Something you don’t see every day: A Portland & Western maintenance pickup parked on the trestle where it crosses the Dave Clark Riverfront Path.
The truck was marked with the letters ES, for Engineering Services, inside the familiar PNWR logo. So maybe it was time to do some engineering-type work on the Willamette River bridge. Or maybe it was just a matter of an inspection.
According to the date on the top cross beam, the bridge dates from 1921. I was built to swing around on its center pylon to let big riverboats pass. But if it was ever used that way, the occasion seems to be lost to local memory. (In a story in 2016, I asked about this but got no response.)
As for the truck parked on the rails, nobody was inside when I went through there, saw the truck and stopped for a couple of shots. The challenge for the driver and any passengers would have been to somehow get out of the cab, and then back in again after their work was done. (hh)
No place to put your feet in order to exit the truck. How did they manage it?
I’ve heard, on the down low, that CARA has purchased the rights to the bridge with the eventual goal of building some sort of Low Income housing which will span the river. The company truck was probably there to make certain of the uncertainties.