by Steve Jessup/photos as noted
The first magazine I ever subscribed to as a railfan was Rail Classics, a mostly black-and-white periodical that was produced six times a year by Challenge Publications out of Canoga Park, Calif. I remember well the first issue that showed up in my mailbox. There were no articles that captured my attention, but in the center of the magazine was a section called “Rail Scene” with 10 pages of random photos from around the country. The opening two-page shot really grabbed me; I stared and wondered. I kept going back to look at it in the days and months that followed. And even today, it’s still one of my all-time favorite images from that magazine, now long gone.
The shot was taken by Ken Ardinger, whose name you may be familiar with from “LocoNotes” in Railfan & Railroad. It was snapped along the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side and showed an eastbound Burlington Northern manifest led by a GP35 and an A-B-A-A lash-up of F-units trailing. The image was taken in May 1978, three-and-a-half years earlier than the publication date. At that point I knew I would never see such a great motive power consist, but how cool would it be to do some rail photography through the Gorge? You all know the story — I had only Cajon and Tehachapi under my belt at the time. A year later, I would move to the Evergreen State, and the Gorge was tops on my list to railfan! Interestingly, I wound up meeting Ken just a few short years after my move, running into him one day while shooting in South Seattle. After that he called me nearly every week to report something.
ABOVE: In the past, Union Pacific ran specials to the Pacific Northwest. But UP officials canned all of that and gave away much of its heritage fleet, including these E9s. On September 30, 1995, the A-B-A set leads a special eastbound at Mosier, Ore., on a cloudy, rainy day. But plenty of fans are out to capture the train, which is headed to Bend. —Steve Jessup photo
When Rail Classics editor Ed Stauss encouraged me to write features on Pacific Northwest subjects, I took him up on the deal and wrote on the Columbia Gorge in short order. In a little more than three years and living about three-and-a-half hours away, I made only a few short trips, but there was no doubt that this was the place to railfan up here.
The Columbia Gorge featured Union Pacific on the Oregon (south) side and BN on the Washington (north) side. In the mid-1980s, UP held the edge in traffic with approximately 20-24 freights in 24 hours while BN ran about 15 or more on a good day. When BN merged with Santa Fe in 1996, those totals shot up, and in some cases, BNSF could send as many as 18 trains through from early evening to dawn. Today, BNSF holds the advantage, although the totals for both railroads are down from years past. But there’s plenty of action to keep railfans hopping.
ABOVE: A westbound Union Pacific auto train is powered by SD70Ms 5088 and 5140 near Celilo Park, Ore., on March 17, 2007. —Steve Jessup photo
It’s been interesting to document the change through the Gorge over 40-plus years. Burlington Northern ran many heavy manifest and grain trains using a wide variety of motive power — lots of Geeps to go along with the numerous SD40-2s. While we enjoyed the cast of four-axle EMD models, the constant parade of Cascade Green was a little much. Just in time, BN released a group of 53 GP50s in 1985 wearing experimental orange and black stripes on the nose. Some liked it (including me) and some didn’t.
Then in 1986, new SD60s came on the scene with BN ordering three demonstrators dressed like the GP50s with the orange and black stripes. The railroad decided to lease 100 units through Oakway that were painted similarly to EMD’s brilliant blue-and-white demo scheme.
ABOVE: One of the best things about railfanning in the Columbia River Gorge is capturing run-through Canadian Pacific trains without Union Pacific pilot units. UP finally dropped its cab-signal requirements thanks to Positive Train Control. Now CP can run from Eastport, Idaho, straight to Hinkle Yard, and keep going without having to add or change motive power consists. This westbound potash train has a bonus — a pooled CN unit (to CP), ES44AC 3238, with trailing CP SD70ACU 7034. The train is pictured at Biggs, Ore., on March 18, 2024. —Julie Jessup photo
Most were put into coal service in the Powder River Basin, replacing old General Electric horsepower. But many were assigned to intermodal, grain, and general freight trains. They were often seen on the Stevens Pass line farther north but, like the GP50s, a few wandered through the Gorge from time to time…