Nostalgia & History > Double Headed Steam 10 years ago

Ten years ago yesterday, the NRHS held their convention in Portland OR.  The best part was the double headed "Western Star" excursion. It ran from Portland to Wishram and back.

#1 The eastbound run had the SP&S 700 on the point. This shot is from is from the SR 197 bridge at North Dalles WA. 

#2 The westbound run was shot about a half mile east of the SR 197 bridge, at Spearfish Park.

#3 This shot shows the whole train in Wishram.  Hey! I can see my house from here !  (Its the grey one on the far left side)

Tom Paris    Louisville KY
 

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As a member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter, NRHS, the memories of that convention return often.  It was my first participation as a volunteer at a convention, and it was great fun to meet and talk with people from all over the USA and beyond, especially to hear their comments when they were enjoying the events.  A day after the Western Star doubleheader (maybe two days), we had set up a rotating tour of the Brooklyn roundhouse, featuring both the 700 and the 4449 on trips around the turntable.  In between, both locomotives were positioned here next to the house.
 

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ICG Wrote:
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> #3 This shot shows the whole train in Wishram.
> Hey! I can see my house from here !  (Its the
> grey one on the far left side)
> 
> Tom Paris    Louisville KY
 

My house is about ¼ of the way between the covered hopper just ahead of the 700 at the right edge of the picture and the Wishram School just above but is hidden by the trees.  Well, not anymore; it was the house in which I grew up so, Tom, I guess that precludes us calling ourselves neighbors these days.
 
My first connection with the SP&S 700 was as a pass-riding infant in the arms of my mother as we rode the 700-powered SP&S #3 departing Wishram westward in the wee hours of the morning.  We were headed to Portland perhaps on a shopping trip or to see a doctor or to connect with Greyhound to head northwestward to visit my mother’s parents in Vernonia, Oregon where the exhaust of the steam-powered saw carriage at the Oregon-American Lumber Company sawmill would continue the sound of the 700’s exhausts albeit at a much slower cadence.
 
If I was capable of dreaming at such a young age I would like to think that my dreams would have been of running the 700 but obviously I have no knowledge of that.  However, within just a couple years or so as I would watch the 700 (or the 702, the other regularly assigned engine for the train #3) come to a stop at the Wishram depot for us to board, I knew that my dream was to someday run the 700.  Wasn’t that the dream of so many mid-century young boys?  As I watched my father running steamers (including the 700 after it was demoted to freight service) in pool freight service out of Wishram there was no doubt in my mind regarding my dream.  But, hey, remember this is the day of the diesel-electric and I had to resign myself to the fact that by the time I could graduate from high school and be old enough to represent the third generation of my family to hire out on the SP&S there was no doubt that steam would be but a memory.
 
Well, sometimes, youngster’s dreams do come true.  How could I ever have imagined that the hogger running the 700 in Tom’s first-posted picture taken from the Columbia River Bridge would be me?  I have been blessed beyond measure to have lived my childhood dream.  (By the way, the bridge from which Tom took the picture didn’t exist when I was a kid – we rode a ferry across the river from the landing about 10,000 feet west of the bridge.)
 

Thanks for the refreshing the memory Tom.  2005 seems a LONG time ago.  It sure was a major effort by the Pacific Northwest Chapter, NRHS and we got LOTS of help from the other Portland based organizations including PRPA and the Friends.   I found the whole five year convention process to be a major personal undertaking and was quite pleased we carried it off and made a profit.  Having one committee chair die (hotel) and having to fire another (mainline excursions) wasn't a whole lot of fun but the convention turned out well as people stepped up to get it done.  

While Wishram is a great destination, the world has changed as BNSF uses this route for mostly westbound traffic.
   Arlen Sheldrake. 
   Convention Chair