of clues as to who actually owns them or even identify what they are, a prime example being this small switcher, totally devoid of any recogniseable features.......

 

 

It almost looks like some sort of homebuilt contraption, with the radiator grille supsiciously resembling something off a tractor of some sort (it might say Caterpillar on the side?). It may be something to do with the logging display there as the "Heller Hall" display building visible in the background of the next photo is their HQ - but it wasn't open the day I was there .  Since 2017 a narrow-gauge preservation outfit seem to have established themselves in that general area of the site as well.

 

At least this former SP wrecker was identifiable.......

 

 

....and Alco #36 here took a bit of digging online to find out its identity.....

 

 

You can just make out some reporting marks onthe cabside - possibly PTR - and PTRC is Portland Terminal RR and they had an Alco like that numbered 36, so that may well be the answer, given it's in the right part of the Country!  It looks like some restoration work was started in the past but it's been left untouched for many years.

 

Yet more former STIB vehicles........

 

 

 

Most of the Logging Museum collection seemed to be out in all weathers........

 

 

....though I would have thought that this solid-tyred GMC would have been better off under cover.....

 

 

I couldn't find any sign of the Fire Museum supposedly based there other than a few appliances parked outside on the site.....

 

 

 

...though, having looked online,  the Fireliner Trump Snorkel one actually appears to be owned by the Truck Museum and is now inside their display building. They may both fall in that category as that museum was only reopening the day I visited and I think part still needed finishing off before more exhibits could be put inside.

 

The biggest dissappointment of the day was finding that the Caterpillar Museum wasn't open, which appeared to be a sizeable collection of equipment from what little you could see through the windows.......

 

 

However, the other places on-site were starting to open by now, so that mainly concludes the "rusting wrecks" part of the tour - the more interesting stuff starts appearing next.....

 

 

 

.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Johann Marsbar
extra text added

[Johann Marsbar]

There is rather a nice reconstructed Texaco Gas Station on the site which would make quite a good subject for modelling.....

 

 

...and at the furthest reaches of the accessible part of the site I found this Birney car body - presumably one of the pair that belong to OERM, but as it was a long way from their "area" it might not be one of theirs.....

 

 

Now we come to the Pacific Northwest Truck Museum.....

 

 

...a place that I wasn't expecting to be open, as when I checked before flying out , they were shown as being closed for rebuilding work, so I thought that the few vehicles parked outside would be all I could see from the collection.....

 

 

 

However, when I got down to where their entrance to the (new) building was, the doors were open, so I wandered in and was told that this was actually the first day of opening and they had only just finished putting the vehicles back the previous day!

Obviously a lot of work still had to be done on the various displays, but the place was crammed with trucks from the earliest days up to the early 1970's, including a number of makes that I'd never even heard of, though most of those were from prior to 1930 and were in the smaller display hall that I went into first.

 

A Doane built logging truck dating from 1925...........

 

 

A 1922 built Dearborn 3/4 Ton truck......

 

 

1937 Autocar tipper.............

 

 

A 1923 AB Mack logging truck with articulated trailer........

 

 

1923 GMC 1 Ton truck......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Concluding our look around the Pacific NW Truck Museum.....

 

A 1914 White and a 1919 Samson.....

 

 

A 1916 Moreland flatbed.......

 

 

A 1917 Maxwell greengrocery truck, with a Ford on the right.......

 

 

..and the last of the featured trucks of the "Vintage" part of the collection, a 1922 Federal and a 1912 Republic, the Federal looking rather ancient considering its construction date......

 

 

That's certainly the best collection of pre 1930 trucks that I've found over in the USA, with some fairly rare manufacturers amongst them as well.  There were a lot more than that whch I have photos of, but I've limited this to the better examples that were on display.

The other (larger) display hall seemed to be mainly filled with post-war vehicles, though there were a few exceptions, like this 1930 Faegol which looks surprisingly "modern" for it's age.....

 

 

Post-war, you had things like this 1949/1946 pair of Kenworth tractor units.....

 

 

An International logging truck.......

 

 

...and this rather strange looking "half-cab" Murty, dating from 1954......

 

 

The most modern vehicle in there was this 1990 Freightliner, with, from memory, a 1960's model visible beyond it....

 

 

There were a couple of smaller exhibition halls which were still devoid of any vehicles or other material, but, even so, I'm rather glad that they were open that day, as it added considerably to visit to Powerland Park given what was on display in there.

It was then time to head back to the OERM building to see whether anybody else had bothered to turn up that day so they could at least run one of their trams......

[Johann Marsbar]

Thankfully someone else had turned up to help at the OERM so they were able to start operating from the 12.00 departure - though I was actually the only visitor at the place by that time, the whole Park being rather devoid of customers that morning, though a few others had turned up by early afternoon.

I was tolld that the trolley museum was struggling for volunteers by the chap who I had encountered earlier that morning and that their main restoration project at that time had been delayed in completion, which was a shame as I was hoping it might have been finished by the time of my visit.

 

Another view of some of the STIB cars parked outside the depot/restoration shop - the building being completely filled with the rest of their collection - hence the number of cars parked outside. The green one is a trailer car built in 1931........

 

 

The operational car being used on their line that day was a rather careworn ex Porto Brill car from around 1911 which was rebuilt in 1940. Things like the missing headlight wouldn't be tolerated at any other museums!

 

 

After a return trip on the U-shaped line that runs from their depot round the northern part of the Park, he opened up the doors of the depot for me to have a look around the rest of the collection, with this former Sydney, NSW, car which dates from 1912 being just inside the doors and you can just make out part of their former San Francisco Boeing LRV on the left of the picture (suffering from some severe panel rusting..)...............

 

 

At the front on the other side of the shed was their ex Hong Kong double decker of 1952 which sits on a short length of dual gauge track.........

 

 

#813 is a 1932 built Brill car which was used in Portland.................

 

 

......and behind that was Blackpool Standard #48 dating from 1927...........

 

 

This car had run for several years (with a generator trailer) on their former Lake Oswego Trolley operation, just to the south of Portland, but had moved to Brooks in 2004 and was in the process of being overhauled for service at that time. They did actually get the job completed about a month after I was there, with the lower saloon looking like this......

 

 

...and the upper saloon like this......

 

 

The temporary shoring of the roof seemed to be due to them carrying out work on the trolleybase, though how much support it was actually providing is anyones guess!

 

Another former Portland car is #503, built by Brill in 1904 and used on the Council Crest line........

 

 

Whilst another loco on site is this 1915 GE third-rail powered electric that came from Anaconda Copper in Montana.  The rear of their other (but operational) ex San Francisco PCC car can be seen in the background......

 

 

A full listing of their "fleet" can be found here    http://oerhs.oregontrolley.com/collection/     though a lot of the STIB "wrecks" aren't shown on there.

[Johann Marsbar]

After visiting OERM, I then found that the car museum was open - another one that was supposed to be closed that day - or that was my impression when looking at the website before my trip!

 

Quite an interesting selection of vehicles in there.....

 

 

The "wonky" radiator on that sportster rebuild was certainly different.

 

 

 

I don't know how many of these Ford Escorts they actually sold in North America, but they seem to appear at car museums over there fairly regularly......

 

 

 

...and it was then on to the last place that was open, the tractor museum.....

 

 

 

I like the red arrow mounted on a frame so that the driver can see which way the steering is pointing, the engine obstructing the view otherwise.

 

 

By the time I left there it had got round to 15.30 so there was no way that I could get to the Tilamook Air Museum before they closed, so ended up changing my plans by making a scenic detour to the east of the Interstate into the foothills of the mountains. Whilst I had also missed out on trying to find any signs of the shortline and tourist train operations around Tilamook, I did find this parked up at Woodburn, OR, on my revised route......

 

 

Willamette Valley #2503 is a former Southern Pacific GP35 which was delivered new to SP in 1964 as their #7430.

[The Lurker]

We were told by my BiL, who lives in Seattle, that Tillamook Creamery makes pretty much the only decent cheese in the region. But we didn’t visit it or the air museum when we drove that way a few years back!

[pH]

Creamery? Air museum?? What about this lot (and others scattered about the site)???

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/E+St,+Tillamook,+OR+97141,+USA/@45.4205985,-123.8017927,3a,75y,332.63h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0eDXU_L79lRRleAA3XNz-A!2e0!4m6!3m5!1s0x54eb2a707cc69537:0x87fcbc9d4e98f619!8m2!3d45.4205749!4d-123.8017458!16s%2Fg%2F11g63llq74

(Edit - I always have problems providing links to Google Maps. To see what I meant to show, go from this point towards the hangar, cross the railway track, then look to the left.)

 

I don’t rate the Creamery shop, though other opinions are obviously available. Maybe it was because we visited in the summer season, but the idea of lining up in long queues to buy cheese you can get in most supermarkets in the area did not really appeal. The ice cream did look very good, but the lineups for that were at least as long. Plus we hadn’t visited the engines yet.

Edited January 23, 2023 by pH

[Johann Marsbar]

3 hours ago, pH said:

Creamery? Air museum?? What about this lot (and others scattered about the site)???

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/E+St,+Tillamook,+OR+97141,+USA/@45.4205985,-123.8017927,3a,75y,332.63h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0eDXU_L79lRRleAA3XNz-A!2e0!4m6!3m5!1s0x54eb2a707cc69537:0x87fcbc9d4e98f619!8m2!3d45.4205749!4d-123.8017458!16s%2Fg%2F11g63llq74

(Edit - I always have problems providing links to Google Maps. To see what I meant to show, go from this point towards the hangar, cross the railway track, then look to the left.)

 

I don’t rate the Creamery shop, though other opinions are obviously available. Maybe it was because we visited in the summer season, but the idea of lining up in long queues to buy cheese you can get in most supermarkets in the area did not really appeal. The ice cream did look very good, but the lineups for that were at least as long. Plus we hadn’t visited the engines yet.

 

I was aware of the selection of locos present on the old airfield site beforehand, so was expecting to be able to have a look at those as well as the air museum - which is based in the large airship hangar visible in that streetview image.

Will have to wait for another trip now - assuming I ever get to that area again......

[roundhouse]

The air museum is well worth visiting or certainly was when we did some years ago. There was a P38 that had just landed and we got to walk around it in its separate maintenance base on the airfield. I think it may have now moved on.

 

There are the remains of another airship hanger nearby and the first time we visited the yard around it was in use with plenty of centerbeams being loaded / unloaded. SInce then a number of washouts has closed the route.

 

Plenty of rotting locos close to the airship hangar and even a small brewery but it wasnt open the day we last visited. Pelican now have a number of brewpubs in the area but we have only visited the origianl one on the beach at Pelican City where there is a superb hotel opposite the place.

 

Tillamook cheese is nice and each time we have visited the queues were OK but the size of the car park shows how busy it can get. You do get to have free tasters of all their cheeses. Unfortunately Tillamook cheese isnt available in the UK.

 

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railway at Garibaldi North of Tillamook is a pleasant ride

[Johann Marsbar]

Monday was the last day that I actually spent in the Portland area, so after buying a $5 Day Pass, I headed off downtown and spent some time in the area of the "Steel Bridge" taking photos of the LRT, some shipping and a passing UP freight on the east bank of the river........

 

 

 

The size of the lifting structure can be seen in this image.........

 

 

It's actually a double decked bridge and only the roadway section with the LRT tracks can be seen in this photo.  On a lower level are the rail tracks which lead into Portland Union station.

 

To the north is the Broadway Bridge and a tram can be seen crossing that structure in the image below.....

 

 

A UP freight put in an appearance whilst I was in the area as well, though this photo was taken from the Broadway Bridge.......

 

 

Heading into the central area, I finally managed to get a photo of one of the original Skoda built cars on the Portland Streetcar operation - these dating from 2001when the first line opened....

 

 

The main task for the day was to cover the WES rail line, the only section of the Portland rail/tram network that I hadn't been on so far.  This is a diesel worked line that runs from Beaverton (connection with the MAX Blue Line) down to Wilsonville and only operates in the peak commuting hours.  The morning batch of trains were long gone by that time, so I had to catch a No.12 local bus out to the grandly titled "Barbour Transit Center" (ie a nondescript small bus station) where I could pick up a Route 2X SMART (South Metro Area Regional Transit) bus out to Wilsonville, which I had to pay to travel on as my Day Pass wasn't valid, despite it being valid on the train !

