My uncle's family lived on Overlook Terrace in Portland, Oregon. There wasn't this "overlook" directly from the house, but from a nearby small park, the Skidmore Bluffs, you had (and still have) a great view of the Willamette and right in front of it the Union Pacific's Albina Yard. We've visited Portland a few times since 1976, and I've always sat there for hours on a perfectly placed bench:
Skidmore Bluffs and yours truly, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Skidmore Bluffs, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Skidmore Bluffs and Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Looking south, you can see the Fremont Bridge, which carries Interstate 405 over the Willamette:
Albina Yard and Fremont Bridge, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Downstream is Swan Island with its industrial plants and harbor facilities. Although Portland is 100 km away from the Pacific Ocean, the city can be reached by large cargo ships via the Columbia River:
Swan Island, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Many, many times I watched the shunting operations there: On the one hand, for assembling trains, which was still done in the classic way, as in Lienz: Pushing the cars, with locally operated switches and a therefore quite a number of switchmen; on the other hand, spotting cars for the local industries and warehouses:
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Albina Yard and Fremont Bridge, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Hidden behind a tank car here is switcher UP 1309, one of the handful of EMD MP15DC switchers that provided shunting service here:
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
In the next two pictures, it sets off for a shunting task:
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
And here you can see it at work: Groups of "autoracks" are pushed off into the tracks:
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
The switch stands were still of the old type, where the lever had to be turned horizontally through 90° with considerable force and then latched into a cut-out with equal power. For health and safety reasons, this form has now disappeared completely:
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Here are three more pictures from another day, when the station was much more crowded, and in yellow sunlight:
Albina Yard and Fremont Bridge, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
Albina Yard, Portland, Oregon, 1993
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