South of Bend, just at the exit of the "High Desert Museum" we had visited, we came across a freight train rattling along:
BN 3553 + LMX 8543 with a freight train near Bend, Oregon, 1993
A short distance further on, a side road led over the railroad:
Sign near Bend, Oregon, 1993
The lead engine is BN 3553, a rebuilt EMD GP40; behind it is LMX (General Electric Leasing markers) 8543, type B39-8E:
Freight train near Bend, Oregon, 1993
Freight train near Bend, Oregon, 1993
Leisurely, we accompanied the train:
Freight train near Bend, Oregon, 1993
And then we saw this: On a hopper sat a bunch of hobos, who greeted our photographing with joy:
Hobos on a BN freight train near Bend, Oregon, 1993
At the rear end, the train actually still had a caboose, a type of car that was rapidly dying out at the time:
Freight train near Bend, Oregon, 1993 Caboose
One last look at the train, then we left it heading south:
Freight train near Bend, Oregon, 1993
30 or 40 miles further south is Chemult. There, the "Oregon Trunk Subdivision" of the (then still) Burlington Northern meets the "Cascade Subdivision" of the Union Pacific, which comes from Eugene via the Natron Cutoff (which was built in the 1920s to bypass the extremely steep and winding route over the Siskyous). Chemult was and is actually an Amtrak stop on the line from Portland to California—the shabby shed that stands there between the tracks would not lead you to believe that:
Chemult, Oregon, 1993
A while later, our freight train came along:
BN freight train, Chemult, Oregon, 1993
BN freight train, Chemult, Oregon, 1993
BN freight train, Chemult, Oregon, 1993
BN freight train, Chemult, Oregon, 1993
And our hobos were happily along for the ride and enjoyed my taking pictures again:
BN freight train, Chemult, Oregon, 1993
With its caboose at the end, the train rumbles over the switches and on towards Klamath Falls:
BN freight train, Chemult, Oregon, 1993
Translated partially with DeepL.com (free version)
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