| Thanks to the generous efforts of Aaron Hockley of Vancouver, Washington
and many others, the first ever Gorge Rail was a great success. The event
which happened on May 17th and 18th of 2003 drew at least 50 railfans from
around the Pacific Northwest for a weekend of railfanning in the natural
and transportation wonder that is the Columbia River Gorge. Presentations
held Saturday night at the Best Western in Hood River were outstanding,
and two key unveilings happened. One was the anticipated public unveiling
of the SP&S 700 for the Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS) game. But
Steve Brown (Smokebox) also made the surprise announcement of upcoming
operation of both the SP&S 700 and the SP 4449 on the Portland Traction
line between OMSI and Oaks Park this summer (of 2003). It's great to finally
put a face to all those Trainorders.com names and get reacquainted with
long time buddies.
I turned my Gorge Rail trip into a 5 day trek to also visit my folks down in Oregon. Below and on subsequent pages is my trip report. There are some 85 images I'm going to share out of the 331 photos I took. The ones not shown are most likely either roster shots or several images in sequence, where I only picked the best one after I got home. |
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9:15 AM finds the H-LAUPAS going into the hole at Tokio, WA. |
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Behind a equipment flat are three LLPX units dead in consist. |
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At 9:21 AM the V-PTLBLU comes racing by with a big block of "trash cans" for Spokane on the head end. |
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A rather odd railcar in the Consist of the H-LAUPAS made from two old SP flats (this train had several intresting cars) |
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The Z-CHCPTL kicks up the dust at Eltopia, WA at 10:37am |
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MHKSE is bearing down on Boardman, Oregon at 11:51am |
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Forty minutes later the same train is passing by Heppner Jct. after a meet. |
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1:34pm is the time when the MSEHK roars by Biggs, OR. |
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It's straight up 2pm when the C-SCMCEC rolls into the hole at Maryhill, WA. The train will be overtaken by the Z train shown above at Eltopia. |
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2:50PM has the H-PASBAR creeping into Wishram before continuing it's journey south on the Oregon Trunk. The train in the foreground is a solid baretable of brand new Gunderson three packs. |
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The ZSEME overtakes the MEUHK at Goff, OR at 3:27pm. |
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The "Z" train rolling away at 70per across the John Day River. |
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4:04pm finds the QPDNP rolling east near Rufus, OR. |
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Two minutes later the U-ROOINB rounds a point near Cliffs with the John Day Dam in the background. |
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CEFX power leads this OETT5 west through Biggs at 4:34pm |
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A eastbound was held at the end of double track for the Potash. |
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And the eastbound is the MRVHK |
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A CNW unit is helping out on this ISEG2 rolling past Celio Park at 5:04pm |
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Ten minutes later the ZKCPD thunders past. |
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The V-CHCPTL is shown rolling by Maryhill at 5:40pm |
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5:54PM finds a empty grain train X-KALCSN rolling east past Wishram |
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Fifteen minutes later the Local and the Portland section of the Empire builder are racing into the Wishram depot. This was all part of a five way meet also involving the V-CHCPTL, Z-PTLBCA, and the B-PTLWAT. |
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M-RRBVAW is seen coming down the Oregon Trunk within ten minutes of the above photo. |
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After Amtrak clears, the V-CHCPTL continues it's journey past Horse Thief Lake in some of the last light of the day. The Columbia Gorge is all about transportation, be it by truck, barge, or train. |