Re: Northen Oregon happenings
Author: Tom McCann
Date: 10-31-2014 - 17:44
I saw a WB autorack train in the siding at Hemlock (Gresham) along the Kenton Line this morning -- was surprised to see just the one unit up front. This may have been the one you spotted Thursday.
Caught the EB Z train coming off the Kenton Line at Troutdale at about 3:30 this afternoon, long train with just a few doublestacks, the rest TOFC and COFC. It had to stop briefly on the Reynolds siding to let a WB manifest clear.
A lot of the WB grain trains on the UP side are coming down from Canada through the Eastport, Idaho gateway. These usually have a mix of both UP and CP power. I I work in NE Portland several days a week and usually drive Sandy Boulevard to get there, so I get to see a lot of them.
UP now has some extra flexibility on the Graham Line (along I-84 west of Troutdale) with the new Clarnie siding. It's about two miles long, on the north side of the ROW between the NE 122nd Avenue and NE 162nd Avenue overpasses. They did not remove the old overpass at NE 148th Avenue, but simply added a new one for the new track.
They just opened it earlier this year and most recently I've seen several EBs, mostly grain but also doublestacks, on the siding waiting for the main to clear.