Western Railroad Discussion > Oregon Trunk Line

I am currently at a cabin near Sunriver, Oregon. I go here every September. I remember being here and hearing about the Chatsworth wreck, five years ago.

I have never done much railfanning on this trip before, because BNSF's nearby Oregon Trunk Line is notoriously quiet, and the rest of my family isn't to keen on sitting by the tracks all day. So, I would like to be notified on the train times. What times do the Pasco to Barstow manifests come past Sunriver, or the nearest spot on the railroad to it? Are there any other manifests? Might I see freight trains other than manifests on the OT, like intermodals or oil unit trains? Thank you for your kind answers.

Tor in Sunriver

Yep, very spotty but you do have the crew change in Bend to give you a heads-up. There had been a series of radio repeaters that would give a person an idea what to expect, not sure what that status is right now. There's also a couple of Yahoo Groups that might help you out.

Listening to RR radio dot net, there's a CN leader heading north, just had a meet at Almanor with the local, or maybe a work train.

I took this photo of a northbound train at about 4:30 pm on June 19, 2009 while visiting Sunriver. The photo was taken from the bridge near the entrance to the Sunriver resort area. While I heard several radio transmissions while spending the week at Sunriver, this is the only one I had the opportunity to photograph.

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From Sunriver, go north on 97 to the Lava Butte Exit, then head west following the road to the falls on the Deschutes River. Where you cross the tracks is the north end of the Lava Siding. A short distance north is where the tracks cut through the Lava Beds.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Depends upon how long you will be out in Sunriver.

Generally 4 - 6 trains in the daylight during the week. Less on the weekends.

M-Saturday between 7 am and 9 am will usually be a southbound manifest. With another between 11 am - 2 pm.

Had the one unit oil train this week, Monday, which was the first in quite some time.

the unit grainers have slowed down from twice a week to almost non existent.

Usually 3 - 5 empty well cars per week north bound.

Southbounds are usually pretty good sized and have 2 dpu power on the end.

Northbounds are not as big and normally all of the power is on the head end. Anywhere from 3 - 6 units.

Every once in a while there will be a northbound with dpus.

Everyone summed it up pretty well. The HVAWBAR in the a.m. is usually a good bet. Sometimes if its having a good run from Wishram it will depart in the pre dawn hours.

cn2333 is nb on the gateway sub, @ Lodgepole. could be a daylighter tomorrow by sunriver....

Posted from Android

ActionMike Wrote:
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> cn2333 is nb on the gateway sub, @ Lodgepole.
> could be a daylighter tomorrow by sunriver....
>
> Posted from Android


I heard that number 3 or 4 times and didn't believe I heard it right. Thought it had a '4' in there somewhere's.

But it's the only CN leader out there so it'll work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/13 18:29 by TCnR.

here is the video of Mondays Oil train. Taken near at milepost 23.8z in between Sunriver and Lapine.


Enjoy



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/13 20:38 by OTSub.

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one last bit of advice.

If you have a scanner and are listening for departures south
from the Bend depot beware that someone saying hiball generally
means the rear of the train has cleared the depot and is picking up speed fast for the run up to Lava.

For instance, right now there is sb manifest leaving Bend @ 10:41 pm.

you should hear it blowing at Lava, north of Sunriver, in the next 20 minutes or less.

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

your welcome