The Pioneer

[Steve Relei]

From 1977-1997, Amtrak ran the train the Pioneer. Most recently, it ran from Seattle to Denver, where it connected to the California Zephyr to Chicago. It, too, was a fine train with fond memories. Scenic highlights included a ride along the Oregon shores of the Columbia River Gorge, past Multnomah Falls, eastern Oregon, through the Blue Mountains, Pendelton, La Grande, along the Snake River, Boise, Ogden, through Wyoming, and Colorado. It followed fairly closely the routes of the Mormon and Oregon trails and the first transcontinental railroad. The train was discontinued May 1997.

Even after its discontinuance, numerous powers-that-be (senators, etc.) have been talking about restoring the service in some fashion. Some have touted a service that would only go as far as Boise. But, so far there has been nothing. Actually, one can get off the train and walk across the street to the Greyhound station and get to Boise that way. But the bus is not the same as the train, especially for such a long distance.

However, if the powers-that-be are able to bring the train back, they have one impediment:

Union Pacific has realigned the tracks on then east side of the Willamette River, and there is no longer a direct connection from Union Station to UP's line to the east--as had been there for more than 100 years.

 

[F40PHR231]

In recent years, there have been a number of derailments in East Portland, with the switches themselves being at fault.

UP also needed to double-track the main from Brooklyn Yard to Albina Yard, so that creates an even tighter situation -- which is why there is no direct connection from the Steel Bridge to the Sullivan's Gulch.

However, back up moves are always possible, or the Pioneer can run up to Vancouver, to Wishram, and cross at the BNSF bridge there to proceed to Boise. It'd end up not serving Hood River though.

 

[Steve Relei]

Thank you for your reply.

I have always been pleased to see the improvements to rail lines, especially since it is the result of increased train traffic and services. However, I was surprised with the lack of the direct connection. I wasn't aware of the various derailments involved in those old switches--nothing has been printed in the newpapers, and I never witnessed any derailments or aftermath in that area. The only one I remember is the derailment on the west side of the river a couple of years ago that caused a natural gas leak and fire. I can still see the chipped paint on the Steel Bridge. Also, new landscaping has been done to repair the damage from the derailed cars.

I have seen pictures of the City of Portland (during the 1960s) going across the Steel Bridge on the left track of the bridge (Amtrak usually uses the right one) negotiating the switches onto the Sullivan's Gulch line.

I thought maybe this was UP's way of saying it did not want passenger service on this line again.

I thought of the back-up moves--and that may be a possibility. The train could also cross the bridge and go left onto the UP line through the Albina Yards through the tunnel and then onto that mainline eastward. It would probably be kind of slow.

If the train--the new Pioneer--were to start in Seattle again--wouldn't it be quite a back-up move to go through Vancouver again? Not only would it miss Hood River, it would also miss The Dalles. With the Pioneer, we're trying to restore train service to the Oregon side of the river, which I think is more scenic (near Multnomah Falls, etc.).

Of course, that is assuming we can get the train back in some form. We'll be lucky in being able to keep the present Amtrak system intact.

 

[Superliner Diner]

For those who don't know, the possible alternative routing being discussed here for a new Pioneer is partly that which the Portland section of the Empire Builder (Train #27/28) now takes, east of Vancouver, WA. When the old Pioneer was running (Train #25/26), it used tracks on the opposite side of the river from #27/28.

Interestingly, when the Pioneer existed, in the stretch between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA the northbound Coast Starlight (#14), eastbound Empire Builder Portland section (#28), and westbound Pioneer (#25) all ran in the same direction; and the converse was true for #11, #27, and #26.

One idea floated around about a return of the Pioneer was to operate it as a super express that would make limited stops, use heavy freight lines, and generally operate as a mixed train along with UP. That idea certainly has now been dropped with Amtrak getting out of the freight business.