Waking up just after 8:00 AM, I went out to find a restaurant for breakfast in Reedsport. After walking two blocks south to the edge of town, I found Don's Main Street Family Restaurant. Success! I returned to the hotel to get Chris and we went to have a good breakfast of French Toast and sausage, the best meal of this trip so far. Back at the hotel, I sat outside waiting in the warm morning Oregon sunshine waiting for the bus to take us back to the Florence Historical District. Mary, our bus driver, arrived at 10:10 AM for our 10:30 AM departure.
Our ride took about thirty minutes from Reedsport to Florence and once Mary found a parking spot, I met Jim and we decided to walk to the beach. About a mile out of the Historic District, we met a local who said the beach was four more miles away. So much for that destination. We returned to town.
Jim and I found a lot for sale, so here is the view from the property.
Back in town we found the Southern Pacific station from Mapleton, built circa 1912, which is the Waterfront Depot Restaurant.
I enjoyed a chocolate malt, which really hit the spot. By 1:00 PM, we were all back on buses to take us to the train at Beck. Chris Skow then came aboard to announce he had set up a photo opportunity at the Siuslaw River drawbridge and would stop there for pictures of our train on the bridge. The buses followed each other to the location, everyone chose their photo spots but were informed the train would not arrive for about thirty minutes.
The runby across the bridge.
Our special on the long low approach trestle to the drawbridge; what a beautiful sight it was. We then reboarded the buses to return to the train, which we raced and beat back to Beck and unloaded and walked over to where we thought the train would stop.
Our train returning to Beck to pick us up for the trip to Portland. I went into the "Wisconsin Valley" to store my bags before going to the "Pony Express" for my first daylight view of this line.
Once on the move, we were on our way to Mapleton.
The Siuslaw River before we passed through Mapleton.
Our Trains Unlimited Special passing the old location of Firo.
Nearing Rainrock.
Later, more views of the Siuslaw River near Swisshome.
East of Richardson, the tracks cross the Siuslaw River several times.
An unknown blue flowering plant in the trees.
We travelled through miles of deep unspoiled forest.
Another small stream which we crossed.
Our Trains Unlimited Special crossing the Siuslaw River for the last time.
Miles of forest were passed on this beautiful Independence Day.
Our train had climbed from the tidal zone back at the Siuslaw drawbridge and had now reached the summit tunnel of the Coast Range.
We ran through Vaughn before crossing the second curved trestle.
Our train turned back to the west as we descended the east side of the Coast Range.
We next went over the first curved trestle.
Our train passed the MP 666 sign; all Southern Pacific mileage was measured from San Francisco.
The lumber mill at Sailor.
The Fern Ridge Reservoir as we crossed the Willamette Valley.
Our special rolled east across the southern end of the Willamette Valley.
We reached Eugene and crossed the former Oregon Electric, later Burlington Northern, line.
We reached the switch with the Shasta Route and our conductor threw the switch so we could proceed to the Amtrak station.
Coming into the Eugene station, we passed the Crystal Tire and Dry Ice Company.
During our stay in Eugene, National Railway Historical Society convention officials boarded the train to distribute convention packets with tickets to those people staying at the Doubletree Hotel and offered the rest of us a free shuttle to that hotel so we could pick up our packets and tickets after we arrived into Portland later tonight. The CORP locomotives were removed at Eugene and our station work delayed the Coast Starlight about ten minutes; we departed at 7:39 PM.
Leaving Eugene, we passed Union Pacific 4103 East.
Our Trains Unlimited Special on the approach to the Willamette River bridge.
The former Oregon Electric Railway bridge.
Later we went into the siding at Alford behind a freight and sat for over forty-five minutes.
Amtrak Cascades 507 passed our train at speed then we reversed out of the siding and resumed our journey.
The last sunset aboard the Trains Unlimited NRHS Special. We travelled through the twilight to Albany and it was completely dark when we reached Salem, as I enjoyed the fresh air from the "Pony Express". As it was the 4th of July, it then became time to spot the community's fireworks aerial displays along our route. We learned that our onboard train crew would be dead on the law at midnight, so any more delays would put us in trouble. The Union Pacific Railroad did a great job this whole trip of keeping our special moving.
The falls on the Willamette River at Oregon City were all lit up and very impressive this late evening. We rolled the rest of the way into Portland Union Station, arriving there at 11:58 PM, where a yard crew boarded to split it into two sections, as the northbound Coast Starlight was a mere ten minutes behind us. This splitting of our train would give the Amtrak passengers easy access to Portland Union Station.
As I detrained, I stopped to look one last time at this trainset that had brought me to Portland. What a great trip it had been! I truly enjoyed all of these unique passenger cars and the opportunity to meet everyone onboard. The scenery was truly awe-inspiring and incredible to see from our train. Thank you, Trains Unlimited Tours, for a fantastic trip.
Portland 7/5/2005We took the shuttle bus to the Doubletree Hotel and I quickly received my convention packet and tickets. Bob had been able to receive everything he wanted and we went to get a cab, while Chris tried to get something. We found a cab and waited for Chris, along with another person staying at the Days Inn. I went back inside and found Chris, who bought tickets for the Western Star steam trip and Port of Tillamook Bay excursion, and was very happy. The cab took us to the Days Inn at 82nd Street, where we all checked in, ending a fantastic way to get to the Portland convention, thanks to the 2005 Trains Unlimited Tours Pacific Northwest Express.
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