Oregon Pacific Railroad and the Pacific Railroad Preservation Association will be hosting a three-day "Sellwood Steam Spectacular" running out of Oaks Park in Portland in conjunction with the Lionel Train convention July 12th thru July 14th. Trips with steam will be interspersed with trips pulled by several of Dick Samuels restored diesels from his collection; the Portland Traction SW-1 #100, GE 45-tonner "SamTrak" 4501, ex-Alaska Railroad GP-7u 1810 (used in "Under Siege II-Dark Territory" with Steven Segal) and OPR's newest locomotive ex-CP SW-1200RS #1202. Former GE 70-tonner SP 5100 will also make an appearance but is not yet operational after being re-engined and will be mated with the SW-1 for the trips.

A large group of motorcar ("speeder") enthusiasts will also be operating and for the first time cab rides are being sold on both the SP&S 700 as well as the diesels.

A private event on Sunday, July 15th will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the PRPA at Oaks Park with a barbeque and will feature several trips pulled by the historic diesels.

Oaks Park was built 1n 1906 by the Oregon Water Power & Railway Company, predecessors of the Oregon Pacific, as a destination amusement park to utilize the excess hydroelectric power produced on the weekends when it was not needed by the sawmills.

Further information can be found on Brian McCamish's excellent website on the Oregon Pacific Railroad at www.brian894x4.com/abandoned RRmainpage.html or www.sps700.org.

Proceeds from the trips will help support the SP&S 700, begin refurbishing passenger equipment recently acquired by the PRPA, and finance additional track upgrades to enable the OPR to handle the larger steam locomotives.

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