Because of its unique location, the Edgewater Village housing complex keeps getting my attention. Not only is it Albany’s first such development on the Willamette River, but it also sits at the over-and-under intersection of two historical rail lines.
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 […]
For weeks the Portland & Western’s Water Avenue rail line has been blocked by equipment to build a sewer pump station, and you may have thought this has crippled railroad operations. But apparently it hasn’t, because the track is opened up again every night.
Something you don’t see every day: A Portland & Western maintenance pickup parked on the trestle where it crosses the Dave Clark Riverfront Path.
[youtube video=”GHc_DcfEbo4″] Albany’s Queen Avenue railroad crossing has long annoyed motorists because of the condition of the pavement and frequent delays. Now comes a new complaint: The length and volume of the air horn blasts of switch engine No. 1501.
If memory serves, these woodchip hopper rail cars got their new paint schemes — honoring the Oregon Ducks and the anti-drug DARE program — in about 2000 or before. And look at the colorful messes created by taggers in all the years since.
A sign of work: Those stacks of ties are gone
Big stacks of rail ties stored along the Water Avenue railroad tracks near Burkhart Street in late February now are gone, and so is the aroma of creosote they gave off.
Tags: Portland & Western