Had to go to Portland yesterday - way toooo many cars and people. Saw a Portland and Western GP39-2 running long hood forward leading SD9 1851 which was pointed the right direction to lead. Looks like maybe a short train of ballast?

That afternoon, saw a UP Olympic unit in the Gorge headed west. Not sure if it made it past Hinkle or which direction after that. Saw plenty of trains on both sides of the river, including a UP wb long auto rack running 1+1. Wonder if they took the rest of any power off the head end at Hinkle?

About dark at the junction for the line to the Boardman power plant (station name?) there was a eb in the hole. Just east of there, there were three engines, then one of the new Z trains (mostly TOFC) without power blocking a crossing. A wheel truck and other vehicles were near the power. Not sure if they broke in tow at speed, or if they had a seized axle (more likely) but trains were backed up all over the place.

There are at least two Z trains each direction that are noticeable for being heavy with TOFC instead of stacks. Until UP stole this traffic from BNSF, pigs were extremely rare. There also seems to be a new trend towards larger trains. It is now common to see several trains a day running mid-train DPUs in addition to one or two on the rear. In years passed, this was limited to Green River potash loads headed west to export, but now are showing up on eastbound manifests and westbound hopper trains. It looks like UP is now moving a substantial amount of grain west.

It seems to me that traffic on the UP through the Columbia Gorge, up to Canada and across the Blue Mountains and Idaho has seen a substantial increase in the last year. Trains tend to bunch up, especially if there are work windows or problems, but UP still seems to be fluid through here but I'm not sure how much more traffic they could handle.