Thirty minutes at the Twin Bridges - a photo on Flickriver

            The Oregon Trunk has always been a really exotic place to railfan. Jointly owned by BNSF and Union Pacific today, it travels through the scenic Deschutes River Canyon. From the early 80s into the mid 90s, it was a time capsule of 1970s railroading - just about all trains had SD40-2s for power and cabooses at the rear. The  searchlight signals used for its ABS system gave it the appearance of being a big time mainline, even though it was a secondary mainline with nominal traffic. 

Traffic on the line then consisted of a BN roadfreight between Pasco, Washington and Klamath Falls, Oregon; a second BN roadfreight between Vancouver, Washington and Klamath Falls; a BN local that worked north from Bend to Madras; and a tri-weekly UP local from The Dalles, Oregon to Bend, which ran south Monday - Wednesday - Friday and returned the following day.

Many changes have taken place since the BNSF merger. Today, the entire line has been converted to CTC. The track has been upgraded with welded rail and concrete ties in many places.  UP no longer runs on the Trunk, although they gained trackage rights on the former Great Northern line south of Bend in the merger.

These are shots of a half hour I spent at a famous spot near Sherar where the Oregon Trunk crosses the Deschutes River, goes through at tunnel, and then immediately crosses the river again.  We saw the H BAKPAS go north.  It met an H VAWBAK1 at Oakbrook siding a few miles north. We caught the latter train as it rolled south.

Zoomed out, we can see more of th VAWBAK. This has been a favorite location for fans wanting to get a shot of the excursion trains that have operated on the Trunk in the past.

Taken in: United States / Oregon / Fargher (historical) (show map)

Taken on: June 15, 2020

Tags:

BNSF

BNSF Oregon Trunk Subdivision

Deschutes River Canyon

General Electric

Trains

Railroads

Freight Train

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Sets appears in: • BNSF • Trains

Groups appears in: • Railroads • North American Railfanning more » • BNSF - Burlington Northern Santa Fe • Railway Express Agency • GE Locomotives • Railway Photographers • RailwayWorld • Western Railroads • American Rails • LIFE ON THE RAILWAYS • Steel Rails Across North America. • Railroad Photographer USA/Canada • USA Trains • U.S. Railfan Pictures • ATSF and BNSF • Oregon Rails • All Locomotives, Trains and Trams • Railroad Shooters • Western US Rails • Rural Railfanning • Railroad Sightings • Railfan Atlas • Rail Pictures North America • Worldwide Railfanning (WRP Flickr) • World Of Trains Americans Usa Trains • Burlington Northern & BNSF Photography « less

Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T2i, f/3.5, 1/1000 sec, 105mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Lens:	EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
Aperture:	f/3.5
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	105mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Shutter speed priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 15.0 (Windows)
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