Southern Pacific

Dome car followup: Chat with the owner

Written February 7th, 2024 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 8 responses.

Following up on Sunday’s story about the old Southern Pacific dome car, the car has been taken to a shop in Independence, where the owner will rebuild the classic railcar so passengers can ride in it once again.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Daylight trains, dome car, Independence, Railroads, Southern Pacific, Valley and Siletz Railroad

Finding a railroad relic at the Albany yard

Written February 4th, 2024 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 12 responses.

I had heard about an interesting artifact in railroad history at the Albany yard of the Portland & Western. Looking for it Saturday, I found it on a track near where Ferry Street runs into the east side of the yard.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Amtrak, Overland Route, Portland & Western, rail car, railcar, railroad, RPCX 3602, Shasta Daylight, Southern Pacific, SP 3602

100 years later: Remembering Tunnel 13

Written October 12th, 2023 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 4 responses.

On Thursday I sat outside the former courthouse in Jacksonville where, 96 years ago, three “former Albany boys” were sentended to life in prison for killing four men in the last train robbery of the West.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Ashland, D'Autremont, De Autremont, Jacksonville, Siskiyou Mountains, Southern Pacific, train robbery, Tunnel 13

On the centennial of a notorious crime

Written May 14th, 2023 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 7 responses.

If you’re interested in American railroads and Oregon history, and even if you’re not, this is an important centennial year.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: DeAutremont brothers, railroad, Railroad history, Southern Pacific, train robbery, Tunnel 13

Decades of crashes without a permanent fix

Written May 7th, 2023 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 31 responses.

More or less on a regular basis, tall vehicles have hit the trestle on First Avenue in Albany since at least the 1960s. Despite efforts to prevent them, the crashes continue.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: crashes, First Avenue, Lafayette Street trestle, Southern Pacific, trestle, truck-eating trestle

Old railroad track spurs memories of years ago

Written May 16th, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 13 responses.

There’s a short length of rusty railroad track, just south of Crabtree Automotive, that reminds me of stories the Albany paper reported many years ago.

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: Albany track, Hill Street, railroad spur, Railroads, Southern Pacific

Bridge completed 100 years ago: No big deal

Written August 2nd, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 5 responses.

Nobody is making a big deal of the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Albany railroad bridge across the Willamette River. That’s fitting, because when it was accomplished in 1921, the job made no splash in the papers of the time.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: 100-year-old bridge, 1921, Albany Democrat, Albany Evening Herald, Albany railroad bridge, Southern Pacific