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.
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.
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.
Watching a freight train crossing the river on the “Toledo District Willamette Bridge” on Tuesday made me realize something: This is a big anniversary year for that steel structure spanning the river at Albany. It was built 100 years ago, in 1921.
Whether the old rail corridor known as the Bailey Branch can ever again serve the cause of transportation, I don’t know. But clearly some segments, especially the one from Alpine Junction to Dawson in the foothills of the Coast Range, have huge potential as a recreational trail. That’s my impression from joining a smattering of other […]
On a bike ride the other day, I headed out of Albany on Salem Avenue and could not help but notice a spiffy new roadside sign. Welcome to Millersburg, it said, letting me know I had crossed the city limits. “Established 1873,” the sign proudly proclaims. Wait a second, wasn’t there a big controversy when […]
On the centennial of a notorious crime
If you’re interested in American railroads and Oregon history, and even if you’re not, this is an important centennial year.
Tags: DeAutremont brothers, railroad, Railroad history, Southern Pacific, train robbery, Tunnel 13