UMAX Containers

UMAX containers rolling south through Oregon City.

This afternoon a solid wall of navy blue passed through Oregon City, 19 feet high and over a mile long. It consisted of 184 brand-new, empty UMAX shipping containers. UMAX is a domestic interline container program between the Union Pacific and CSX railroads. The containers are manufactured in China and shipped to Portland, where they are immediately loaded onto trains and taken to Los Angeles, where they are placed into service. Why not ship the containers directly to the Port of LA-Long Beach? Why, to take advantage of Oregon's lack of sales tax, of course!

On a climatic note, after opening with three days of unseasonable sun, 2011 has reverted to more typical weather in western Oregon. The clouds rolled in yesterday and the damp, familiar gloom of Portland winters returned today. Thanks to Kyle W-Y for the heads-up on this train.

Pudding River

Amtrak Cascades no. 507 crossing the Pudding River at Aurora, Oregon.

Just two days after blogging about my current preference for daytime photography, I submit my first nocturnal entry of the year, southbound Amtrak Cascades train no. 507 crossing the Pudding River just north of Aurora, Oregon. The train was running about 10 minutes late after waiting in Clackamas siding for a much later-running northbound Coast Starlight, train no. 14. I had first scouted this location back in October, and this was the first time I had returned since then. The river was much higher, requiring some careful scrambling through the brush along the bank and a little bit of clearing work with my trusty Swiss Army knife.

The Pudding River is a tributary of the Mollala, itself a tributary of the Willamette. The Pudding flows 62 miles out of the western foothills of the Cascades before joining the Mollala near Canby. When discussing rivers, "meandering" is an often over-used adjective, but in the case of the Pudding, the term hardly does it justice. As it wanders through Willamette Valley farmland, the Pudding has more horseshoes than the Kentucky Derby, as this map shows.

The Flow of Grain in Portland

CLD Pacific's Irving elevator along the Willamette River in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Morning errands at the print shop and camera store afforded me the opportunity to take a look around downtown Portland, as the hum of industry returned on the first Monday of the new year. The flow of export wheat through the city continues, arriving from the prairies by rail, truck, and barge, for transloading onto ocean-going ships, many bound for Asian ports.

In the photo above, Oregon Pacific Railroad no. 501 unloads a few of the many covered hoppers full of grain at CLD Pacific's Irving elevator, one of two grain elevators on Portland's downtown waterfront. Arriving trucks are visible at lower left, while the northern approach to the I-405 Fremont bridge is visible in the background. At far right, an interchange ramp swings above Interstate Avenue and the Trimet MAX light rail Yellow Line. The hard verticals and horizontals of transportation infrastructure dominate the entire frame, yet the natural course of the unseen Willamette River (to the left) lends its graceful curve to the built environment.

Glendale, Oregon

Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad tracks and cars in Glendale, Oregon, on January 2, 2011.

In 2011, I hope to make at least one rail-related photo everyday and share it on this blog. Not likely, right? Actually, impossible, given that I made zero photos on New Year's Day. (A shame, too, since I actually spotted a decent rail subject that went un-photographed for want of a camera during my walk.) Already relieved of any notions of a perfect record for the year, I'll do my best and see how long this lasts. The travel days will be easy. The real challenge will be how much I can mine from Oregon City on the many days when I stay home.

Undeterred, I press onward to January 2, where I paused to ponder the quiet tracks in Glendale, Oregon, while driving back to Oregon City after a holiday visit with family friends in Ashland. I visited Glendale five times in February and April 2010, each while photographing the pair of Central Oregon & Pacific (CORP) trains that met there on most weekdays to swap cars before returning to their respective terminals of Dillard and Medford. 

There would be no trains on this sleepy Sunday afternoon. In fact, there may never be afternoon trains in Glendale again. For years, the CORP trains have ran at night in the dry summer and fall months to minimize fire dangers, but they always reverted to daytime schedules during the wet winters and springs. This year, daytime trackwork in Glendale has kept the trains on a nocturnal schedule (evidence is visible in the recently-turned foreground ballast), and rumors circulate that night operations might remain permanent. I hope not. Despite a great love for night photography, lately I've been finding more satisfaction in a well-composed daytime view than in the most evocative night scene. Continuing north from Glendale through Cow Creek Canyon, I counted myself lucky to have seen and photographed daytime trains there in the previous year, and can only hope to have that chance again. In the meantime, though, I wouldn't completely rule out a camping trip later this year....

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