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Friday Night Railfan Magazine Pizza Party & Winterail 2017

We left the train in Lebanon and then drove to Junction City where we found what we were looking for and a surprise diagonally opposite from the building.

Oregon Electric Junction City station, now Rodeo Steak House & Grill. Outside were a pair of cabooses.

Southern Pacific caboose 4719, built by Pacific Car and Foundry in 1980.

Burlington caboose 12561, built by Pacific Coast and Foundry in 1978 as Burlington Northern 12204.

Finnish State Railways 2-8-0 418, was built by Linne & Jern in 1904 and came from Finland in 1960 as a gift to the city of Portland. It was displayed at Oaks Park in Portland with SP 4449, SP&S 700, and UP 3203 for a number of years before going to Junction City. Presently it is under cover and appears to be in good condition. We drove over to the old Southern Pacific mainline and waited for the Coast Starlight. We heard its horn far off but then we heard a horn coming from the north getting closer to us. Decision time, street running on the old Oregon Electric or mainline Amtrak train. We all choose the street running on the old Oregon Electric! We ran two blocks back to near the old Oregon Electric Junction City station and set up for pictures.

So here came a light engine slowly down Holly Street. I ran back to look down the street we had came from.

The Coast Starlight went through Junction City at track speed.

Portland & Western GP39-2 2305 "Dallas", originally Santa Fe 3604. Once he had passed through Junction City we went to the Rodeo Steak House & Grill for linner where I enjoyed a fantastic steak. Bob Riskie joined us for lunch here then afterwards we left Junction City, taking Highway 99W and spotted a locomotive out at a new grain silo and decided to have a look.

Albany & Eastern GP9 1750, originally Texas and New Orleans 456. We continued the rest of the way into Corvallis where we checked into the Days Inn. Elizabeth got me on line then she bought her NRHS 2017 Convention Summerville double-headed steam trip ticket. Then we worked on the story of the train trip from this morning and almost finished. Bob came into my room and we bought his NRHS ticket before finishing the story, uploading it and posting it on Trainorders.com before going to the Railfan Magazine Pizza Party and Slide Show.

We drove to Corvallis High School where Elizabeth and I turned our programs into Evan to show tonight. Then it was out to the lobby to socialize and enjoy a Coca-Cola. At 6:00 PM we all went into the theater and took our seats for an interesting evening of shows. Steve Barry welcomed everyone then went through some announcements and we were ready to go. The evening started with a show by Wayne Monger on the Trona Railroad, Southwestern Portland Cement and the Eagle Mountain Railroad taken in 1969. That was followed by Bruce Blackaddar showing us Trains in Cajon Pass. Greg Molloy showed us Bulgaria and Randy Nelson was next with his Cars and Trains, the Tri Met & WES and finished with West Coast Loggers. The final program before the break was Alcos, Ore and More - Railfanning in Eastern Quebec 1999 to 2002.

We then took a ten minute break, after which Vic Neves showed a movie "Winter Railroading in the Winter", a National Film Board of Canada presentation. Ben Kletzer took us to the Red Sea Railway, Two Weeks of the Eritrea. Mike Pechner showed SMART Commuter Rail from Day One. Then Elizabeth Alkire showed her first program "A Quarter Century of Railfan Adventures and Excursions". I finished up the evening with A Year of Trains in the Life of Chris Guenzler 2016 which was followed by the door prize being awarded and that wrapped up the evening. This evening's programs were all extremely well done. I returned to the room, worked on the story up until tonight, took a shower before calling it a fantastic day in my life.

I arose early then wrote the Pizza Party story before the three of us went to Elmer's for breakfast then drove out to Toledo on a very wet morning to the Yaquina Pacific Railroad Historical Museum. We parked the car then started looking around.

Logging donkey.

A logger's cabin.

Georgia Pacific 2-8-2 1 was built in 1922 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Pacific Spruce Corporation in Toledo, Oregon. It was transferred successively to the Manary Logging Company, and the C.D. Johnson Lumber Company, both subsidiaries of Pacific Spruce, and became Georgia-Pacific 1 in 1953 when that company was merged with the Georgia-Pacific Plywood Company. The locomotive worked all its life on the Alsea Southern Railroad, a 23.4 mile line servicing timber stands in the South Yaquina Distric. In 1960, the steam engine was donated to the City of Toledo, Oregon, who then donated it to the Western Washington Forest Industries Museum in 1982. At some point, the City took back ownership.

Southern Pacific crossing signal.

Two section houses.

Museum scene.

Maintenance of way equipment.

Logger's carrying van 6.

Section house and crossing signal.

Wig-wag crossing signal.

The unknown plywood boxcar.

Southern Pacific RPO/baggage car 5132 built by Standard Steel in 1924.

Southern Pacific caboose 573 built by the Southern Pacific in 1907.

Georgia Pacific center-cab 45 ton switcher 06-021 built by General Electric in 1961 as 30791 "C. D. Johnson".

Museum scene.

The Portland and Western Toledo former Southern Pacific station built in 1892. We returned to Corvallis and the hotel where I conveted the pictures and Elizabeth typed this part of the story before we headed off to Winterail 2017.

