KCS in KC

Kansas City Southern GP38-2s, in two of the company's many paint schemes, lead a transfer from Union Pacific to home territory at Santa Fe Jct. in Kansas City in 2002.

Coal train

Union Pacific 6452, an AC400, brings up the rear of a Centralia coal train passing through Vancouver on Sept. 21.

Grain terminal switcher

Now known as Temco for Tacoma Exporting Co., a branch of a larger operation in Tacoma, Wash., the former Harvest States plant in Kalama has added this SW1200, a former BNSF Heritage unit, to its switching fleet. JLCX stands for J & L Consulting.

CP grain empties

On a foggy day Oct. 28 in Kalama, CP9739 prepares to depart Kalama Export as unit three of a Union Pacific grain empties headed for Eastport, Idaho.

New ES44C4 units

One of the new style GE's, an ES44C4, which is not powered on the center of each of the three axles,  powered coal loads through Vancouver last month.  The wheels to drop down when needed to provide traction.

Southern Pacific renumber

Patched Southern Pacific units are still fairly common on the Union Pacific 16 years after the merger.  UP6210 was phtographed on a grain empty in Kalama Sept. 13.

CSX slug switcher

GP 40-2 6409 and "road slug" 2226, a former GP30, worked the yard at Hagerstown, MD, in May 1999. Note Western Maryland logo on underpass.

Conrail slug

Conrail SD38 6953 and MT4 slug 1018 switch at Stanley Yard south of Toledo, Ohio, in May 1999.

Conrail C32

Conrail 6612, a C32-8, visited Brooklyn (Portland, Ore.) yard in 1994 after being used on a Southern Pacific train.  The unit was later converted to a gray painted ballast train unit.

One of the new CNWs

CNW C44-9 8835 enters Albina Yard in Portland, Ore., as part of a light power move while UPY1487, a former Southern Pacific MP15AC waits on Sept. 13, 2003. 8835 and her siblings carried CNW paints, but were ordered to UP specifications in anticipation for the merger, which had already occurred at the time of this photo.

CNW in Vancouver

SD40-2 6923 provides power as one of three units on southbound Union Pacific train passing through Vancouver, Wash. in the 1996 on the Seattle sub of then Burlington Northern.

CNW at east Portland

CNW SD40-2 6887 and UP 3652, also an SD40-2, lead an eastbound train through East Portland back in the 1990s.  SD40-2s were the standard on regional freights up throough about 2007-08.

CNW SD40-2s

Chicago & Northwestern SD40-2 heads a southbound Union Pacific train through Vancouver, Wash., in the 1990s.  CNW units were common on UP trains of the era.

Operation Lifesaver

For the past week or so, Burlington Northern units, mostly photographed in the 1990s, have been featured.  Now, the emphasis turns to a real "fallen flag," the Chicago & Northwestern.  Mostly controlled by the Union Pacific for years, the CNW was molded into the UP in 1995.  Prior to that time, many CNW units such as these SD60s, were used in the Pacific Northwest. 

BN transfer to SP

GP50 3102 heads south out of Lake Yard with a cut of containers of flat cars (COFC) for the Southern Pacific in Brooklyn.  BNSF and SP cooperated on daily transfers of cars between Brooklyn and Lake Yard or Vancouver.  Each railroad took half the year, so frequently foreign power was seen in Portland area yards.

BN switcher

Burlington Northern 378, an SW1000, switches near Vancouver in the early 1990s, pre merger with ATSF. Where SWs like this were the norm for yard work, very few remain in any railroad's system, having been replaced with GP15s, GP38s, and GP39s of various persausions.

HLCX1064

Freshly painted GP38-2 passes through Vancouver, Wash. Saturday, Oct. 13, as third of four units on the Union Pacific FIHK.

Passenger units repaired

Repairs are finally starting today (Oct. 13) on at least one of three passenger cars that were enroute from California to the Spokane area for a railroad historical meeting got stopped in Albina Yard, Portland, Ore. The three McCloud River cars were enroute to Spokane for the STMA special passenger run on Saturday, June 30 as part of the 2012 MRHA (Milwaukee Road) convention in Moscow, ID. They were held first in Klamath Falls, then got stopped at Albina due to truck & underplate issues.

BN at Oakridge

Burlington Northern SD40-2 7287 rests at Oakridge on the Southern Pacific.  It was in helper service on the SP at the time.

Hoyt St. turntable

Burlington Northern GP38-2s 2088 and 2093 cross the Hoyt St. turntable in the early 1990s. The turntable was moved to Vancouver after Hoyt St. was closed.  In the background is the Lovejoy bridge, which was torn down and replaced with a shorter reach structure to facilitate building expansion in the neighborhood.

Bend Turn

GP40-2s 3043 and 3048 return from Bend enroute to Wishram as part of the Burlington Northern Bend turn in the early 1990s.

Snake River crossing

Three GP38-2s cross the Snake River bridge near Pasco enroute to Villard Jct. and Riparia for a transfer to the Camas Prairie as the line wsas know in the early 1990s when this photo was taken.

Transfer

Burlington Northern 2726 gets some new crew members leaving the SP&S Yard in Vancouver (and blocking both mains)  as the transfer to Lake Yard while the SW1500 #28 waits on the NP tail.  Photo from the early 1990s.

BN 7502

Burlington Northern 7502, a cabless SD42-B, was unit number 3 on a Chicago - Portland on Christmas Day 2000. Intermodal power was a common use for B units on the BN as power stayed with the train from origin to destination.

BN B Unit

While the most widely known B units on the Burlington Northern were the B30-7As numbered 4000 through 4119, BN had three SD42-Bs that were cabless.  Photo from the 1990s.

Soo from 1975

Soo SD40-2 #781 captured in black & white photo from Marshfield, Wis. from about 1975.

SP in the Cascades

Southern Pacific was known for its multiple powered units for trains running through the Cascades.  This train was captured near Fields in the early 1990s. Chances are there were three or four mid-train helpers in addition to the four units on the front.  Chances also were that only about half the power was running properly.

Multi-numbered unit

This AC4400 has had several numbers during its life span.  It started as GECX4000 and was tested on the Union Pacific in UP colors as 1 of 10 units UP tested..  UP then purchased the unit and changed the number to 7000.  It later renumbered the unit to 7300.  About a year ago, the 10 units regained their numbers from 7000 to 7009 as UP needed room for the new ES44ACs.

Longview Fibre

Longview Fibre's S3 works the yard at the company site in Longview.

Peavey switcher

Now known as Kalama Export Company, the facility at which SW1 #632 operates as a remote control unit is more commonly known to railfans as Peavey.  Most of the time now, this road is blocked by unit grain trains moving into or out of the grain facility.

Chop nose

This GP9 started life as a high nose unit and was "chopped" while parked at the former Peavey loading facility in Kalama. Have not seen it there for a number of years as this photo was taken in 2006 but it could be up there at the elevator out of everyday sight.