On my way back from Shedd on Thursday, I was glad to see that my favorite railroad bridge has not yet been replaced. I like all bridges, but this one especially because it shows that a simple design properly built can do a hard job for more than a hundred years.
Here’s another reason to welcome double-stacking of containers on Union Pacific’s mainline through Albany: Think of the additional congestion prevented on Interstate 5 that the trains represent.
Albany’s busiest railroad crossing on Queen Avenue will be improved for safety one of these days. But it won’t be soon, and when it’s done it will still be a bumpy ride for cars.
The sprawling Millersburg site where International Paper shut down and demolished the Albany Paper Mill still sits mostly empty, presumably awaiting a buyer. But some local officials have visions of turning the place into an intermodal shipping hub that would bypass the troubled Port of Portland and link the valley to the world.
I was on the section of Seventh Avenue paralleling the Union Pacific’s mainline. And I nearly jumped over the handlebars when a UP freight, pounding up the tracks behind me, let loose with its horn, twice. Then I stopped and watched a long line of war-fighting equipment being hauled north.
Albany has been a railroad town since 1870. Some people don’t like the sound of that. Train horns at crossings bother them. But turning the entire city into a “quiet zone” might cost in the neighborhood of $14 million.
Albany log yard: The story behind it
Sawmills disappeared from Albany decades ago, but a part of the business has returned in the form of a small company that buys logs and resells them to mills in Oregon and as far away as China.
Tags: Oregon forest products, Oregon logs, Union Pacific