Western Railroad Discussion > WES had the RDC's Again on Tuesday

The RDC cars on Tri - Met's West Side Express (WES) were in service again yesterday and I got a chance to shoot them.

The WES trains run between the Light Rail Transit Center in Beaverton and Wilsonville.  They run over the former Oregon Electric Railway line. 

A little history - The OE operated Interurban trains between Portland - Forest Grove and Portland - Eugene.  The OE ran south from Portland on what is now I-5 and turned west on what is now Multnomah Blvd to Garden Home.  The lines split at Garden Home with one line heading west to Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Forest Grove.  The other line went  SW to Tigard and south to Salem, Albany, and Eugene. 

The SP&S operated the OE and ran freight trains over Cornelius Pass on the old United Railway line.  These trains were pulled by steam locomotives to Garden Home where the power was swapped and an electric locomotive took the trains to Albany.  In 1942, the OE franchise to run through the streets of Portland expired and the OE got trackage rights between Beaverton and Greenburg (Tigard) on the Southern Pacific Tillamook Branch  and abandoned the Portland - Garden Home line.  They even strung wire, that was in service until the OE bought diesels and ended the electric powered trains in 1945, between Beburg (Beaverton) and Greton  (Greenburg).  These names were contractions of the names of the end points of double track.

BEBURG     BEaverton - GreenBURG
GRETON     GREenburg - BeaverTON

For additional Information, check out these excellent resources
The North Bank Road by John Gaertner (Pullman, WA: WSU Press), 1990
Cornelius Pass article by Robert Scott  Railfan & Railroad  March 2015

Here are the photos form yesterday 9/1/15

1. &. 2   SB crossing the Tualatin River Bridge at Tualatin, Oregon


Nomosantafe
Portland, Oregon
"Pacific Wonderland"
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/15 08:52 by nomosantafe.

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3. - 5.  NB on the Bridge at Tualatin  they overtook the jogger running on the trail below



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/15 08:48 by nomosantafe.

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6. & 7. NB at denny Road overpass

Line runs next to Highway 217 

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6. & 7.SB at the Greton control point.  This is 1/2 mile south of the old station of Greton.

Train is running on former Southern Pacific track.

The paved bike path is the old Oregon Electric right of Way

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8. Train departing station at Tigard .  NB WES train is visible in upper right hand corner of photo

9.  NB about to cross Hall Blvd in Tigard, Oregon

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Excellent!

Does the PNWR dispatcher in Salem dispatch this line?

I had Trainorders member ChrisCampi visiting me in Tualatin last week.  We crossed the tracks and saw a headlight off in the distance.  We pulled off to watch the train go by expecting the WES DMU's but was pleasantly surprised to see the RDC's.  It's great to see them in action instead of being parked down in Wilsonville.

The funny thing is Chris got to hear the automated crossing horn.  His reaction: HORRIBLE!!!  I have to agree with him.  I also pointed out that it goes through 2 cycles of the two longs, a short and a long so you get the questionable noise doubled.  It's too bad the crossing engineers didn't use a more melodious horn like the sound of a Nathan P3.

Seems like the quality of the sound has little meaning these days.

I live near the SF Pennisula Commute route which used to be the source of nice sounding Nathan P and M horns but now with Cal Train,
horrid sounding new cast P2 horns!

Regards, Jim Evans
 

Absolutely great to see RDCs in service!  Thanks for posting.
ALLEN

sums007 Wrote:
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> Does the PNWR dispatcher in Salem dispatch this
> line?


It is my understanding that the DS is in Salem

Nomo

nomosantafe Wrote:
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> sums007 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Does the PNWR dispatcher in Salem dispatch this
> > line?
>
>
> It is my understanding that the DS is in Salem
>
> Nomo

i believe the pnw dispr handles the wes.  iirc, the pnw added a second dispr desk some time ago to handle the increased traffic.i believe he works a staggered shift in order to cover the morning commute and the pm commute.  i am sure that somebody on this board can either correct me, or add to this question.

Beautiful series,  thanks for sharing!