Western Railroad Discussion > Portland and Western through Salem, OR this morning...

Just taken less than an hour ago, by my friend who was on his way to work from home in Keizer to downtown Salem, OR.  He heard the horn and made his way over to Front Street to see a northbound P&W freight with 4 units leading lumber and logs.

He noted that when he usually sees a morning NB freight on the way to work it's typically boxcars and general merchandise.  Can anyone share which of the P&W Oregon Electric jobs this was - OE Express, PNW Hauler?

Photo taken by Matt Haynes on 3/29/21.

Rich

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Great pic! Love this image of street running!

Cool shot .Nice of your friend to do this.Bill Webb

GREAT picture......Portland & Western has at least four towns of street running in Oregon:  Junction City, Corvallis (go Beavers!), Salem, and Rainier (now sort of).....are there more?   Arlen

asheldrake Wrote:
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> GREAT picture......Portland & Western has at least
> four towns of street running in Oregon:  Junction
> City, Corvallis (go Beavers!), Salem, and Rainier
> (now sort of).....are there more?   Arlen

Well, it did start out as an an interurban line. So street running would be a natural.
I'm just amazed that they have been allowed to stay in the streets.

asheldrake Wrote:
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> GREAT picture......Portland & Western has at least
> four towns of street running in Oregon:  Junction
> City, Corvallis (go Beavers!), Salem, and Rainier

> (now sort of).....are there more?   Arlen

Independence. Albany.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/21 11:58 by wp1801.

wp1801 Wrote:
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> asheldrake Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > GREAT picture......Portland & Western has at
> least
> > four towns of street running in Oregon: 
> Junction
> > City, Corvallis (go Beavers!), Salem, and
> Rainier
>
> > (now sort of).....are there more?   Arlen
>
> Independence. Albany.

See my aritcle in last summers Railroads Illustrated.  Albany, Beaverton, Corvallis, Harriburg, Hillsboro (2, one embargoed), Independance, Junction City, Newburg (also embargoed, Rainier, Salem.

Robert

Interesting picture, I had thought that most of the lumber would go South and go out on the MPWWC out of Eugene. Kept
wondering where the MPDWC out of Portland was coming up with all the lumber, guess that answers my question. Darn
few sawmills left in the Portland area.

Out 

Perfect standard railfan shot, the kind I love. Interesting tableaux, what building is that? 

The street running in Corvallis, Beaverton, and now Rainer has grade seperation from the road. The rest are true street running.  

callum_out Wrote:
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> Interesting picture, I had thought that most of
> the lumber would go South and go out on the MPWWC
> out of Eugene. Kept
> wondering where the MPDWC out of Portland was
> coming up with all the lumber, guess that answers
> my question. Darn
> few sawmills left in the Portland area.
>
> Out 

This finished lumber is going to Avon reload just west of Rainier, OR.  It is loaded in containers which go to SE Asia.  Rest of that train is largely logs also bound overseas..  Korea and Japan as well as the Phillipines.  Coal from the PRB could be going that way too if the ecologistic folk would get realistic.

Robert

So Robert since you're familiar with the area, where does that lumber that goes South on the UP PD come from?
Thanks

Out 
 

callum_out Wrote:
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> So Robert since you're familiar with the area,
> where does that lumber that goes South on the UP
> PD come from?
> Thanks
>
> Out 
>  

There are many saw mills in this part of the world that lumber can come from many places.  Some comes from a m ill at Clatskanie, OR.  and goes through Avon to get to the UP at Eugene.  Some comes from Willaminam, OR, and also goes to the UP at Eugene via Albany.  There are saw mills there in Eugene!.  There is one at Toledo,  And there are some on the A&E which get handed tot he P&W in Albany, then to Eugene and the UP..  So, it comes from many places.  And strangely enough, we see loads of lumber going both direction through my hometown on the Astoria District.  Loads to Rainier and loads comeing from the direction of Rainier going the other way.  The real mystery is why we also get those same cars going the other way "EMPTY"!!!!  Our local train can have loads of finished lumber and empty center beam flats in the same movement, both ways!  Explain that one, please.

The loaded cars in the photo will go to Avon, get unloaded, and taken empty back tot he mill that loaded them, for reloading!