We arrived at Corvallis High School, found a parking spot and walked in. After turning in our tickets, we were given our goodie bags. It was at this time I realized I had forgotten my memory stick back in the bag at the hotel but I would take care of that problem at the lunch break. I went directly to the swap meet where, from Joe Strapac, I bought "Southern Pacific Historic Diesels Volume 22 (Passenger Hood Units Reprise)". Then I went to Ted Benson's table and acquired "72-82 Western Pacific's Final Decade". After that, I went and was the second person in line to get to the theatre so I read the SP Diesel book while I waited. I nearly finished the book, when at 11:00 AM, it was time to open the doors to the theatre.

Since we enjoyed the seats we had last night, I basically got the same seats for today, putting my jacket across them to save them. I then went back to the swap meet to do some more shopping. At Elrond Lawrence's table, I finally picked up his book "Route 66 Railway Revised and Expanded" then I also bought "El Camino Real and the Route of the Daylight", which made Elrond very happy. First I told Elizabeth where we were sitting and found she and Bob browsing the slide trays. After that, I went back into the theatre and waited for their return then I spotted our friend Nick and he joined me at the seat, so now we had a party of four. Bob and Elizabeth soon joined me and compared our swag. After that, we had a good laugh as we always do before the shows started. At noon, Vic and Annie gave the opening announcements and rules for the afternoon. That was followed by a joke by Evan and Steve about dead air time. Then the first show started at 12:15.

The line-up of this year's Winterail was "Boomer" by Don Marson then a program called "Before We Were Geezers" by Craig Willett. That was followed by an excellent program entitled "100 Miles From Nowhere: The Nevada Northern Railway" by Steve Carter. During the lunch break, Elizabeth shuttled me back to the Days Inn which was less than a four minute drive. We put the swag bags in our rooms, I picked up the memory stick and we drove back to Corvallis High School. I gave them the memory stick which included the photographs for Three Favorites. After lunch, the next program was "Heavy Metal - The Last Decade of Chinese Steam" by Ben Kletzer". The next program was very interesting as it was entitled "What Was It Like to Ride A Train" by Steven J. Brown. The final program before the dinner break was a look at a preview of "The Western Pacific, First 50 Years" by Warren Haack. The Short was "McCloud SD38 - The Swan Song" by Jeff Moore, followed by the Three Favorites which always contain interesting photographs.

During the dinner break, we went to Carl's Jr. then returned to the hotel where I printed out my boarding pass for my flight tomorrow and Elizabeth typed this story. We returned to the high school and continued our tradition of taking a mile walk around the track. Once we returned to the theatre, the first show of the evening was "The Road and The Radio" by Steve Barry. This was followed by the Hall of Fame presentation where this year's recipient was Steve Barry. He really deserves this award for all the time he puts in arranging the pizza party, buying pizza and soft drinks, running a great Railfan and Railroad magazine as well as presenting at Winterail and most Friday night pizza parties over the years.

Next up were the photo contest winners. In the black and white revenue division, second place went to Reed Skyllingstad and first place was awarded to his brother Dale. In the revenue color division, Steve Carter placed second and Dale Skyllingstad was the first place winner. In the recreational black and white division, Steve Carter took first place and in the recreational color division, Richard M. Koehler placed first. The second program of the evening was "It's Not Easy Being Green - Burlington Northern Railroad in the Pacific Northwest" by Mike Repp. The penultimate show was "Farewell to the American Loggers" by Robert Scott. The final show was "Railroads Along The Upper Mississippi River" by Scott Lothes which wrapped up Winterail 2017. This was one of the better sets of programs at Winterail as every one was excellently done. Make sure you all come to Winterail 2018 on Saturday, March 17th, 2018 in Corvallis, Oregon as it will be the 40th anniversary show.

We returned to the Days Inn afterwards, added a couple of things to the story before I called it a night.

We got up and went to Elmer's at 7:00 AM where I had a repeat of yesterday's breakfast then filled the car and drove to the Portland Airport where Bob and Elizabeth said their goodbyes and I went through the security line. After passing through security, I went to the gate to wait for my through flight to San Jose and then home.

I waited at Gate C18 and at 11:40 AM, I was boarded on the plane. Just as they were making the safety announcement about seat belts, the pilot broke in and said the plane was leaking fluid. We sat at the gate and a mechanic was called. Now, the plane had sat here overnight and no one other than our pilot noticed the leak? So they had to rev up the engine and found no leak. But they opened up the engine in any case so I got a look at a jet engine just to make sure it was okay! We then waited for the paperwork from the mechanic before the door could be closed and the whole saftey announcement was then made. We taxied and left Portland one hour and twenty-five minutes late; I saw the Coast Starlight coming into Vancouver just after take-off. We went to San Jose where those passengers were unloaded, then loaded our new ones. Both flights were above the clouds so there were just a few views until we neared home. The plane landed at Orange County at 4:25 PM, or 1 hour and 10 minutes late. My mother picked me up and that ended this year's trip to Winterail 2017 as I walked into my home.

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