Remnants

Burlington Northern 8116 creeps into Vancouver, Wash. on June 25, 1995 with remains of a vehicle it met at a crossing just east of Vancouver.  There were no injuries. Note the patched over lights on the front and the lack of ditch lights.

Goodbye Cannery Hole

One of the most notable switching moves in Vancouver, Wash. for years has been the "Cannery Hole Job" a switch move across the double mains of the south wye to the cement and asphalt plants south of the depot.  The yard job has to get permisson from both the dispatcher and the Columbia Draw to make the move.

This also was notable because trains moving over the crossover on the south wye made the clackity clackity sound that so distinctive to railroading.

Sometime this week between Tuesday and Saturday, the Cannery Hole was terminated (above) and the crossover removed (below), thus ending this colorful part of yard switching.

SP-UP transitions

After the UP-SP and ATSF-BN mergers in the mid-1990s, both new railroads began renumbering and repainting units.  Recently, I put on this blog the first SP to UP repaint I had seen in Victorville, Calif.   Today, that journey continues with a Union Pacific 4831, a repainted former Southern Pacific SD40T-2 numbered 6841. Photo taken July 25, 1999 in Vancouver, Wash.

SDF45 in Vancouver

After the merger of Burlington Northern & ATSF, some former ATSF SDF45's made their way north into Washington and Oregon.  The 5988 showed in Vancouver, Wash. on April 14, 1998.

California Northern SD9

California Northern SD9 200 traveling under the OMLX markings showed in Brooklyn Yard, Portland, Ore., in June 1999.

SD42B

Burlington Northern and ATSF had several "B" powered units in addition to the B30-7Bs that were so common.  This is an SD42-B in Vancouver in June 1999.

Hillsboro scenes

Unused Southern Pacific depot still stands in Hillsboro.  Below, a somewhat different type of loading/unloading ramp in Hillsboro with extensions.

Nekoosa Paper 1976

Unidentified, but probably an Alco, locomotive switches Nekoosa Paper in Nekoosa in 1976.

SD70ACe leading Roberts Bank coal

BNSF 9172, a SD70ACe, and BNSF6246, A C44AC, lead a Roberts Bank coal load past the Eighth St. signals in Vancouver Saturday afternoon.

C30-7s in Vancouver

TACSPO moved through Vancouver, Wash. on July 24, 1999 with two Burlington Northern C30-7s for power. According to my logs, C30-7 sightings on the BN continued into the early 2000s.

Minnesota Commercial

Yard at Minnesota Commercial Railroad in St. Paul, Minn. in Sept. 1998 shows SW1200 and Alco M630 (#73).

ILS Bethel, MN

In September 1998, on a trip to Minnesota, these older units, including a B unit from a F set, a Soo switcher and a couple of ex-Milwaukee units, were parked at ILS in Bethel, Minn. 

Sept 98 Duluth

SD38AC Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 201 works the ore dump in Duluth in September 1998. 

Mid-train helpers in Pleasant Valley

Mid train helpers move grain train through Plesant Valley area between Baker and Ontario on the Union Pacific in 1998.

Camas Prairie

After years of being operated jointly by Burlington Northern and Union Pacific, the line from Ayer Jct. near Pasco  to Lewiston & beyond became a separate short line called the Camas Prairie Railnet.  The railroad used some B23-7 units like this pictured from April 1998 near Vancouver, Wash.

Slugs on the CORP

In 1994, the Central Oregon & Pacific took over former Southern Pacific branch lines from Eugene to Coos Bay and from Eugene south to Weed, Calif.  This power was used for both Coos Bay and Medford runs: two ex SP slugs were surrounded by GP40-2s. This picture was taken in March 1998.

Whose train?

In June 1997, a Santa Fe, a Union Pacific and a CSX helped power this train through Blue Cut on Cajon Pass. This would seldom be seen today as most railroads run almost exclusively with their own power.

