Train to nowhere

In April, 2004, the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad borrowed some passenger cars from the UP to run an inspection train. The train ran from Eugene south, hauling railroad officials and customers. When they finished, CORP brought the train back to Eugene. Since they were done using it, they disconnected their engine, and went home! That left the train sitting on the mainline, in front of the Amtrak station.  It was a nice looking train, with two open platform observation cars - one on each end - a dome car, and a dining car. I wandered down on my lunch hour and got lots of pictures. I thought it was odd that they left the cars standing alone, blocking the mainline. Guess it didn't bother the UP, though, or they would have moved them.

The cars only sat for the afternoon. Amtrak's Coast Starlight bound for California picked them up after a few hours, and hauled them to points south.