Western Railroad Discussion > Portland Terminal Railroad

Heres Portland Terminal 43 switching the Pioneer at Portland Oregon in the early 80's. Does this railroad still exist? I know the train is long gone.

Photobobs website
<A HREF="http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index.html&quot; target="_blank">index.html</A>

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The Portland Terminal Railroad is still around.

The name is still in use at the south end of the BNSF Lake Yard on Yeon Ave. Don't know if they use BNSF/UP power or what. The UP brings interchange trains to this location.

Two Portland Terminal Alco switchers are parked near the north end of Lake Yard on the hill side of the the yard. Almost directly across Yeon from a Subway sandwich shop, behind a warehouse that fronts on Yeon.

jb

The PTRR Alco's (S-2's 36 and 39) stored next to the warehouse are owned by the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the NRHS, according to their web site, they are not sure what they will do them (probably lack of funds).

My website features a page of photos of MOST of the PTRR's Alco's, along with a nearly complete (diesel) locomotive roster:

<a href="http://www.trainweb.org/westernrails/&quot;&gt;Western Rails</a>

Click of "Switchers & Shortlines" then "Portland Terminal Railroad"

Rob Jacox
Bend, OR

photobob wrote:
>
> Heres Portland Terminal 43 switching the Pioneer at Portland
> Oregon in the early 80's. Does this railroad still exist? I
> know the train is long gone.

The Portland Terminal Railroad is jointly owned by BNSF and UP - I'm not sure of the percentages but it started out as the Northern Pacific Terminal Company - so BNSF actually has an edge over UP (adding in SP's ownership).

Their territory consists of Lake Yard - which is located northwest of Union Station between Yeon Boulevard and Front Avenue (across the street from Gunderson's factory) and south of the Kittridge viaduct (north of it is BNSF's Willbridge Yard). They also own some industrial trackage which extends south along Front Avenue to just north of the Fremont Bridge. In the past, they controlled one or more of the mains from Lake Yard to Union Station; however that track is now fully under BNSF control.

Their Alco S-2 switchers have been disposed of; two of which are owned by the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the NRHS (http://www.pnwc-nrhs.org), others are who knows where. They currently use BNSF and UP switchers - typically BN SW-10s (SW-1000s) and UP SW-1500s and MP-15s.

Their headquarters is located on Yeon Blvd., south of the BNSF intermodal yard. Look for a paved driveway next to the last warehouse on the east side of the street - there is a sign there - drive around the narrow road. The shacks to the left house the scale test cars owned by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and then is the yard office. The yard is viewable from Front Avenue (however the BNSF mainline is on that side); a row of hedges and a fence are on the Yeon Blvd. side (and besides, traffic moves very fast on that street, not to mention it's Portland's main truck route from the industrial area to I-405, I-5, and I-84). If you're visiting Portland, Tri-Met has routes on both streets from the downtown Transit Mall, however there isn't a whole lot else up there.

>>>Wow, nice to see all the track there running to the right, which led to a turntable and where the roundhouse once stood.<<<

At least the turntable was saved. BNSF put it to use at the north end of their Vancouver, WA Yard.

wigwagfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> photobob wrote:
> >
> > Heres Portland Terminal 43 switching the Pioneer
> at Portland
> > Oregon in the early 80's. Does this railroad
> still exist? I
> > know the train is long gone.
>
> The Portland Terminal Railroad is jointly owned by
> BNSF and UP - I'm not sure of the percentages but
> it started out as the Northern Pacific Terminal
> Company - so BNSF actually has an edge over UP
> (adding in SP's ownership).

The ownership is actually 60%-40% in favor of UP. Historic shares were NP 40%, OWR&N 40%, SP 20%. SP&S and GN were tenants.
>
> Their territory consists of Lake Yard - which is
> located northwest of Union Station between Yeon
> Boulevard and Front Avenue (across the street from
> Gunderson's factory) and south of the Kittridge
> viaduct (north of it is BNSF's Willbridge Yard).
> They also own some industrial trackage which
> extends south along Front Avenue to just north of
> the Fremont Bridge. In the past, they controlled
> one or more of the mains from Lake Yard to Union
> Station; however that track is now fully under
> BNSF control.
>
> Their Alco S-2 switchers have been disposed of;
> two of which are owned by the Pacific Northwest
> Chapter of the NRHS (), others are who knows
> where. They currently use BNSF and UP switchers -
> typically BN SW-10s (SW-1000s) and UP SW-1500s and
> MP-15s.
>
> Their headquarters is located on Yeon Blvd., south
> of the BNSF intermodal yard. Look for a paved
> driveway next to the last warehouse on the east
> side of the street - there is a sign there - drive
> around the narrow road. The shacks to the left
> house the scale test cars owned by the Oregon
> Department of Agriculture, and then is the yard
> office. The yard is viewable from Front Avenue
> (however the BNSF mainline is on that side); a row
> of hedges and a fence are on the Yeon Blvd. side
> (and besides, traffic moves very fast on that
> street, not to mention it's Portland's main truck
> route from the industrial area to I-405, I-5, and
> I-84). If you're visiting Portland, Tri-Met has
> routes on both streets from the downtown Transit
> Mall, however there isn't a whole lot else up
> there.

robjacox Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The PTRR Alco's (S-2's 36 and 39) stored next to
> the warehouse are owned by the Pacific Northwest
> Chapter of the NRHS

One of the S-2s has since been donated to the Oregon Electric Railway Museum and is in Brooks.

The Portland Terminal is one of two Joint Facilities in the Pacific NW. The other is the Longview Switching Co. LVSW is 50/50 UP/BNSF owned.

PTRR has about a dozen online customers and builds about a half dozen trains a day, including transfer jobs. Most northbound UP traffic goes through them. UP train symbol code is 'PT'.