Genesee & Wyoming

Court decree affects two local locomotives

Written July 7th, 2023 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 9 responses.

Well, I was wrong last month in thinking that we may have seen the last of Locomotive 1501, the 71-year-old switch engine working in the Albany railroad yard. It’s still on the job, as I discovered on Thursday. But for how long?

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: consent decree, Genesee & Wyoming, locomotives 1501 and 1852, Portland & Western, railroad

On the river: Check that pile of debris

Written February 16th, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 3 responses.

Every winter, or so it seems, logs and other debris drifting down the Willamette River pile up against a pier of the Albany railroad bridge. It looks like trouble, but at this point it worries neither the railroad nor the Oregon State Marine Board.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: debris pile, Genesee & Wyoming, log pile, Oregon Marine Board, PNWR, Portland & Western, railroad bridge, Willamette River

A slow train to China? Not really, but …

Written November 15th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 11 responses.

When you’re standing on Albany’s Third Avenue watching a slow freight train go by, as I did on Saturday, you may not realize you’re looking at a tiny part of a huge business enterprise that spans the globe.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Brookfield Infrastructure, Genesee & Wyoming, GIC, Portland & Western, shortline railroads, Singapore, Willamette & Pacific

What’s that smell? It’ll soon be gone

Written February 28th, 2020 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 5 responses.

As I was heading east on First Avenue Wednesday, a peculiar smell in the air made me wonder if there was a fire upwind. Then, after a left on Columbus and another left on Water, the nature and the source of the odor became obvious: Creosote fumes from batches of new railroad ties being stacked […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: creosote, Genesee & Wyoming, Portland & Western, Railroad ties

For rail buffs, this Albany track is a gift

Written July 30th, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 6 responses.

Albany’s Water Avenue is a gift for rail fans like me. The old Oregon Electric track runs down the middle of the street for seven blocks, and right next to it for 14 more, giving us a close look at train operations. And sometimes a different sort of rig. For residents on Water this is […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: Genesee & Wyoming, Portland & Western Railroad

Work upgrades trestle on P&W line

Written January 23rd, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 2 responses.

For weeks there’s been heavy construction on the Portland & Western’s long trestle bridge across the Calapooia River and its floodplain outside Albany. The work is upgrading and strengthening the structure and will probably make it last many decades more.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Calapooia River trestle, Genesee & Wyoming, Portland & Western

It may look bad, but don’t worry

Written May 23rd, 2014 by Hasso Hering

Comments: no responses.

Well, that big crack in Pier 1 of the Willamette River railroad bridge in Albany is one less thing we have to worry about. It looked ominous to me when I published this photo in March. But an independent engineer has told the Portland & Western Railroad and its parent company that the pier is […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Genesee & Wyoming, ODOT Raild, Portland & Western, RailStar Engineering, Willamette River bridge