Lander Street Bridge

Normally I don’t mind being stopped at a crossing by an occasional train because…it’s a train! And rarely is the delay more than a few minutes. But one day last week I was stuck for over 45 minutes. It was a local train that was moving empties for the local recycling company on a side track and clearly something had gone wrong. All I knew is that it wasn’t moving. Meanwhile, the through traffic on the other tracks continued to flow along normally.

The view from Lander Street.

If I had been in a car it would have been easy to get out of there and go use another crossing, which I normally do when I encounter a completely stopped freight train. But I was on foot and the nearest grade-separated crossing would have added 1.5 miles to my trip, which in retrospect still would have been faster had I know how long the wait would be. There are two slightly closer at-grade crossings, either of which would have only added 1.0 miles to my trip, but I couldn’t see either of them from where I was so I wasn’t sure if they were blocked as well. I tried checking Seattle traffic cameras but none of them in the area were currently positioned so I could see any rail crossings. Google traffic showed stopped traffic on one of the crossings (Holgate Street) so I assumed that was blocked; Google traffic data wasn’t available for the other crossing (Horton Street).

All of this will be solved soon once the new Lander Street Bridge is completed. This grade separation project has been needed for decades but was long dormant due to lack of funding. The project finally came to life in 2016, construction started just a little over a year ago in May, 2018 and the new bridge is expected to open early in 2020.

Meanwhile, it would be helpful if the city would keep at least one of the two cameras along Holgate (at 1st and 4th Avenues) focused on Holgate so we can tell when it is blocked by a train, or just add a third camera dedicated to Holgate.

In addition to potentially avoiding any future 45-minute train delays, this bridge will immediately become a popular stop for train fans and photographers. Why? Imagine the view below, but elevated 25 feet above the tracks, with over 100 train movements per day.

The new bridge will cross over four tracks which split into seven tracks just north of the bridge. The far left track is used by Amtrak for maneuvering commuter trains in and out of storage; the three center tracks are the through tracks, and the far right tracks are the storage area for the recycling facility. The building in the center is the Amtrak locomotive facility; the Seattle passenger station is 1.3 miles north of where the photograph is taken.

View of the center span in progress. The crossing signals and arms for street traffic were removed right at the start of the project, but the smaller pedestrian crossing arms are still in place as the city required the contractor to maintain pedestrian access through the work zone. 

Another view from underneath of the recently installed girders.

A view of the east approach. This area (and the west approach) will be built up using blocks of lightweight Geofoam instead of soil, as the weight of the soil would likely cause subsidence.

Here's an elevated view from a distance. It's not a great picture, but you can see the extent of the span over the tracks and the Recycling Center in the background on the right. And as a bonus, there are two Link light rail trains in the background on the left.

Just a few more months and these signals will be gone too, and no more getting stuck behind a stopped train.

In my ongoing series of "unusual things I see out my office window," this week's oddity was a long string of flatcars carrying an assortment of military transport vehicles. It was in the Stacy Yard for a couple days.

Portland's rail nexus and the Oregon Rail Heritage Center

My time in Portland was not spent exclusively visiting garden railroads as I had other things to do, including a visit to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center which I’ve been to before but not in several years. While my intent was to view the trains and displays in the building, but when we arrived we learned that an excursion train was going to leave in 10 minutes so we decided to do that instead. It was one of those days when the weather was absolutely perfect for a train ride in an open car along the river.

A northbound MAX Orange Line train passing in front of the ORHC and across the OPR tracks.

The ORHC is right next to the OMSI/SE Water Station, which is served by the Portland Streetcar Loop line, the MAX Light Rail Orange Line and multiple bus lines, all of which converge here to cross over the Willamette River on the Tilikum Crossing, a beautiful cable-stayed bridge designed just for transit vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists that opened in 2015.

The Portland Streetcar and the MAX light rail share tracks over the bridge which means they also have to share a common overhead line voltage. Aside from this bridge and a single curve of track near downtown, the streetcar and light rail systems are completely separate, and are even owned by separate entities. The streetcars are able to run on MAX rails if needed to move a streetcar to a repair facility, but MAX trains cannot operate on the streetcar tracks due to the larger size and weight of the MAX trains.

This pictures shows a southbound Orange line train. We walked one way across the bridge, and then took the MAX back across.

There are actually four rail systems that happen to cross paths here. In addition to the modern streetcar and MAX lines are two railroads, a Union Pacific (UP) main line and the Oregon Pacific Railroad (OPR) which operates a shortline along the Willamette river from a junction with the UP just north of the ORHC to an industrial park about five miles south. The OPR is the operator of the train we rode on.

