Hello there, I just wanted to give you the latest update to traction happens in the Portland area. 1) Airport MAX: They have been doing clearance testing on the line for about 2~3 weeks. One of each type of LRV (Bombardier and Siemens Lo-floor) have been tied up every night on the center storage track at the airport near the 82nd Ave crossing. A Unimog has been pulling the cars around with the cars Pans down. I think they get power in another couple of weeks. I have seen the signal system operational, but they put black trash bags over them last week for some reason. 2) Portland Streetcar: Yesterday, Sunday 3/18, they moved Vintage Trolley # 514 from the MAX line to the new Portland Streetcar Line for clearance testing with pans UP! There is a single track connection at 10th ave between the two systems (Reverse move). They ran around the line several times, except for the Portland State section as they are still wiring the line at this point. The media made a point to tell drivers not to park beyond the white stripe along the route as they will tow vehicles, and/or rip off side view mirrors. Keep in mind that this line runs in traditional streetcar operation unlike MAX. The new cars from Skoda will not arrive for another month or two. 3) Hawthorne Bridge Filming: A new Tommy Lee Jones movie is being filmed on the Hawthorne Bridge in downtown Portland. Apparently one scene will show a trolley running on the bridge. Yesterday crews were installing a single trolley wire across the bridge complete with insulators. The wire runs down the very center of the two lane center section of the bridge. There is a huge gap at the lift section. I'm impressed that are going to such extreme, but there are people (like me) that will look for this. As I get more details I'll post them here. 4) Oregon Electric Railway Museum: The front car barn doors are complete. Lights have also been installed. Work has started in restoring the Aussie 1187 open air car. The mainline has been stretched another 1500 feet or so. The museum is hosting the Western ARM conference in May. The museum just keeps growing, all with just a handful of volunteers. Let me know if you want me to post photos of any of these events here. Thanks Mark Kavanagh Salem, OR transit website: http://www.trainweb.org/subwaymark OERHS Webmaster: http://www.trainweb.org/oerhs
Hey Mark, yes I would enjoy seeing any trolley photos you have! I have two trolleys packed away, and just now saw this post of yours. Now I'm going to have to include a trolley line from my roundhouse into town so people can get to work without hopping on an empty box can! Thanks. Rats, now I got to buy a half pound of indian beads to up up canenary lines with! No rest for the old and older!
I have put the photos up on my website, it is located on the Portland Pages... BTW: The filming on the Hawthorne Bridge (which begins this weekend, will be using a MAX light rail train mock-up using the chassis of old Tri-Met articulated buses... [ 28 March 2001: Message edited by: subwaymark ]
Is car #514 the vintage car that used to be on display at the top of Council Crest? Saw it a few times many years ago and I have some movie film of a car that was on display there. I had the distinct pleasure of riding the old Portland Traction several times to both Bellrose and Oregon City when I was a kid. We used to have family friends who lived in Portland and we went to visit them several times.null[/LIST]
I have seen several Max test runs running on the new airport line. They were single car powered by the overhead. Now if they could only convince Clark county to extend it into Vancouver it would really help in some of the traffic snarls.
At least you guys have SOME LightRail! Down here, our "Leaders" are building MORE ROADS and then griping about how much gasoline costs! Oh Well .... Hank
There are two original Council Crest Cars that have been saved, 504 & 506. One was at Oaks Park the other Council Crest, I'm not sure which one. Both are now at the Oregon Electric Railway Museum in Brooks, which I happen to be the webmaster: OERHS Car 514 that I have pictured on the Portland Streetcar is a new replica Council Crest Car purchased in the early 1990's to run on the MAX line through downtown. There are 4 of them numbered 511-514. The original cars were numbered 501-510. A new update: Portland Streetcar: The first Skoda car arrived at the barn on Monday 4/9. It will be a few weeks before it start operating on the mainline. Line opens 7/20 Airport MAX: Politicians rode the line this past Wednesday. Substation "stress" testing is in progress as well as timing. Line opens September. Movie Filming: Movie company has taken two Ikarus articulated buses and made them into one long "MAX" car similar to the Bombardier cars. One side is number 103, the other 301. It is complete with KOIN Channel 6 banner ad on the side. Filming on the Hawthorne bridge continues each weekend in April I hope to have additional photos uploaded on my site a week or two.
