Union Pacific 6963

August 27, 2002

I saw on the NWSCAN group that there was a train coming through that seemed rather special. I don't know much about trains, but I've always been a little interested in them, and everyone was paying attention to this one. Well, as luck would have it I had the day off and I had my brand new Canon Rebel 2000 camera that I was itching to take more pictures with. Click on any of the images below to see a better looking version. The browsers just don't display shrunk images well...
Here's a list of what rolled through town that I stole from Phil Kane's email to NWSCAN:

UP Engineering Dept. Special Train
Consist:
UP  6936 locomotive
UPP  207 power car
UPP  314 Columbia River
UPP  102 St. Louis
UPP 5779 Promontory
UPP  104 North Platte
UPP  115 Selma
UPP 1602 Green River
UPP 1610 Portola
UPP 9004 Harriman
UPP 4808 City of Los Angeles
UPP  420 Fox River

I started out the day by chasing down my missing tripod that I never actually used. That put me a bit behind, but fortunately the train was also running a little later than the schedule that was posted to the group. I got ahold of K2ASP and KD7JFV on the 70cm repeater that had been mentioned on the group and found my way to the south end of the Brooklyn Yard. After waiting a while and watching a UP crew and police officer the train finally arrived.
6963 arriving at Brooklyn Yard  Here comes that huge engine into Brooklyn Yard.

6936 at S end of Brooklyn Yard
Here it is again, a little closer and out of the shadows.

The train stopped right in front of us for several minutes, and I shot most of a roll of film. I might post some of them when I can get them small enough, but I think I need to get a nice wide-angle lens for better shots. We were backed up against a building maybe 20 feet away and my lens wouldn't back up far enough to get very much.
Coming around the bend After the train departed I headed for the south end of the Albina Yard with Ben, KD7JFV in tow. We found a nice spot on the track just past the new Tillamook St bridge off of Interstate Ave. They put the bridge in because of the MAX construction and it is a BIG improvement. No more waiting for those trains to get out of the way to get across the tracks.
6936 at Albina A little closer now... See that big pile of old ties? I made the mistake of stepping on one trying to get a good angle. They are NOT as solid as they look! Luckily I remain uninjured, but I never know quite why.
Kicking up some dust I was amused by the dust and took another picture...
Observation car This is the Fox River observation car. Would I ever like to have one of these!
Peninsular Tunnel Me and Ben went running for the Peninsular tunnel, which goes in from Swan Island/Albina Yard, goes underneath Columbia Park and a few neighborhoods and comes out near Columbia Blvd. We just made it in time, after finding a parking spot 1/4mi away and running to the tracks we saw a light at the nd of the tunnel... Here she comes out the north end of the tunnel. There was also a UP crew installing a sidewalk near the tracks parallel to Columbia Blvd. That will be nice when done, we had to run along side the road with the cars and trucks.

Out of the tunnel Ran up a bit more and got some shots coming around the corner.
Headed for the other side of the road I think this is one of my favorite shots.
Side view at Peninsular That is a big freaking engine...

Crossing the road There it goes across Columbia Blvd headed east. Even got Ben in the shot with his camera.

We watched it go and then parted ways... I went to get the film developed and what a time saver these photo CDs are! No more messing with the scanner.
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