The OPR line is a remnant of what was once a vast network of electric trolley lines in the Portland area. This line was built in 1904 by the Oregon Water Power & Railway Company as an electric trolley line. They also started construction on the Oaks Amusement Park along the Willamette River that same year to spur traffic on this new trolley line. The line has had a very colorful history and changed hands multiple times, and it's amazing it is still carrying both passenger and freight traffic today, 115 years later. A detailed history of the line can be found on the OPR website.

The UP line, meanwhile, is the main line connecting Portland with California, and is used by long distance freights as well as Amtrak regional and long distance trains. Although the alignment has changed a bit over the last 150 years, this stretch of track by the ORHC was the first railroad in the Portland area (and the second in the state of Oregon), constructed in 1868–69 by the Oregon Central Rail Road Company. In the following years as construction continued south toward California it was reorganized as the Oregon & California Rail Road Company. In 1887 it met up with the Southern Pacific Railroad which was building north from California. The Southern Pacific took control of the line in 1887 (and ownership in 1927) and operated it for 112 years until the merger with Union Pacific in 1996.

So we have a modern light rail line, a modern streetcar line, a 115-year-old former trolley line, and a 150-year-old section of a Class 1 main line all crossing paths at the same spot. I cannot imagine a more perfect location for a rail heritage museum.

The best way to visit a rail museum is by rail, of course. We arrived via this Portland Streetcar.

Here is another streetcar using a dedicated bridge to cross up and over the OPR and UP tracks.

Here's a view of the streetcar bridge from below. From left to right, it crosses a city street, three OPR tracks, two OHRC tracks, two UP tracks, and then one more city street. It's too bad the bridge design didn't include a pedestrian walkway.

The ORHC has various pieces of rolling stock stored on multiple tracks around the museum.

A view from the trip. For most of the distance it runs next to Springwater Corridor, a multiuse trail.

Just south of the museum is the Mt. Hood Brewing Co. restaurant with a wood-fired oven serving pizza and beer which can be enjoyed in an old passenger car. The windows are open, there's a light breeze, and the view is great.

A northbound MAX train crossing the OPR line, with the restaurant in the background.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of the train we rode on aside from this one from a distance. The locomotive, a restored GMD-1, was originally built for Canadian National in 1959. More information on the locomotive here. On the day we visited it was pulling two cabooses and an open air car with wooden benches.

An SD70AH leads a northbound train past the ORHC. We also saw a southbound Amtrak Cascades passing by while we were visiting.

There are four locomotives stored inside the ORHC building, including Oregon Railway & Navigation 197, a 4-6-2 Pacific built in 1905 (a year after the OPR's line was built). It was retired in the 1950s but was saved from the scrap heap, instead being put on static display near Oaks Amusement Park for many years before a group of volunteers began restoring it.

It's the end of the train! Former Northern Pacific caboose 1735, likely built in 1921. Now serving beer and looking pretty in a new coat of red paint.

Baker and Grande Ronde Railroad

The third railroad I visited on this year's Rose City Garden Railway Society tour was the Baker and Grande Ronde Railroad. This is, quite simply, the best garden railroad I’ve seen in person up to now. This railroad was started in late 2003 and was featured in the April, 2013 issue of Garden Railways Magazine but has matured so much since then. If you have a subscription you can download the article here and see how much the plants and trees have grown.

An eastbound train crossing the last trestle before reaching LaGrande. It's coming down from the summit and had earlier crossed over the long trestle in the background.

The concept for this railroad is a line that ostensibly ran between Baker City and Ukiah in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon in the 1880s. There are many small industries along the line, mostly related to timber and mining. It is a long point-to-point railroad with over 800 feet of track (that’s 3.6 scale miles) that gradually climbs about eight feet from the base to the summit. There are a few tunnels and many curved trestles along the route, the largest of which is about five feet above ground level. All the bridges and trestles are wood as that is what would have been used at the time.

When I first visited here last year I was totally wowed by the huge number of Alberta spruce which have been meticulously pruned to resemble mature conifers, and further up the slope the Alberta spruce give way to blue cypress. There are points along the line where the landscaping has been done so well that your sense of scale is tricked into believing you are in a forest.

This year I was amazed by the incredible ground covers that had established themselves in the more open areas, all of which seem to have magically come into bloom at the same time. The west end of the line has hardly any trees at all—just open area with ground cover plants on a hummocky terrain—and the effect is magnificent.

