Photo of the Month - November, 2002

During the early days of the Port's operation over the Tillamook branch, the railroad handed off its interchange traffic to Burlington Northern at North Plains, about five miles from Banks along the former SP&S Cornelius Pass line. Traffic bound for the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific was interchanged at Mahan, near Hillsboro. The complex interchanges made it necessary for a second crew to do all of the switching once the train reached Banks. Here, the 4381 is on its way from North Plains to Banks after trading outbound loads for inbound empties. It's unusual to see this train moving during the day, as most of its operation took place after nightfall during most of the year. Photo by Jesse Burkhardt. Date unrecorded.