Western Railroad Discussion > OT Junction connecting track before and after

The UP officers' special that went up the Oregon Trunk on Monday and then used the connecting track from OT Junction to the UP main was the first move on the connecting track in many years.  I wasn't able to see it on Monday, but I went there today (Tuesday) to see if the track looked any different from how it looked on March 29, when I was there last.  As you can see, even one movement of one locomotive and two passenger cars was sufficient to reduce the rust substantially and bring at least a hint of shine.  (I'm assuming that there weren't any movements on the track in preparation for the officers' special.)  Incidentally, I think that I was wrong in a previous thread in saying that the track had been out of service; rather, it simply hadn't been used.  The first picture is the track as it looked on March 29.  The second is how it looked from a similar location on May 24.  The third is a close up of the track on May 24.

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That connection can go years without a move. Good thing they keep it around

Rust in peace.

About 3-4 years ago I was on an Amtrak passenger special that was intended to go via this connection to Portland via UP.  Supposedly that had been approved prior to the beginning of the trip in Emeryville. Then the day before we were going to leave Bend, we were told that the connecting track was out of service and we couldn't use it.  A retired UP Omaha official called his contacts and the story was that they had MW check it out and it was indeed out of service.  Apparently the responsible people had not been notified of our trip. Their story was that they would have put it back in service with better notice but there was not enough time then.  I do not know whether everyone was being honest or whether some or all of the story was a cover up.  I do know that the same UP Omaha official was able to resolve other roadblocks that the UP was placing in our way.