Pick up sticks

Restricted speed on a railroad means traveling at a pace where one can stop safely before hitting anything.  This westbound train from the mid-1990s missed the blinking rear end device of the parked "bare table" train at Champ on the Kenton Line and rammed into the flatcars used for carrying trailers, bouncing them around like pickup sticks.  This occurred before Champ was doubletracked from Cully to NE 11th.  Just to the left (west) of this point, the double track ended, so the bare table train probably was extended beyond the switch.

Over and under

In 1995, with the Union Pacific takeover of Southern Pacific on the horizon, I began to venture out to a few of the branch lines for photos. In Tualatin, there is a location where the SP Newburg line crosses the Oregon Electric line of the Burlington Northern. I was hoping only for a photo of the SP crossing the bridge, but when I got there a BN southbound was waiting.  (See photo above.)  

 Hopeful of a shot where one train crosses over another, I waited. And I waited. And I waited. Finally the SP bound for Newberg ran (below). After it had crossed over the BN tracks, the BN moved south and crossed under the SP tracks (bottom photo).

First SP repaint

After the takeover of Southern Pacific by Union Pacific, UP repainted and renumbered many former SP units.  The first one I saw, UP 4555, was in Victorville, Calif. yard in June 1997.  It was the former SP 8291.

ex BN C30-7

Starting in about 1997, Livingston Rebuild Center (Montana), purchased a number of ex BN C30-7s, put them through its shops, repainted them and leased them back to BN. Some of those was 8112, shown here in Vancouver, Wash. in July 1997.

Continental Grain in Tacoma

Now known as Tacoma Export Marketing Co (TEMCO), the former Continental Grain in Tacoma, Wash. sported these units in 1995.  The company also operates the former Continental Grain facility at T5 in Portland, Ore. Note the "winged" remote control lighting fixtures and the spark arrestors on the two switchers furtherest away.

Portland Terminal 36

Alco S2 lettered for Portland Terminal 36, sits near the tower at Lake Yard on July 7, 1991. The unit was already idle by this time as the Portland Terminal used power of its owners, Southern Pacific, Burlington Northern (seen next to the 36) and Union Pacific.

Portland Terminal 45

Alco S4 lettered for Portland Terminal 45, sits near the tower at Lake Yard on July 7, 1991.  The unit was already idle by this time as the Portland Terminal used power of its owners, Southern Pacific, Burlington Northern and Union Pacific.

CORP units

When the Central Oregon & Pacific first started running south and west from Eugene, many of it's units were headquarter at Cottage Grove.  That's where I found these GP38-2s, one letter from MNA and one for CORP in the mid 1990s. Both were later renumbered as Rail American went to a system wherein the first two numbers designated either the horsepower or the model.

Woods Railroad

Woods Railroad moves across the former wooden trestle near Kelson.  This section has now been replaced by steel after a portion burned.  Most of these engines are now gone as the Woods Railroad was sold to Pioneer Rail and the new operators purchased their own power. This photo was from 1995-96.

Typical spring rainbow day

It rains, the sun shines and then it rains again.  Tuesday was one of those typical spring days that offer highly contrasting effects such as the sun making a rainbow in the moisture filled atmosphere against the black background of a storm that had just passed the ROOEVE parked at Eighth St. in Vancouver, Wash.

U23B high nose

Rare in the west, even in 1995, this high nose U23B from Norfolk Southern showed up in Albina Yard, Portland, Ore. About 600 units like this were made, starting in 1968, 70 of which belonged the Southern Railroad, which later became the Norfolk Southern.

Richmond, CA switcher

WPSI switched a refinery near the Richmond, CA Santa Fe yard using a SW1500 as shown in this photo from September 1994.

SW1200 at Sims Metals

Sims Metals also had this SW1200, 2285, used for the yard in Richmond in 1994.  The 2285 was one of its Southern Pacific numbers it had been assigned.