Amtrak at East Portland

Amtrak's Empire Builder at East Portland Junction.

Every morning (unless it's really late), the Portland section of Amtrak's westbound Empire Builder arrives at Portland Union Station, and every afternoon it departs heading east. In between, the four-car consist turns around by taking a spin on the wye at East Portland Junction. That usually happens around the middle of the day, but today it happened much later -- just a few minutes before train's scheduled departure time of 4:45 p.m. After a day of clouds and fog, the sky parted just enough for the setting sun to cast a pink glow over downtown and the West Hills, reflected in the Willamette River.

At left is Portland's one-of-a-kind telescoping lift bridge, the Steel Bridge, while the Broadway Bridge is visible in the background at right, itself noteworthy as the longest extant Rall bascule bridge. CLD Pacific Grain's O'Dock dominates the middle of the scene, its small yard filled with covered hoppers of export wheat for unloading at the elevator. Next week, the grain will be loaded into a ship bound for Asian markets. The O'Dock is the farthest upriver facility on the Willamette, and loads one or two vessels per month.