The bus turned out to be one of these things.......

 

 

....which deposited me in Wilsonville around 12.30, just in time to go for lunch at............

 

 

...who have a good selection of craft bers on tap, plus rather good food as well.  The place was fairly well crammed with Americana/Tat, some of which would be deemed rather non PC nowadays!

[Mike_Walker]

1 hour ago, Johann Marsbar said:

Brilliant!  As my old mate Jim Boyd used to often remark: two nations separated by a common language.  Once, when it had been agreed I'd do an article for Railfan magazine, I said I'd "knock something up when I get home".  "Hold it right there" said Boyd, "I know what you mean but never use that expression here - it means something completely different".   Similarly, a prim elderly lady friend of my mother was horrified when one of her grandchildren in Canada was named Randy.

[Johann Marsbar]

After lunch I walked to the Wilsonville Transit Centre to see what was happening, and, rather annoyingly, had I got there about 5 minutes earlier, I would have been able to photograph a northbound Portland and Western local freight which was obviously clearing the line ready for the afternoon commuter runs. As it was, I just had to contend myself with watching it go through from a distance.  

The adjacent bus station was quite busy, one of the more normal size SMART vehicles being this 2005 El Dorado National EZ Rider 2 vehicle......

 

 

The WES depot is adjacent to the station platform and a couple of their Colorado Railcar built powered units dating from 2008 are seen on shed.......

 

 

As well as 3 powered CR built units they also have an unpowered trailer car of the same design......

 

 

The line which they operate on is of mixed heritage, the line from Tigard southwards being a former Oregon Electric line, with Tigard to Beaverton being former SP "Red Electric" territory, with an add-on street running section in Beaverton to take the line into the Transit Centre there. Portland & Western operate the freight service on the lines, extending down to Salem, OR, somewhere that was proposed as being a more logical destination for the passenger service than terminating at Wilsonville. The biggest problem has been the low passenger numbers using the service, so any extensions have been shelved for the time being.

The Colorado Railcar trains were quite comfortable, as I found when #1001 came off shed and formed the 15.28 to Beaverton..........

 

 

It was actually quite a well used service and, as far as I know, is the only place you can ride on one of the CR built railcars, as they didn't produce many before going out of business, but they do have reliabillity problems, so the fleet has had to be supplemented with some older motive power.

 

Whilst they have a full-width cab at one end, the other is a more RDC style configuration with a centre gangway, as seen when the train was sitting in the Beaverton TC platform.......

 

 

Connections are made there with the Blue Line of MAX and local Tri-Met bus routes, such as this 2005 built NFI D40LF.......

 

 

Having studied the WES timetable, I worked out I could do a quick backtrack as far as Nimbus station, so caught the 16.35 Wilsonville train using #1003 to there, in the hope that something older was out in service.  To cater for the freight services and high platform boarding, the track layout at Nimbus was interesting.......

 

 

...........and something older did turn up on the 16.50 to Beaverton.......

 

 

They actually have 4 RDC's of various types in the fleet and this pair were new to the New Haven in 1952/53. These were actually the first powered RDC's I'd ever travelled on, as all the others had been in use as hauled stock with the likes of the MBTA.

 

#1702 is an RDC-3, delivered new to the NH in 1953 as their #129, though it spent several years in Alaska before WES bought it.........

 

 

#1711 is an RDC-2, delivered new to the NH in 1952 as their #121, again going to Alaska for several years like 1702.......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

From Beaverton I headed back into Downtown Portland for the rest of the day. 

Broadway bridge provides a good view of shipping at the various industrial sites that line the Willamette River.....

 

 

...and looking the other way you get a good view of Union Station.  The service from Chicago had just arrived, whilst a couple of Cascades train sets were also in the platforms.......

 

 

An Amtrak Thruway coach connection was waiting outside the station entrance.....

