Springfield Junction

Springfield Junction is where the original 1880 mainline to California - the Siskiyou Line - joins the Cascade Line. That line over Willamette Pass was built in the 1920s to bypass the grades and curves of the Siskiyou. At the junction is a "wye" where trains coming off the Siskiyou can head either way onto the main.

I'm standing on the east leg of the wye, whose track you can just see curving into the picture in the lower left hand corner. This leg hasn't been used in some time now, with trains coming off the Siskiyou using the other leg to go into Eugene Yard before changing direction and heading up over the pass. In the background you can see the through truss bridge crossing the Willamette River.

In June, 2010 the UP ran an Operation Lifesaver train through Eugene to promote grade crossing safety. The railroad ran public excursions from Eugene south to Natron (east of Springfield) and north to near Junction City. It was a push - pull operation, with a locomotive on each end to eliminate having to turn the train. The south end had a generic UP locomotive, but the north featured one of their heritage painted units. The 1989 honors the Rio Grande Railroad, who became part of the SP in 1989, which became part of the UP in 1995. Since the train was running back and forth, I just setup at this location where I could capture it coming and going.

Ironically while here I almost saw some people hit by this train. As it was coming off the bridge and speeding towards me, several people ran in front of it. If I had my longer lens on the camera I could have captured their idiocy.