Started on the SP in Eugene in '79 as a Trainman. Transferred to Signal Dept in '87. Quit the SP railroad just before UP took over. I worked all the main line and branch lines in Oregon.
I grew up off Maxwell Rd. in West Eugene literally several hundred yards from the Departure yard. Went to Colin Kelly Jr Hi and North Eugene where many of my friends had family that also worked for SP. I rode my motocross bikes up and down the NW Expressway with my friends and used to hang out and ride in the old orchard and pond next to the Expressway. My dad was a Car Foreman for SP that worked mostly at the One Spot. He worked 30 years for the SP. The busy Hump Yard was noisy except when it rained. There was a lot going on in the 70's before Lumber production started to die out and mills closed. I had to transfer to Tucson for 4 years in the early 80's to work as a trainman before I was able to return to Portland as a signalman in '87. This video is a good reminder of where my family came from.
My father Doug miller worked out of coos bay from 74 until the depot closed during the merger .He finished out as a clerk at Brooklyn ramp intermodel .
No matter where you film your videos, be it flat land, forest or mountains, they always elicit the beauty of the location. Then, of course, there are all of the awesome consists👍
Thanks for covering the shortlines! A lot of them get overlooked! That is may favorite part of your films, even if the shorelines are only in it for a split second.
great footage! i really like that there is no music, just all the sounds the camera is picking up. just the right amount of narration and information. narrator is a good speaker too.
I have been watching train videos for decades, actually for as long as train videos have existed. This channel is, hands down, the best source. It is professional, intelligent, and very fulfilling and inspiring. There are many good channels to be sure. But this one is great.
If you visit Portland again, make sure you’re able to make it to the Columbia River Gorge Model Railroad club layout. It’s a few blocks away from the Steel Bridge and has a huge HO layout based in the Gorge area. It’s in an old freight depot and has open visits during the winter holidays. I’m sure they’d let you come anytime though if you contacted them! But as always, wonderful video!
I have lived all over Oregon through my long life, and appreciate this video. I remember steam on the SP mainline in Albany, and seeing a hotbox on fire on Water Street one block from my home. I also remember seeing a Challenger cross the Box Canyon bridge at sunset in Madras. As a child I sat in the bluff over the yard in The Dalles and thought about what a wonderful model railroad it would make. I may yet live to build it in n scale, now that I am retired and living east of Astoria. ONE VIEW YOU SADLY MISSED IS THE VIEW DIRECTLY DOWN THROUGH THE FLOOR DRAINS IN THE OREGON CITY MUNICIPAL ELEVATOR. A VIEW NOT TO BE MISSED. I LEFT PORTLAND FOUR YEARS AGO AND DON'T REGRET IT. NOW IT CAN BE SMELLED LONG BEFORE IT CAN BE SEEN, AND THE ONLY WAY TO SAFELY ENJOY ITS VIEWS AT NIGHT IS THROUGH THE PERISCOPE ON A FULLY BUTTONED UP M1 ABRAMS. W ALSDORF
as someone who lives in Jefferson, I was surprised to see this, but I loved it. I can also inform that the old Craft Paper Mill was bought by the UP and currently serves as an Intermodal yard (Though I will admit, it barely sees as much use as it was designed for)
48:00 what a great shot! The cinematography of these videos is outstanding. The narration is fantastic as well, I just wish that the locomotive models were more often called out. As an Oregonian, this is beautiful hometown footage!
Thanks for the video, Aaron! One thing that was and has been gone for a while was Ross Sprenger's Calapooya Southern Railroad. I got to ride it a couple of times but his gradkids sold it after he passed some years ago.
OMG yesss! I've been waiting for this! I've lived in cities along the Brooklyn sub for 8 years now and I'm so excited to see it from 7ideaproductions point of view!
My old stomping grounds! BTW, the Willamette Valley Railroad run to Silverton is more like 13 miles. Mount Angel (home of the Oktoberfest which is the largest folk festival in the PNW) is around 9 miles from Woodburn and Silverton is another 4 miles beyond that.
I'm bookmarking this to enjoy on my big screen (over one or more sittings). I especially LOVE video and information about the old OE line! I can't get enough of it. Real and significant operations on tracks that were once mainly built for electric passenger service. And, I LOVE street running.
More than a few times, while coming home to Corvallis from Millersburg, I've driven under the Toledo Hauler on Water street, stopped and (apparently) waiting for authority to pass over the UP tracks near the station. Interesting consist.
I grew up in the Eugene area. I remember the days of Southern Pacific and the Eugene yard. It was everything you described. Growing up all I saw was Southern Pacific everyday. Once n awhile some Burlington northern locomotives. And that was it. Lumber products as far as the eye can see. Now it's all double stacks. I miss the old yard. She was noises but cool.
In 2017, a derailment accident happened with the Amtrak Cascades Talgo Series 6 passenger cars. The engineer forgot to slow down. Amtrak had to send them for scrap, because they were deemed unsafe. It’s so sad that those cars couldn’t be saved by donating them to a train museum. Coast Starlight Superliner passenger cars are better than those horizon cars for Amtrak Cascades in my opinion. I would like to have HO scale model trains of Amtrak Cascades Talgo Series 6 cars along with the power cars that have the cat ears.
" *This* is how an SD9 Cadillac should look." Yeah. Sliver trucks notwithstanding. Now, they aren't horrible looking, but.... neh. Black trucks please.
Oregon is a neat state physically, yet with a government... I really don't like. It's also one of two states where you can't pump your own gas (the other being New Jersey) - a bureaucratic scam.
![UP's Willamette Valley [Oregon] Main Line](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