Robert

The PD runs out of Portland, there's a daily Portland to Eugene Turn, it's amazing that there's any lumber on the PD (Portland train). The PW
(the Portland and Western Eugene originated train) makes sense since some days it's 75% lumber. So maybe the PD makes a pickup in Eugene
on it's way South, just a curiosity. Guess it could handle any South loads that the Mt Hood originates. 

Out 

callum_out Wrote:
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> So Robert since you're familiar with the area,
> where does that lumber that goes South on the UP
> PD come from?
> Thanks
>
> Out 
>  

The vast majority comes from the BNSF. The MEVEALB. Or whatever it's being called now.

PD probably also gets lumber from WA. LIC55 switches Hampton Lumber in Napavine almost nightly and is good for a lot of centerbeams heading back to Longview. Add a little bit from PSAP and TMBL plus originating traffic from Longview and that could give Albina quite a bit of lumber for the PD. BNSF also runs an H-VBTABN (CN Thornton Yard, Vancouver - Albina) that probably contributes as well.

K

Guys thanks for the great info!

Out 

PasadenaSub Wrote:
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  Can anyone share which
> of the P&W Oregon Electric jobs this was - OE
> Express, PNW Hauler?
>
> Photo taken by Matt Haynes on 3/29/21.
>
> Rich

This is the combined OE Express and 663/664.  They have been combining the two between Tigard and Albany.

roustabout Wrote:
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>
> This is the combined OE Express and 663/664.
>  They have been combining the two between Tigard
> and Albany.

PSR at work. :)

While the P&W today still runs on Front Street through Salem, it is only on the northern half of the original freight-only main line on Front Street which started at the north end of the paper mill at Ferry Street and ran parallel to, and on the river side of, the SP in Front Street between the mill and part way to Union Street where the SP turned left and crossed the Willamette River to West Salem and beyond.  Between Ferry Street and Union Street the two railroads traded sides of the street through a VERY sharp crossover of the parallel lines so that the SP would be on the river side to approach the bridge.  It was not uncommon for the train to big hole while traversing the crossover because the air hoses had exceeded their stretch limit.

Pictured on the passenger main line is the Salem OE passenger depot, located in the Hubbard Building, on the SW corner of High Street and State Street.  On the left is an OE train making their station stop on High Street en route to Portland and on the right is a Salem streetcar about 3½ blocks west of the State Capitol building.  Some passengers on the train may have been using the OE's mid-1920's 50-ride commutation ticket.

About 45 years ago I was headed north on Front Street on BN train #1300 like the 2315 but just a few blocks short of his pictured position.  At that point we ended up having Front Street traffic tied up for an extended period of time.  A flat-bed semi-truck driver was blocking the main line as his trailer was against the loading dock of a building on the river side of Front Street.  He had his load-securing steel cables laying on the ground in preparation for the loading of open top wood boxes from the business.  My student engineer Sally got the driver's attention when she whistled a warning to him as we crossed Union Street and was prepared to stop short of the truck.  In the driver's haste to throw the cables back on the flat-bed trailer, he forgot one of them.  He climbed into the cab and quickly pulled away from the loading dock but was still foul of the main when he came to a very sudden stop.  The cable he forgot got wrapped around one of his drive axles so tightly that he was unable to move in either direction.  We got extra overtime that day!

Another memorable Front Street day also occurred just a few years after the BN merger.  I was running the same Albany, OR - Vancouver, WA BN train 1300 (ex-SP&S/OE train 326). One of my trailing units was one of the three ex-SP&S Alco RS-2s 60 - 62 (BN 4000 - BN 4002) which had been equipped with steam generators removed from our three F3s 800 - 802 when they were upgraded with larger capacity steam generators.

After finishing our switching at Minto (a passing track just on the south side of Salem), just for fun I cranked up the steam generator on the Alco and opened the atmosphere valve which put a beautiful strong plume of steam shooting straight upward into the frigid air on a blue-sky winter day. This was before the days of the track realignment in Salem and we ran for about 1½ miles down the middle of Front Street from the paper mill on the south to Norris Paint on the north. Needless to say, our passage through town turned quite a few heads!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/21 04:28 by Jim700.

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