 

 

I then headed off to the Rock Bottom Brewery (yet another one that has since shut) before leaving Portland for the last time and heading back to the hotel.

 

For the last full day in Oregon, I set off early the next morning via Route 26 to Madras, a 2.5 hour drive that passes through the mountains, with the road reaching 4025 ft above sea level at one point.  Once through the mountains you reach a long platteau  with some quite scenic river valleys....

 

 

...and once I got to Madras. I sought out somewhere for breakfast, finding this place which had a "gate guardian" parked outside.....

 

 

The railroad runs through Madras and I was hoping I might see some activity whilst I was there, but nothing seemed to be moving - as usual.  I believe it's the line that still had semaphore signalling in places at that stage, though the sections of line I saw were colour light worked.

The reason for going to Madras was it being the home of the Erickson Aircraft Collection, a private collection accumulated by the owner of this fleet of fire fighting tanker aircraft....

 

 

Madras Airport also seemed to be a storage location for various aircraft a long way from their original operators as well......

 

 

A Mustang was doing some flying whilst I was there...

 

 

...and this Neptune was one of the few aircraft parked outside the exhibition hangar........

 

[Johann Marsbar]

The Erickson Collection was entirely composed of flyable airframes which were presented in fully restored condition, such as this P38.....

 

 

and this Thunderbolt, painted in 62nd Fighter Squadron colours, the squadron being based at Halesworth and Boxted (Nr Colchester) during WW2............

 

 

There were a selection of road vehicles preserved in the museum as well.......

 

 

Leaving Madras, I headed north to Hood River, the trip being delayed by the road being closed for about 30 mins for tree felling operation along part of the route. You did get a decent view of Mt Hood en-route though....

 

 

My destination was the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum, another private collection of vehicles which has expanded into a museum with Charitable status and has apparently now got a total of 315 different vehicles and aircraft on display!   You can't do justice to the place in a few photos, but to give an idea of what it's like .......

 

 

 

 

All of the aircraft in the display hangars were paired with a generally motor vehicle of similar age, though there was a seperate display of vehicles in another couple of display halls. There is an active airstrip attached to the site so some of the collection were in other hangars which were not open to the public.

 

They did have one rail exhibit sitting outside the entrance, a GN caboose that looks like it's had extra windows added to it at some stage......

 

 

I was lucky enough to find that a Traction Engine owned by the collection was undertaking some under-steam test runs the day I was there - the only one I've ever seen moving in North America so far....

 

 

Then it was in to Hood River itself to see what I could find of the Mt Hood Railroad - the answer being not a lot.  I had looked at travelling on that line during my trip, but after seeing reviews saying it was mostly a "tree tunnel" for a significant part of the run and finding a suitable date they were running, I decided against it.

 

One of their passenger cars was nicely posed.....

 

 

...and one loco equally so, though another was visible a bit further away, though was partially obsured by other things.....

 

 

Loco #02 was former Penn Central GP38-2 #7796, delivered new to them in 1969.  As well as the Tourist trains, they do run freight services on the line as well.

[Johann Marsbar]

After Hood River, I decided to take a run eastwards along the Columbia River and see if there were any decent photo locations to hang about at and wait for trains.  I found a few spots, but the only train I saw moving was this westbound which I passed whilst driving along the highway........

 

 

There was a fair quantity of stock visible on the northern bank, but with no locos attached to the trains, so in the event I turned round and headed back rowards Portland, pausing at Cascade Locks en route. The brewery there didn't do food, so I didn't stop there and the only diner in town didn't look that appealing, so I continued westwards until deciding to stop at Multnomah Falls, which was an attraction I'd never heard of before.  The waterfall was rather spectacular......

 

 

....and there was a Restaurant adjacent to the site where I had a rather nice Elk Burger.  I paid for my meal with a $50 note and just put the bundle of notes received in change directly in my pocket without checking it. When I went to put it in my wallet when I was back at the Motel, I discovered I'd been given $51 in change.......!!!

 

The next day was the last of the trip, so I headed off north towards Seattle on the Interstate, keeping an eye out for likely spots to pause for some photos.  Kelso was the first place I tried, but the location was too restriced by clutter, so I just had breakfast there and continued north again.

