Passenger Trains > Think today's passenger trips are challenging? Try this one!

A couple hours ago an evening news story on a Portland, Oregon television station recalled an event from over 138 years ago regarding a westward passenger train on an Amtrak-abandoned route in the Columbia River Gorge.  A few-hours train ride turned into a three-week adventure.  I didn't find the weather conditions nearly as challenging when I was running Amtrak 25 and 26 on that same route.

The passenger train story is followed by additional stories which I couldn't figure out how to eliminate from the link.

Interesting!  Thanks for the link.  Hand shoveling snow had to have been quite the workout!

This is a very well known incident.  The stream by where the train was stopped is now known as Starvation Creek.  There's a rest area and trail head there right off I-84 east.

I'm an east coast guy and I'm not very familiar with the specific location, but is this the event the basis of the book The White Cascade, or was that elsewhere?

RichM Wrote:
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> I'm an east coast guy and I'm not very familiar with the specific location, but is this
> the event the basis of the book The White Cascade, or was that elsewhere?

Rich, while I'm not familiar with that book, the title suggests to me that it is about the 1910 disaster on the Great Northern Railway at Wellington, Washington.

https://yesterdaysamerica.com/terror-in-the-cascades-the-1910-wellington-disaster/

Thanks Jim!  I have the book somewhere, read a while ago and since packed away... when you wrote Wellington and Great Northern, yes!

It is a pretty good read... and sorry for the hijacking!

Rich

 

The challenging trips for me (and most every one then) were during WW II...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA