Western Railroad Discussion > Some more pics on the UP OSL-OWRN Blue Mtns Route

Some pics from this past Saturday.

1. Eastbound UP Freight crossing the Snake River and entering Idaho. I believe that concrete box that the power line is on was part of the older bridge crossing here that had a very sharp curve on the Idaho end of the bridge.

2. Same train passing the sand dunes at the Farewell Bend of the Snake River where the Oregon Trail left the Snake River Valley to travel overland to the Columbia River. The Weiser Sand Dunes are at Olds Ferry, ID where the ferry crosses the river prior to modern highways.

3. UP's LCA-44 Local returning from Huntington, OR with a large block of cement hoppers that the Huntington Local (LIT-32) brought to Huntington from the Ash Grove Cement plant at Nelson, OR. The LCA-44 local operates between Nampa and Huntington doing work along the way at Nyssa, Ontario, Payette and Weiser. Photo at Crystal, ID between Weiser and Payette on June 25th, 2022.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

---

---

---

4. Station at Weiser, ID

5. Restored UP cupola caboose at Weiser, ID

6. Station at La Grande, OR.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

---

---

---

7. MOW caboose at La Grande, OR.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

---

Very cool.
JB

I'm enjoying your continued series. This line around Huntington is a line I'd be interested in visiting, though the chances of it are slim. In the past I've looked at the transit time to get from the west to east spans of the bridge over the Snake River at this location, and it's over an hours drive time, correct? Also, I believe the old cement facility west of Huntington was demolished, correct?

Sean

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> 1. Eastbound UP Freight crossing the Snake River
> and entering Idaho. I believe that concrete box
> that the power line is on was part of the older
> bridge crossing here that had a very sharp curve
> on the Idaho end of the bridge.
 

Excellent series, nice to see the things which normally seem to fall under the "drive by" category.

Out 

Nice Idaho-Oregon series! Always enjoyed the big LaGrande station in my many visits there.

Larry

broken_link Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In
> the past I've looked at the transit time to get
> from the west to east spans of the bridge over the
> Snake River at this location, and it's over an
> hours drive time, correct?

Correct.  If you were at the west end of the Snake River bridge (where the portapotties can be seen in the distance in the first photo), you'd have to back track to Huntington, go east on I-84 to the Weiser exit, drive all the way east to Weiser to cross the Snake River, then double back on the north side of the river to the east end of the railroad bridge (or just swim across the river....LOL).

> Also, I believe the old
> cement facility west of Huntington was demolished,
> correct?

Yes, the old plant at Lime, or what there was left of it in ruins, was fully demolished a couple years ago - you can't hardly tell that there was anything up on that hill previously.
 

I always wondered what the view was like from the east (Idaho) side of the Snake River bridge.  Thanks for your great post, Ted.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

In the past, that was one tire-eating road from Weiser back to the Idaho end of the bridge.  Haven't seen there in the past 10 years.

When the water level on the Snake river is down you can see the old right of way in that area>