Nostalgia & History > Portland - July 1969

I can't let Randy (nomosantafe) and Rob (rob_l) have all the fun in the Pacific Northwest, showing their great stuff.

These were all taken over a three day period in July 1969. I was an incoming freshman at Oregon State University, and came up for new student orientation from my home in Redding, riding on SP's Cascade. I boarded No. 12 at 12:30am in Redding, and settled into a roomette for the first time in my life. I think it cost about $30 more than coach. At Albany, a friend I knew boarded the train, and we rode up to Portland for my first visit. What a great place to look at trains within a couple minutes walk from the platforms, as the SP&S Hoyt Street roundhouse was right next to Union Station. Later that afternoon, we took 11 down to Albany, and I was taken to Corvallis for the orientation. Not surprising, I don't remember anything about that orientation, but two days later, back in Albany, I retraced my steps up to Portland on 12 and back down to Redding on 11.

Too bad I hadn't really learned the concept of "get on the sunny side", as the photos aren't as ideal as I wish they were. Plus, I wasn't using Kodachrome, and I think I'm paying for that too.

Photo 1 - an ABBB of GN F7s at Hoyt Street, led by 452-D.

Photo 2 - SP&S Train 2, the Empire Builder-North Coast Limited combined train leaving Portland behind F7A 806 and a GP9.

Photo 3 - Not at the Hoyt Street facility of SP&S, but across the street parked on the property of Union Station sat this ABBA set of NP F7s led by 6019A.

Part 1 of 2

Lee Hower
Sacramento



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/09 08:22 by mcfflyer.

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Photo 4 and 5 - These were taken on my return trip to Portland before heading home to Redding. Here is a predeparture shot of SP&S Train 2 behind 804 and GP9 150, and one as the train leaves the station.

You know, for a simple, low cost paint scheme, I thought that dark green and yellow/brown looked pretty good.

Part 2 of 2

Lee Hower



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/09 23:47 by mcfflyer.

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Lee,

Much appreciated.. I never did get to see SP&S before the merger in 1970.. I love pictures of the depot and Hoyt St. as I only saw it a few times while it was still there before BN tore it out..


SP 8100

Thanks for the look. Many memories for me
including orientation at OSU. I went through
all of this in 1963. Of course, my story is
somewhat reversed as I ended up here in
Redding rather than starting here. Hoyt
Street was a special place where you were
liable to find anything railroad at any
given time. I even saw a shay under steam there
one day ... but was too lazy to take camera
with me. Never thought it would disappear
from the scene completely but ....

Lee,
GREAT pictures, thanks for posting some of your memories! Arlen

Sure would like to know what happened to the water spout in pic #1. They still had one up at Wishram 'til not too long ago. They're scarce as hens teeth nowadays!

Great stuff. The paint looks pretty good in 1969. Sure was different than today's handful of RR's.