Since I have become more involved in the volunteer thing with the Portland locomotives, I have to post this. The Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, which has recently acquired new land upon which to relocate the treasures of the Brooklyn roundhouse, will be operating those treasures, namely SP&S 4-8-4 700 and SP 4-8-4 4449, on their annual Holiday Express runs. Can't use Polar Express due to copyright problems. Two consecutive weekends, December 4, 5, and 6 featuring the 700, and December 11, 12, and 13 featuring the 4449. This is a great event for families and I always enjoy seeing the kids and the looks on their faces. Santa and his elves will be riding the trains along with a lot of ORHF volunteers. The trains will leave from Oaks Park and run north to OMSI and return, taking about 45 minutes. Details on the full schedule and where and how to buy tickets are on the ORHF website: http://www.orhf.org
I took advantage of my time in Salem, OR in late 2006 by running up to Portland to catch both steamers in operation (and riding behind both as well). Oh yes, one of Fitz as well.......... Check them out here . IMO, they're awesome locomotives.
Nice gallery, Bob, despite that ugly Santa's helper guy. Today's "Oregonian" had a nice article with pictures promoting the event, and I have seen some neat advertisements on local Fox channel 12. The guys are doing a great job with publicity this year. We shall see how many show up. FORTUNATELY the "Civil War" game, Oregon vs. Oregon State, for the Roses this year, is on Thursday, else Saturday would probably be a very lonely place for us volunteers at the Express! :tb-biggrin:
Sorry for the delay, but I got busy. Here are a few photos from the Friday and Saturday operations of the first weekend. I heard today (Sunday) that the winds were so high that they lifted the tent off the ground. I can believe it from what we are experiencing on the coast. The turnout was kind of disappointing, but I am sure the economic environment had a lot to do with it. Volunteers sure showed up as did the kids. Sales were pretty slow for our merchandise. Steam was great due to the very cold temperatures. I guess there are some funny rules with steam hours of service, as Jim Abney had to take four hours off in the middle of the day, so Doyle McCormack ran 700 in his relief.
I wasn't there for the second weekend featuring 4449, but Satokuma was. Go take a look at his albums in RailImages for shots from today. He and his friend volunteered and worked outside this weekend. Brrrrrr. :tb-biggrin:
700 fan I heard that the Old Lady rolled a rail the other day and put herself on the ties, they just don't nail 'em to the ties like they used too I guess. They're both a sight to see. Jeff
Yes, she did go on the ground. Jim Abney reported her back into the roundhouse just after noon today. And Stoneduck, welcome to trainboard! :tb-biggrin:
:thumbs_up:A bit warmer today... We had North Trail host with my best friend but the noses ran as much as the 4449. There might still be a few tickets left for the 8PM run tonight, all runs were sold out and I think they still stuffed a few more passengers in... More photos at http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/album.php?albumid=795
Nice job, Michael, those are great. Despite the runny noses, isn't it fun to volunteer for these kinds of operations? :tb-biggrin:
