UP local at Rocky Point

Union Pacific local at Rocky Point near the Kelso Yard, Washington, passes on the double-tracked main while a Weyerhaeuser train uses the wooden trestle above.  Photo from March 1994.

ex GTW

Even in 1994, mergers and takeovers were causing renumbers and repaints. This is a former Grand Trunk Western unit repainted into Canadian Northern paint captured in Portland in 1994. Grand Trunk was an upper midwestern United States railroad.

Congregation

Containers on a Brooklyn, Ore., bound intermodal pass under the congregated birds at Albina Yard.

B40-8s at Hoyt St.

Santa Fe had a number of four axle "B" units, including these B40-8s captured at Hoyt St. Yard in 1994.  This was before the BN & ATSF merger so Santa Fe units were fairly rate in the Pacific Northwest.  And certainly the paint was shart and the units clean, vastly different from the war bonnets still remaining.  Most of the "B" units are gone now as BNSF has moved to six-axle power for road units.

United Way at Albina

Union Pacific has many uniquely painted units, including the SD70ACe Heritage paint schemes of recent years.  One of the most colorful is this SD40-2, 3300, painted for United Way.  According to reports, it has resided in a Denver, Colo. yard for several years with no announced plans to move it anywhere.

CNW at Hoyt St.

Chicago & Northwestern units were common on the Union Pacific in the 1990s, but this GP50 (in itself pretty rare for this area) showed up at Hoyt St., Burlington Northern's servicing facility, in March 1994.

AMTK 14 at Vancouver

Amtrak 14 at Vancouver in the "Pepsi Can" days of 1994.

SD50 leads at Motanic

 Union Pacific SD50 5003 leads eastbound train at Motanic in February 1994.

MRL SD45

For years, Montana Rail Link was the home of SD45s like this one parked on the team tracks in Vancouver, Wash. in Feb. 1994.  They were purchased from many other railroads, used in their original paint schemes and gradually repainted into MRL colors.  About five years ago, MRL started phasing the SD45s out, sending many of them, as well as many SD40s, to scrap yards like Schnitzer in Portland, Ore. 

MRL GP9s at LaGrande

For a time the Idaho Northern used these two Montana Rail Link GP9s, photographed at LaGrande in  February 1994.

Idaho Northern at LaGrande

In 1993-94, Idaho Northern took over several Union Pacific branch lines in Idaho and Oregon, including the branch running from LaGrande to Enterprise.  Its power parked at Island City, Ore., in 1994, including the former Port Huron 101 (below) which later became the Port of Tillamook Bay 101.

SP GP 9

Oregon was more the home of SD9s rather than GP9s, but a few made it up to Brooklyn in 1994.

F45

Morrison Knudsen purchased many former ATSF  units such as this F45 and leased them back to railroad such as Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern in the early 1990s.

SP transfer caboose

Typical SP transfer between Brooklyn Yard and either Albina or Lake yards heads north over Powell Blvd. in January 1994 featuring a side window SP caboose.

SD40 at Brooklyn

Another of the rent-a-wrecks Southern Pacific leased in the early 1990s, this one obviously a SP40 that formerly was Union Pacific.

Critters at Schnitzer Steel

For years, Schnitzer Steel left these small locomotives sitting beside North Lombard St. in North Portland near T4.  Many of them were used in shipbuilding on Swan Island and other Portland locations. These units, and the rail they rested upon, are now gone.  This shot was from January 1994.

Jan 94 Oakridge

National Railroad Equipment GP40 passing through Oakridge, Ore., in Jan. 1994.

Ex Chessie SD40 lease unit

Southern Pacific leased a few ex Chessie SD40s along with the many GP40s in 1994.

Rio Grande tunnel motor

No longer in the best of condition, but still commonly used in 1994, were SD40T-2s like this tunnel motor from Denver & Rio Grand photographed in Portland, Ore. in 1994.

Conrail SD60

Eighteen years ago SD60s like this Conrail unit photographed on a Union Pacific train passing through Vancouver, Wash. were some of the highest powered units on a railroad.  Now, most of the SD60s are gone or being coverted to other uses.  Conrail itself would go out of existence about eight years later.

New power

Coos Bay Rail Link GP38-2 heads south through Vancouver Sunday.  It eventually will be used between Eugene & Coos Bay on Oregon's newest shortline.

Chemult depot

Even in 1994, the old Southern Pacific depot at Chemult, Ore. was in bad shape.  Now it's gone.

Piles of ties

For the last several weeks, Union Pacific surfacing crews have been performing tie replacement on the Kenton Line, specifically between Hwy 205 and Interstate 5.  Monday night the results of their efforts could be seen in his pile on a bulkhead flat parked on an industrial track near Champ.



Speed lettered

The aborted merger proposal between Southern Pacific and Santa Fe from the 1980s, put SP in a funk until it was purchased by DRGW around 1990.  Soon after it took over, DRGW started painting SP units in a new scheme, featured a speed letter similar to the DRGW logo, as shown in this 1994 photo.

Plenty of 40s

Northbound BN train from January 1994 passes what is now known as Fruit Valley at the north end of the B Yard with two BN 40-2s and one each from Montana Rail Link and leased unit from GATX.

Willamina & Grande Ronde

Willamina & Grande Ronde S2 photographed in Independence, Ore. in 1993.

Willamette Valley

Ex Southern Pacific GP9 photographed in 1993 in Independence, Ore. at the then Willamette Valley shops.

W&S F45

For a time in 1993, Burlington Northern used three Wisconsin & Southern F45s on trains in the Pacific Northwest, including this unit photographed at Hoyt St. Roundhouse along with a GP-9.

U30C

Several of Burlington Northern's U30Cs were still in service in 1993, this one captured in Vancouver, Wash.