Keep in mind that all the railroad structures are wood and all this track is hand laid. That is, the rail has been attached by spikes to every wood tie by hand with little tiny spikes. Given the age of the railroad, these wood ties need to be replaced just like on a real railroad, and you can see in a few spots along the route where older ties have given way to newer ones.

And it's not just the railroad. The structures along the route were also all scratch built, as were most of the rolling stock and locomotives. Truly amazing.

A glimpse through the trees of of the LaGrande station.

Just wast of the station, a train is pulling up to the water tower.

The main street through Keg Springs. 

Across the creek from Keg Springs is a beautiful water powered mill. Of all the structures along the railroad, this mill, dam and mill pond were my favorite.

Here the railroad is passing over a creek on a curve before heading into a tunnel. Note how the left side of the bridge truss is held up using cribbing instead of a trestle bent because of the uneven terrain.

Another beautiful structure hidden in the trees. Maybe a stamp mill?

Sidings at Odell Summit.

This creek has two crossings, a through truss bridge for the railroad and a covered bridge for road traffic. 

An ore loading facility on a spur off the main track.

As the railroad rounds a hill, it is supported by a pair of truss bridges. There is a lot of variety in how the trestle structures were built.

Once again, it's easy to lose perspective of the scale. This environment looks so natural that the 1:24 scale trees in the foreground blend in with the 1:1 trees in the background.

Another view of the longest trestle, which features a truss bridge span near the center.

Even this smallest of bridges show an amazing amount of detail, like this small span over a dry creek bed. If you enlarge this photo you can see the spikes that were placed by hand.

The variety of colors and textures of the ground cover plants was amazing.

Another view of the same area from the reverse angle.

End of the line, at least for now, is a train shed and facilities at the town of Ukiah. As you can see in the photo there is still plenty of undeveloped land further on, so it's possible this layout might continue on in the future.

2019 Rose City Garden Railway Society Tour

I was in Portland this past weekend and my visit happened to coincide with the annual Rose City Garden Railway Society (RCGRS) tour, so I took the opportunity to visit a couple new layouts that had not been on the tour in previous years. I also revisited one layout I had seen last year. There were 14 railroads that were on this year’s tour but I didn’t have time to see others on this trip. I wasn't too concerned as I’ll have a chance to see most of them again later this year as the RCGRS is hosting the 2019 National Garden Railway Convention in August. Below are a few pictures from the two new layouts I visited; I'll include pictures from the third railroad in a separate post.

Serrano Creek Line | Jim & Linda Louden | Vancouver, WA

This railroad in Vancouver is only a couple years old and already has over 500 feet of mainline track wrapping around three sides of the house in a continuous loop. It provides a huge canvas to work with and I’m sure there will be a lot of infill projects in the coming years. They were running multiple trains as the long loop track allowed plenty of distance between them.

My favorite feature of the railroad is the beautiful arched steel bridge crossing over a bubbling creek.

A lovely curved trestle greets the viewer upon entering the garden. Another reminder of a project I haven’t gotten to yet.

I always take pictures of how people manage portals through walls and fences. This nice swing-up gate in the fence easily accommodates a double track connecting the front and back yards.

The front yard features a couple more bridges crossing over a dry creek bed.

This is the 2019 convention car. I won’t get mine until August, but apparently they've already been delivered as this railroad sported three of them on a siding by a lumber mill under construction. I have a feeling this lumber mill will be complete before the convention.

This BN locomotive has its nose poking out of the train shed as it’s just a little too big to fit.

Pine Valley & Western RR | Frank & Alexis Barberis | Gresham, OR

This railroad began in 2008, starting with a small figure-eight wrapping around a couple of pine trees, and has gradually grown to over 500 feet of track, filling up most of the backyard. The railroad imagines what might have been an eastern Oregon short line affiliated with the Santa Fe in the mid-20th century. Two trains and an Eggliner were running when I visited. My favorite part of this railroad was the beautifully designed and perfectly sized storage shed. I want one.

An ATSF FA-1 is pulling a five-car passenger train, while an ATSF SD-45 is hauling freight on a track behind it.

Here’s a closer view of the SD-45. And in the upper left-hand corner you can also just make out the little Eggliner (also in Santa Fe colors, of course) running around the figure-eight track in the middle.

There is a classification yard along one side of the railroad.

They have built a beautiful storage shed in the style of a train station, with a bay window and everything. I wish I had one of these in my yard. It's absolutely perfect, down to the dark green trim.

The shed provides abundant shelves and storage space for plenty of trains.

I also really like this curved box girder bridge leading out from the shed to the layout.