Carolyn McLeod for Mayor

HASSO HERING

A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley

| Facebook | X | YouTube

Locomotives still stranded after bridge collapse

Written August 18th, 2026 by Hasso Hering
Comments: 11 responses.

Three locomotives and at least 10 railroad cars remain stranded in Benton County because the railroad bridge over the Marys River in Corvallis has not been rebuilt.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: , , , ,

A marker for a time long, long ago

Written April 3rd, 2022 by Hasso Hering
Comments: 4 responses.

On a Sunday drive through the countryside of Linn County, Kathy and I came across this historical marker behind the railroad track about three miles west of Scio, where Gilkey and Goar roads meet.

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Rail plan points to money trouble

Written April 26th, 2014 by Hasso Hering
Comments: 6 responses.

Readers interested in rail transportation — and who isn’t? — will naturally be eager to review the draft of the 2014 Oregon State Rail Plan just published by the Oregon Department of Transportation. At 161 pages, not to mention the 100-page technical report, it takes  patience to get through. But it includes some troubling facts, […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: , , ,

No mystery, just storage

Written October 7th, 2013 by
Comments: no responses.

As you might expect, the unexplained presence of a long line of brand new refrigerated railroad cars on a siding southeast of Albany has prompted rumors and a few jokes on the Internet, that fertile field for fueling phony theories of plots. I reported on sighting these cars on Sept. 19 after riding along Midway […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: , ,

What’s with these rail cars?

Written September 19th, 2013 by
Comments: no responses.

Almost every ride through the mid-valley countryside makes me ask this question: What the heck is that? Take Thursday, for example. On this brilliant late-summer afternoon I’m pedaling my two-year old Giant Rincon mountain bike along Midway Road. The road parallels the track of the Albany & Eastern Railroad. And on a siding next to the […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: , , ,

Our smallest towns: Any future?

Written June 18th, 2013 by
Comments: no responses.

A week or two ago, I stopped and got off my bike in Crabtree. Since then I’ve been wondering if there’s a way towns like this can ever be revived. According to the last census, the unincorporated community had 391 people with a median age of about 45, seven years older than Oregon as a whole. […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: , ,
 
HH Today: A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley
Albany Albany City Council Albany council Albany downtown Albany housing Albany parks Albany Planning Commission Albany police Albany Public Works Albany riverfront Albany Station Albany streets Albany traffic Albany urban renewal Amtrak apartments Benton County bicycling bike lanes Bowman Park Bryant Park CARA climate change Cox Creek Cox Creek path cumberland church Dave Clark Path DEQ downtown Albany Edgewater Village Ellsworth Street bridge Highway 20 homeless housing Interstate 5 land use Linn County Millersburg Monteith Riverpark North Albany North Albany Road ODOT Oregon legislature Pacific Boulevard Pacific Power Periwinkle Bikepath Portland & Western Queen Avenue Queen Avenue crossing railroad Railroads Republic Services Salem Avenue Santiam Canal Scott Lepman speed cameras Talking Water Gardens Union Pacific urban renewal vandalism Water Avenue Waterfront Project Waverly Drive Waverly Lake Willamette River

Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved. Hasso Hering.
Website Serviced by Santiam Communications
Hasso Hering

Privacy Policy