When you watch a Portland & Pacific freight in Albany, you can count on a friendly wave from the engineer.
Guess what: It’s time to watch another Portland & Western freight train make its way, slowly, past the Sixth Avenue crossing in Albany.
This was a couple of weeks ago, on Oct. 6. I was cruising through that part of old Albany on the bike that sunny afternoon when I saw the train waiting on the bridge across the Willamette River, as it does just about every day.
Then, when I got to Sixth Avenue and leaned the bike against a pole, the train started up again and rumbled toward the Albany yard.
This is getting old, I know, this watching of trains. But not to me.
Especially when the news that’s all around us — the Oregon election campaign, inflation, the market, and now the disastrous wrecks on the freeway near Albany on Oct. 19 — all that news can get you down.
Trains have been around in Albany for about a century and a half. It’s amazing that this technology has lasted so long, essentially unchanged.
Who knows how much longer it will last? That uncertainty is one reason for watching trains every chance we get.
And here’s the great thing about this particular pastime: If you don’t want to waste your time watching, you don’t have to. (hh)
But what does the future look?
Delivering sustainable mobility and diversity in a country challenged by global warming, inequity, homelessness, food insecurity, disease, poverty, and poor education demands lots of scarce funding. (BINGO!)
No problem for AMTRAK. They have a bottomless public trough to feed from.
I suppose the private freight carriers will have to wait and see what costs will be imposed on them by government bureaucrats and politicians. Scary.
One thing seems clear – along with your gas powered vehicle say goodbye to diesel powered locomotives.
The Toledo Patch and a good size and mix of rail cars. Love those trains.
I loved watching the train today will watch it again!
thank for the experience. Relaxing to watch from my chair in front of my screen.
Not like my response when in the car checking my watch to get going.
It’s so relaxing, making one feel that things are working after all. How about for next time a whole freight train on the main line? Thank you, Hasso.
What happened to the DariQueen that was supposed to built near the Walgreens In Lebanon??
I have always been curious. There are always a lot of engines on the train on the Toledo route. Are they there as spares or does it really take that many to get the train over the coast range? Anybody know?