Well, we made it! Rode this train on Monday June 6th. For those unfamiliar with it, it is a train of former BC Rail RDCs that runs Friday/ Saturday/ Sunday/ Monday between Portland (Linnton District) and Astoria. The last run will be in early October '05.
The train is not particularly fast – top speed 30 mph – but it runs through some interesting territory between the Columbia River and US 30. Some of the points of interest, in no particular order: a short tunnel (188 '), street running (Rainier), three draw bridges, a closed nuclear power facility (Trojan), eagles flying above, a huge paper mill (Westport), a real small station (Brownsmead).
We lucked out … the day before, one of the RDCs (the one shown in the lead in the ad picture) conked out, and they were an hour late getting back to Portland. Our trip only had two RDCs, and the crew had to work with the smaller food prep area. [The disabled RDC has a full galley]. Luckily, we were early in the season so the relatively small passenger load did not overload the crew. Dinner for the return trip is prepared by Astoria businesses and served en route on the way back. The RDCs are a bit worn … but there is still way more room than coach on an airplane! These RDCs ran in daily service on BC Rail for many years, and an on board mechanical engineer rides on each trip. The RDCs are also preceded by a hi-rail vehicle who runs ahead of them by an hour or so.
I was invited into the ‘cab’ to get some pictures as we rocked along; the engineer (Ken Nickels - not sure of the spelling) is a former SP man and really enjoyed running the train. Ken and the conductor work for the PNWR (Portland & Western) and run freights when not operating this train.
The farthest west freight cars I saw were at the paper mill in Westport - a couple of CN boxcars by the loading platform, and several Procor tankcars (but I don’t recall what they were carrying). Ken mentioned that freight service extends beyond Westport to Wauna