THE OFFICIAL WEBPAGE
OF ROBERT D. WEST
To commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Oregon Department of Transportation operated an excursion train along the south bank of the lower Columbia River from Linnton, near Portland, to Astoria, near the site of Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered over in 1805-06. The train ran for three summers, making one round trip on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. The three official seasons were:
May 23 - September 2, 2003. Later extended to September 15 due to the train's popularity.
May 28 - September 20, 2004.
June 3 - October 3, 2005.
Before the official seasons started each year, the train would make a few early trips, as test runs and for various officials and dignitaries. This was the first scheduled passenger service on this rail line since 1952. The train normally did not make any intermediate stops between Linnton and Astoria, but would stop at a town if arrangements were made in advance for a large group of people.
The train consisted of three self-propelled passenger cars known as Rail Diesel Cars, or RDCs, introduced by the Budd Company in 1949 and built throughout the 1950s. Budd was a major builder of railcars at the time, specializing in stainless steel streamlined passenger cars. These cars were purchased by the state of Oregon's Department of Transportation from the British Columbia Railway, which had ended its passenger service in 2002. On a few early trips, when the train didn't have many passengers, only two of the three RDCs would be used if they had enough capacity for the passengers that day. On the vast majority of trips though, all three were used, as the train was often filled to capacity.
RDC's are powered by 2 Detroit Diesel Series 110 V-6 engines, each producing about 275 horsepower, giving each RDC about 550 horsepower. This is enough power for an RDC to move itself rather quickly, however an RDC does not have much power for pulling additional cars. As a result, each RDC in a consist must be operational. RDCs have a control cab at each end, and a single RDC can control all the other RDCs coupled to it. The hump in the roof at the center of an RDC contains the exhaust and cooling for the engines, freeing up space inside the cars for passengers.
ORRX
#10 & #11 (#11 shown) are RDC-1s built in August 1956 by Budd for
British Columbia Railway's predecessor Pacific Great Eastern as #BC-10
and #BC-11. The RDC-1 was the passenger-only model of Budd's RDC line.
The Pacific Great Eastern became the British Columbia Railway on April
1, 1972, when it was taken over by British Columbia's provincial
government. The railroad began going by the name BC Rail on June 19,
1984. These RDC's are still in BC Rail paint, with only the BC Rail
heralds replaced by the Lewis & Clark Explorer heralds.
ORRX
#31 is an RDC-3 originally built by Budd in July 1956 for the Great
Northern Railway as #2350. The RDC-3 featured a section at one end of
the car for baggage and mail. #2350 became Burlington Northern #2350 in
1970 and later became Amtrak #43. The British Columbia Railway purchased
the car in January 1976 to replace their original #BC-31, which was
destroyed in a fire on November 26, 1973.
How the three RDCs were coupled together varied. Sometimes the RDC-3 #31 was at one end, other times it was in the middle. The three were rarely separated, so they remained as they were coupled for quite a while.
Though the train only operated for three years, it had its share of difficulties. The first occurred before the first season even started. Originally, Amtrak was going to operate the train and handle ticketing and reservations, and the train would depart from Union Station in downtown Portland. Just days before the 2003 season was to start, Amtrak announced that it would not be operating the train and would stop taking reservations and refund people who had already purchased tickets. Negotiations between Amtrak and the state could not convince Amtrak to operate the train, though Amtrak did agree to handle the reservations and tickets for the 2003 season only. That left the state and the owner of the rail line, the Portland & Western Railroad, to operate the train themselves. The following seasons, the reservations and tickets were handled by TicketsWest.
Near the end on the 2004 season, on Thursday, September 2, a Portland & Western freight train crew switching the Stimson Lumber mill at Clatskanie, pushed a loaded carload of lumber off the approach to the open drawbridge over the Clatskanie River. This damaged the bridge approach and closed the line for the entire Labor Day weekend, forcing that weekend's trips of the Lewis & Clark Explorer to be cancelled. The bridge approach was repaired and the line reopened in time for the rest of the season to be completed.
On August 14, 2005, the Lewis & Clark Explorer RDCs were pulled by a Portland & Western freight engine, EMD GP39-2 #2308. Apparently, one of the RDCs had engine trouble, and the other two didn't have enough power to pull the dead one along. Overall though, the RDCs were very reliable.
The pictures below show the Lewis & Clark Explorer being pulled by #2308 through Rainier on the return trip to Portland.
I never had the chance to ride the train; by the time I got around to it at the end of the last season, all the remaining trips were full. I did take a couple days to chase the train though, and actually I think I had more fun doing that. I chased the train on two days. I followed it all the way to Astoria and back on September 24, 2005, and on October 1, 2005 I chased it again as far as Rainier to photograph it at a few more locations that I missed it at during the previous trip. The map below shows all the places that I photographed the train. I didn't get any pictures at Linnton, but it is on the map because it was the end of the line.
Now lets follow the Lewis & Clark Explorer as it travels along the Columbia River.
The journey begins at Linnton, a small community a few miles northwest of what most people consider Portland. According to the 2000 census, Linnton has a population of 541 people. Linnton was once a separate town, but was incorporated into the city of Portland in 1915. Linnton peaked in the 1920s, but the Great Depression hit the community hard, and it never recovered. In the 1920s, Linnton had three plywood mills, but by 1950 it was down to only one. Highway 30 was widened in 1960, destroying much of the business district, and in 1971 the school and railroad station closed.
I don't have any pictures of the train at Linnton (I always got a late start and just missed it), but I included it here because it is where the train starts.
This part of the railroad from Portland to Goble was built by the Northern Pacific Railway, opening in 1883.
Scappoose is the first major city along the route. According to the 2000 census, Scappoose has a population of 4,976 people. Scappoose takes its name from a Native American word meaning "gravelly plain." Scappoose was first settled in 1842. The town was incorporated in 1921, though by that time such amenities as a school, post office and railroad depot had been in place for decades.
I waited for the train at the south end of town, because I wanted to photograph it passing the Peace Candle of the World. This giant candle was dedicated by Oregon Governor Tom McCall on May 9, 1971. The candle is 50 feet tall, 18 feet in diameter and contains 45,000 pounds of wax. An electric neon light at the top simulates a flickering flame. The barn and buildings adjacent to the candle once contained a candle factory and gift shop. I'm not sure which came first, the giant candle or the candle factory, but I do remember that the candle was sort of an advertisement for the factory. The candle used to be yellow, but was painted red after the candle factory closed.
St. Helens is the county seat of Columbia County, and the largest city in the county. According to the 2000 census, St. Helens has a population of 10,019 people. The first sawmill was built here in 1844. At that time, St. Helens rivaled Portland as the major port city on the Columbia River. St. Helens was first called Plymouth and then Casenau, but was quickly renamed named after Mt. St. Helens, which is visible from the city. The first post office opened in St. Helens in 1853 and the town was chartered on February 25, 1889. St. Helens became the county seat of Columbia County in August 1903.
I photographed the train at the old St. Helens railroad depot. The depot was built in 1923. Even though there was no passenger service on this line after 1956, the depot was still used by the railroad as a base of operation for train and maintenance crews for decades. The depot was donated to the city of St. Helens in the 1990s, and was renovated into the city's Chamber of Commerce in 2000. It is one of only two railroad depots remaining on this line.
Tide Creek is not really a town, it's a creek. However, if you mention Tide Creek to just about anyone from the area, they will think of the place where the railroad and Highway 30 cross Tide Creek and the highway intersects Tide Creek Road. Old Highway 30 closely followed the railroad grade here, and intersects with the road crossing the tracks just to the right of the photograph. The current Highway 30 crosses over Tide Creek on a large concrete viaduct, also to the right of the photo, keeping the highway fairly level. I waited for the train here, just because I thought it would be a photogenic location. The small wooden trestle over Tide Creek might date from the 1880s.
In August 1852, a trapper from Ohio named Daniel Blue Goble took a donation land claim along the Oregon side of the Columbia River. He later sold the land to George Foster, who laid out a town on the site which he called Goble after the original owner. Today, despite its location on Highway 30 and the Columbia River, Goble is an unincorporated, unremarkable locale consisting almost entirely of a small marina and the Goble Tavern. There hasn't even been a Goble post office since 1923. But over a century ago, Goble was not only an important railroad junction, it was the reason the railroad was there at all.
The Northern Pacific Railway had built a transcontinental railroad across the northern United States, with its western terminus in Seattle. Wanting to build a connection to Portland, the Northern Pacific had built south from Seattle, reaching Kalama, Washington by 1874. Passengers then had to be transferred to steamboat to reach Portland. In order to try to close the gap, Northern Pacific built north from Portland along the Columbia River to Goble, directly across from Kalama, arriving in 1883. This allowed trains to cross the river on ferries and continue on their way. This arrangement continued until 1908, when the Northern Pacific completed a route on the Washington side of the river, and a drawbridge between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon, where the river was narrower.
Meanwhile, the people of Astoria wanted a rail connection to the rest of the country. In 1895, the Astoria & Columbia River Railroad was incorporated to build a railroad connecting Astoria to the Northern Pacific at Goble. This new railroad was completed on April 4, 1898, and the first train from Portland to Astoria ran on May 16. James J. Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway, and also part owner of the Northern Pacific and Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railways, purchased the Astoria & Columbia River Railroad in 1907. In 1911, the entire line from Portland to Astoria was transferred to the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway. By that time, the new Northern Pacific line on the Washington side of the river was the main mine, and the original line to Goble was regulated to local trains.
Today, there is almost no indication of Goble's importance to the railroad, though from the river, the remains of the old railroad ferry slip can still be seen. But, knowing its history, i just had to include it.
Charles Fox founded Rainier in 1851. The town was originally called Eminence, but the name was changed to Rainier in 1852. The town is named after Rear Admiral Peter Rainier of the Royal Navy, for whom Mt. Rainier in Washington is also named. The town of Rainier was incorporated in 1885. According to the 2000 census, Rainier has a population of 1,687 people.
Rainier is my hometown, so it is covered more extensively than the other towns on this page. The railroad runs down the middle of A Street in downtown Rainier. Street-running used to be common for railroads in the United States, but today it is becoming rare.
After leaving the street-running behind, the railroad crosses over Fox Creek on an old wooden trestle that probably dates from the railroad's original construction in the 1890s.
West of Rainier, Highway 30 climbs in elevation. Viewpoints along the highway offer westbound travelers the opportunity to stop and enjoy the views of the Columbia River, the mills of Longview, Washington and the Lewis & Clark Bridge, designed by Joseph Strauss of Golden Gate Bridge fame and completed in 1930. These viewpoints also offer an excellent view of the Lewis & Clark Explorer as it passes under the bridge and along Dike Road between farmland and USG's wallboard plant.
For a more detailed tour of Rainier, see PLACES: Rainier, Oregon.
Clatskanie takes its name from the Tlatskanai Indians, a very warlike tribe that inhabited this area. The Tlatskanai were wiped out by a smallpox epidemic in the 1850s. Clatskanie was first settled in 1852. It was originally called Bryantville. Clatskanie was incorporated in 1891. According to the 2000 census, Clatskanie has a population of 1,528 people.
Unlike the other towns, which the railroad runs right through the middle of, the railroad only skirts along the edge of Clatskanie. At the west end of town, the railroad crosses the Clatskanie River on a swing-type drawbridge built in 1897. This bridge must be manually swung by a handcrank in the center of the span. This is the first of three manual drawbridges the train crosses. The bridge is normally kept open for river traffic, and is only swung closed when a train is waiting. For freight trains, a railroad employee swings the bridge. For the Lewis & Clark Explorer, the bridge was swung by specially trained volunteers. In these pictures, taken from the west side of the bridge, you can see the walkway to get to the span when the bridge is open, and the volunteer walking around the circular walkway in the middle, using the removable pole to turn the handcrank.
This is the bridge at which the Portland & Western freight train crew pushed a carload of lumber into the river on September 2, 2004. The train was operating on the east side of the bridge, so in the pictures it is the far approach that was damaged. Since the bridge was completely open at the time, the main span was not damaged.
John West settled in Westport in 1850. The post office opened in 1863. Westport is located on Westport Slough, a side channel of the Columbia River. This location shelter's the shore at Westport from the current in the river's main channel, making the slough a relatively good place for boaters and fishermen. Since 1925, a car ferry has connected Westport with Puget Island. Originally a second ferry connected the town of Cathlamet, Washington with Puget Island, however in 1938 a bridge between Puget Island and Cathlamet was completed, leaving only the Westport ferry. Wahkiakum County, Washington has operated the Westport ferry since 1960. The current ferry, named the Wahkiakum, has been in service here since 1961. This small ferry operation proves itself essential when construction or another emergency temporarily closes one of the bridges at Rainier or Astoria. The pictures show the Lewis & Clark Explorer as it moves through Westport at a surprisingly fast pace.
The town of Knappa was named after Aaron Knapp, Jr., an early settler of the area. The Knappa post office operated from 1873 to 1943. The actual town of Knappa is actually a little inland from the river, and the railroad stays close to the river here and doesn't actually go through Knappa. Two roads cross the railroad at Knappa. Knappa Road crosses above the tracks on an old wooden overpass. Waterhouse Road crosses the tracks at a traditional grade crossing. But this grade crossing is unique; it is still protected by an antique railroad crossing signal known as a Magnetic Flagman or wigwag.
This type of signal was manufactured by the Magnetic Signal Company of Los Angeles, California from 1910 to 1949. It takes its name from the movement it makes; the black and white banner with the red light in the middle swings, "wigwags" back and forth. The movement is similar to that made by a human flagman while swinging a flag or lantern to stop traffic. The signal also features a bell. Just north of the tracks, Waterhouse Road turns to intersect with Knappa Road, which is just to the east. The Knappa Road overpass is adjacent to the Waterhouse Road crossing, making this a very photogenic spot for train photographs. Unfortunately, the Portland & Western has no freight business this far down the line, so without the Lewis & Clark Explorer train, this area sees almost no rail traffic.
For more information on wigwags, visit Dan's Wigwag Site.
Astoria is the oldest settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. Fur traders sent by John Jacob Astor built Fort Astoria in 1811. Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County. According to the 2000 census, Astoria has a population of 9,813 people.
The Lewis & Clark Explorer's journey ends, appropriately enough, in front of the old Astoria railroad depot. The depot was built in 1924, the peak year for rail travel in Astoria. The railroad continued to use the building for decades after passenger service ended, but today the building is owned by the Columbia River Maritime Museum. It is closed to the public as it is in need of serious repair and is only used for storage.
The tracks along the waterfront through Astoria are used by the Astoria Riverfront Trolley.
These pictures show the Lewis & Clark Explorer passing by the site of the old engine terminal while leaving Astoria for the return trip to Linnton.
For a more detailed tour of Astoria, see PLACES: Astoria, Oregon.
For a parting shot, here is a night picture of the Lewis & Clark Explorer passing the St. Helens depot on the return trip to Linnton.
Lewis & Clark Explorer Links:
Lewis & Clark Bicentennial in Oregon: Main Page
Lewis & Clark's Columbia River
Brian McCamish's Lewis & Clark Explorer Page
Lewis & Clark Explorer at the NW Virtual Transit Center
Return of the Budd at The Northwest's Own Railfan
Also See:
Celebratory Ride Starts Last Season of Lewis & Clark Train
Motorcar Club Toots Through Rainier
A New Train is Rollin' Through Town
All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted. Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission. Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.
Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.