It's been kind of interesting lately in somewhat sleepy Albany, Oregon.

One of the routine local freights that Union Pacific runs on their Brooklyn Subdivision in Western Oregon is the MPDPW, a manifest from Portland's Albina Yard to the Portland & Western at Albany yard. The train arrives in the morning, often just before or after the Amtrak Cascades #500 goes through town at 0615 hrs.

One day, on April 22, the MPDPW train suffered a derailed gondola as it was arriving into the yard.
Gondola takes more track than it rightly deserves.

On another day, on the same track, and almost exactly a month later, on May 21, the MPDPW train experienced a derailed centerbeam as the train was pulling into the yard. This event was more dramatic, with a car on its side, and the rear of the train hanging out on the mainline and blocking priority traffic.
Centerbeam attacks covered hopper.

They say that bad things come in threes... so I'll be on the alert around the time of the Summer Solstice. :-)

-Charles
Watching the trains at MP 691 on UP's Brooklyn Sub
Albany, OR