Western Railroad Discussion > Three Trains on the Oregon Trunk

Hi all.

Almost a month ago now, my friend Eric (ReadingT-1 on here) and I visited the Pacific Northwest region for a week. We stayed in Bend, OR for two nights in order to see the Crater Lake and Newberry Crater national parks. We also wanted to do a bit of fanning on the Oregon Trunk. Being very uneducated about the railroad and the operations out here, luck wasn't quite on our side. We managed to catch only three trains in two days of being along the Oregon Trunk.

1. A Northbound at La Pine, OR with Paulina's Peak in the background. It seemed every train we saw had an engine from back east in the lash-up. We just can't get away from this stuff! 9/8/14.

2. The next day, we wanted to try and shoot a southbound coming through the lava fields in Lava, OR. Luck again was not on our side, as we waited for about two hours for this northbound to show up. After that, the track gangs did us in for the day.

3. A few days later up in the Columbia River Gorge, we managed to catch a train heading south on the northern portion of the Oregon Trunk.

That's all we managed to get of the Oregon Trunk on this trip. Maybe next time we will have better luck.

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Awesome Pictures i really like pic 1

The OT can be challenging, often requiring a long wait with some skunked moments. Traffic is heavier Northbound with UP restrictions of East/Northbound trains up the FRC. 100+ car Southbounds like oil and grain, come back as two 50 car trains. OT Southbounds almost always have distributed power (it is not 100%), while Northbounds rarely have DP. Only about half the sidings on the line are long enough for meets of most trains, the shorter Northbounds usually get to siding. Trains are often held for crews in Bend (siding and Cascan yard), but are also parked at Deschutes, Opal City and Round Butte (Metolius) sidings. It is all track warrants on 161.100. Radio can be hard to hear, especially down in the depths of the Deschutes River canyon. Two locals run out of Bend, morning one to COP Junction or South as needed. Afternoon local usually runs up to Madras to switch industrial area near airport.

Chasing runs from easy to impossible in some areas. Roads run from paved highways to deer trails. Some spots are reached via long tedious dirt roads. Some involve long hikes. Catching a train in more than one spot oftens involves long drives to main highways that parallel the route, then a long drive back into the track, and often missing the train inspite of their lower speed limits.

Happy hunting!

Rob

Three trains is about the OT average. Completely agree with the analysis by SilvertonRR100.

I have had fair luck using the EOT frequency, but you don't know which way they're going, only that they're almost here. Knowing where the talking detectors are located helps.

One detector is at 107. And a lot of them are hard to hear depending on your location relative to them. Like at the bottom of Willow Creek Trestle, you can't hear the 107 detector even though it is less than a mile away! Another detector is at MP 5.

There is often a Northbound freight out of Bend in the 1400-1500 range.

Rob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/14 13:23 by SilvertonRR100.