Because the mainline was flooded at Oregon City, Southern Pacific's hot LABRF detours on Willamette & Pacific. The train is nearing Ashahr siding on the outskirts of Corvallis.

Due to flooding on the main line near Oregon City, Southern Pacific detoured some intermodal trains on Willamette & Pacific in February 1996. One of the detours passes through St. Joseph, near McM... (more)

A Cotton Belt SD45T-2 shoves a westbound Southern Pacific manifest at Alray, California.

An eastbound Southern Pacific manifest is entering the Modoc Line at Texum siding, a junction on the south side of Klamath Falls.

July 2000 finds me watching trains on the UP Spineline in central Iowa. A northbound empty grain train races towards Mason City as they blow past Bradford. The sun and clouds were barely working i... (more)

An eastbound Southern Pacific stack train led by Cotton Belt GE B40-8 No. 8045 approaches the Gooseneck at West Bottoms in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 14, 1990. Trailing is another SSW B40... (more)

A Cotton Belt tunnel motor leans into a classic Southern Pacific caboose as it helps a westbound SP train around Sullivan’s Curve.

Cotton Belt GE 8065 leads a westbound intermodal past the Ontario, CA airport. I had several Delta Boeing 727 layovers that month in the Airport Marriott pictured on the left which offered lots of... (more)

SSW (Cotton Belt) SD45T-2 9404, Milwaukee Road GP40 2014, SP SW1500 2753, and SP GP9 3785 at SP Yard Ennis, Texas. An original Kodachrome slide, from my collection.

A Cotton Belt GP60 leads a Union Pacific train over the Arkansas River bridge at Princeton, CO on the Tennessee Pass Route, three months before the former D&RGW route was shut down.

A westbound Cotton Belt freight crosses the Kansas City Terminal’s Kaw River Bridge (also known as the Kansas River Bridge) on December 8, 1985. This massive structure has four main lines—two ... (more)

In February 1996, floods and related problems shut down every rail line into Portland, Oregon except one - the Portland & Western's ex-SP Tillamook, Newberg and Westside branches. A hot SP PTPCX d... (more)

Lumber on the Central Coast

A Southern Pacific eastbound, with Cotton Belt SD40T-2 8325 on the front, sits in San Luis Obispo, California, awaiting a fresh crew. This train, heading... (more)