Steam & Excursion > SP 4449 at Willow Creek, Twin Bridges, The Dalles

I flew into Portland from the San Francisco Bay Area last night so I could chase the Daylight GS-4 SP 4449 today, in triple digit temperatures. I had done a similar chase 5 years ago, but decided to chase less, do more scenery, and only picked a handful of locations this time, giving myself time to walk around, scout the area, and chat with other railfans, if they were nearby.

I had a choice between Horsethief Lake and North Dalles. Because I usually don't do wedgies and the wider angle I wanted was blocked by code lines, I went to North Dalles and got lucky. An upstream ship going into the locks at the dam happened to meet the SP 4449 as it headed west on the Fallbridge Sub.

- Rafters under the one of the Twin Bridges on the Deschutes River.
- SP 4449 and the train crossing the Columbia River via the Celilos Bridge.
- Video of the SP 4449 at Willow Creek Bridge (Madras), Twin Bridges (north of Maupin), and meeting a ship at The Dalles.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/17 21:41 by cchan006.

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I cut the chase short at The Dalles, since I had a flight to catch back in Portland (PDX), so I took the quick way back, via I-84. I caught the SP 4449 one more time between Lyle and Bingen from across the Columbia River while at a rest stop.

- The entire Celilos Bridge.
- The tunnels near Bingen.
- Going away shot as the SP 4449 rushes toward Bingen.

That's it for the quick report.

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Gee, no belching black clouds of smoke. The more smoke crowd must be disappointed.

PHall Wrote:
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> Gee, no belching black clouds of smoke. The more
> smoke crowd must be disappointed.

And nobody falling out of the cab windows, either.

Great photos but the video is perfection!

great pictures and video. while on seated that side in the plaza santa fe I did not see that ship entering the locks at The Dalles dam. great photos...it was amazing to see the number of photographers trackside/mountain side/and all over. great trip! Arlen

Realist Wrote:

>
> And nobody falling out of the cab windows, either.

LOL! Great point...

CS

Excellent photo's and Video..... Thanks for sharing.

CS

Two thumbs up. Great work.

Great timing on the last video shot! Only thing missing was a traffic cop to hold the cars up until the train passed. LOL

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Great pictures and video, Charles. Made me feel like I was there, having recognized many of the Columbia River landmarks.

Rich

Kudos to you on climbing out on the rocks to get that Twin Bridges shot, I know that is a difficult hike.

Ed

The dangerous hike is actually the curved bridge on the north side of the tunnel. There are a few photos of this trip showing a bunch of people at that location. It looks like a nice trail, one wrong step and there's nothing to grab onto though. I have heard a story about a photographer that left the trail, in both meanings. The story goes he was found on top of a freight car many miles away, they traced him by the rental car sitting near the trail.

Thanks for posting the photos.

Auburn_Ed Wrote:
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> Kudos to you on climbing out on the rocks to get
> that Twin Bridges shot, I know that is a
> difficult hike.
>
> Ed



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/17 12:25 by TCnR.

Great job, Charles. The way you widened the view at the twin bridges to expose the canyon rock formation was very nice. It's hard to get both the closeup and wide angle shots, and you made both happen with that action. That trip is so fantastically scenic for the entire route.

Auburn_Ed Wrote:
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> Kudos to you on climbing out on the rocks to get
> that Twin Bridges shot, I know that is a
> difficult hike.
>
> Ed

It was still treacherous terrain, but see TCnR's comment above (Thanks for the kudos).

Realist Wrote:
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> And nobody falling out of the cab windows, either.


You know, except for this guy. Making Ed look tame. . .

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/attachments/fullsize/1206000/DSC_0080.JPG

From a previous thread;
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4323802

portlander Wrote:
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> You know, except for this guy. Making Ed look
> tame. . .
>
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/attachments
> /fullsize/1206000/DSC_0080.JPG
>
> From a previous thread;
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10
> ,4323802

I think many will agree with me (based on other shots of ED in the 844 post-2010) that the people in the fireman's side in the 4449 in THAT shot looks more tame.

I didn't criticize ED for doing that, so you might want to take your dispute elsewhere, please.

Since they are passing a freight in the hole on the right, engineer's side, the fireman should be looking for signals ahead, because the engineer can't see them. Make sense?

Gorgeous! What is up with the horizons?

teebone Wrote:
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> Gorgeous! What is up with the horizons?

The mountain peaks? Three Sisters, then Mt. Jefferson.