I turned off the Interstate a bit further along and headed west and found a rather useful level crossing in the town of Vader, WA, that provided a good view in either direction.  I didn't come across Darth whilst I was there, but did get accosted by a curious local resident who wondered what I was taking photos of !

 

I spent 2.5 hours there and saw 7 trains in that time, though it appeared that single line working was in force for the first hour of that.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't stop off anywhere else en-route as I wasn't sure how heavy the traffic was going to be once I got to the Tacoma/SeaTac areas.  In the event, there was only a minor hold up so got to the airport in plenty of time for the flight.

 

There was quite a variety of airlines/plane types passing through the Airport whilst I was there, including some special livery ones........

 

 

 

...but I found this one rather interesting........

 

 

Obviously a special advertising livery for their flights to Manchester,but if you look closely at how the lettering is made up, I can't recall ever seeing a Guardsman with busby on any of my visits to Manchester.   Even better than that, which you can't really make out that well on the picture above is that between the r of Manchester and the red "text bubble" is what appears to be a side elevation of a Lisbon tram!

 

[Johann Marsbar]

In September 2017 I returned to the eastern US, again without a car, being based in downtown Newark NJ at a previously used hotel - the Best Western Robert Treat - about 5-10 mins walk from Newark Penn Station. Travel was mainly by using an NJ Transit weekly season ticket from Bound Brook to Trenton - NJT seasons starting from a Saturday, as for MARC in Baltimore - so I flew out to EWR from LHR on the Friday aftenoon onboard a Virgin A330.

On the Satuday morning I walked to Penn and bought my season ticket - the end points ensuring diesel traction from Newark to Bound Brook and electric traction south from Newark down to Trenton - before having a quick run down the NEC as far as Princeton Junction, where I found adverts for a "Classic Car & Beer Festival" due to take place the following day. From there I returned as far as Rahway where I stayed for a while photographing passing traffic.....

 

 

 

 

As NJT seem to be painting up locos in different liveries at the moment, perhaps they should do one of the 4600 electrics in DB red!

 

Continuing back to Newark Penn, I then took PATH to Exchange Place in Jersey City to connect with the local light rail network operated by NJT.  The weekly season I had was valid on all the NJT operated light rail lines and local buses (up to a certain fare level), even if the rail ticket in question didn't make connections with them, like the Jersey City light rail....

 

 

I took trips on both of the lines that run south from there - 8th Street and West Side Avenue, but did break my journey to have a look around the former CNJ  Jersey City Terminal, built in 1889 and which closed in 1967. The main building, concourse and train shed survive, nowadays surrounded by Liberty State Park, though the train shed section is in a poor condition in several areas as it apparently post-dates (1914) the stations construction and has not been restored as a result.

 

 

 

The former ferry loading slips have deteriorated over their years of disuse......

 

 

The main building has been restored and contains a Park Visitor Centre and offices.....

 

 

Whilst the concourse is genarally deserted - even on a very warm/humid Saturday such as the day I visited....

 

 

Looking out westwards from the concourse to where the tracks used to be.......

 

 

There is no Public Transport access to the site, so it's a long walk from the Liberty Park Light Rail station.

 

After visiting there, I returned to the light rail and headed north to the end of the line at Tonnelle Avenue, North Bergen where these were displayed adjacent to the station.......

 

 

I then had a short walk to pay a visit to the premises of the NJ Brewing Company, before returning as far as Port Imperial for a look around.  This Fire Engine conveniently appeared as I was waiting to cross a road......

 

 

.......and you could just about see a Concorde, sitting next to the USS Intrepid Museum across the Hudson, though the carrier itself is much more difficult to recognise with that extra building on the rear flight deck......

 

 

This rail-grinder was parked up next to the LRT station as well.........

 

 

From there it was back to Exchange Place to get something to eat at a rather nice diner before walking to Departed Soles Brewing, where I had to produce some ID to prove I was over 21 (not bad when you are 55....), though I was at least double the age of most of the people in there!

Back at Exchange Place, I took some photos of southern Manhattan.....

 

 

.......before catching PATH back to Newark and the Hotel at the end of a very successful day.