Last Update:  October 19, 2009
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Brian McCamish
In Search of History Expeditions
Active & Abandoned Railroads of the Northwest
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Speeders on the OPR and the BYCX & MHRR
Pacific Railcar Operators put on a three day speeder event on three railroads in the vicinity of the Portland, Oregon area in
2009.  The Oregon Pacific Railroad (Oct 10th) Chelatchie Prairie Railroad (Oct 11th) and Mt. Hood Railroad (Oct 12th.)   

Privately owned and operated motor cars (speeders) were hosted by the Oregon Pacific Railroad and Samuels family, where
speeders were invited to run both the Molalla Branch and East Portland Branch and also attend a bar-b-cue at the Samuels
family resident.  Event coordinators Terry Wade and Kevin Novak stayed with the speeders during the run, while railroad
owner Dick Samuels chased the speeders and operating crossing gates and maintained road crossing safety.   The bar-b-cue
was organized and run with the hard work of OPR's Kelly Anable.

As part of this event, speeders were also invited to run the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad and the Mt. Hood Railroad.   The
OPR's new Jeep hy-railer and owner Dick Samuels participated in those day's events as a guest operator.

Below are photos (and soon video) of all three day's events!

The OPR thanks everyone for attending the event and making it a memorable experience!

 Check back as we'll be adding more photos to finish this page over the next few days.
OPR Molalla Branch - October 10, 2009
OPR East Portland Branch - October 10, 2009
Chelatchie Prairie Railroad - October 11, 2009
Mount Hood Railroad - October 12, 2009
Coming Soon
Speeders met at RSG Forest Products in Liberal, Oregon.    Extensive in pavement track made set on extremely easy for most speeders.
An individual photo of each of the 24 speeders that participated on the Molalla Branch Run.   The Red Jeep Hy-Railer belongs to the OPR.
Speeders set on at RSG and then made a reverse move to the end of track on the Molalla Branch about 1/2 mile south of the RSG mill and began
their run north from there.
Heading north on the OPR Molalla Branch.   In the far right photo, OPR owner/general manager Dick Samuels (right) talks with Assistant Event
coordinator in preparation to manually lower gates at one of the road crossings to allow safe passage of the speeders.
Photos show part of the Molalla Branch.  
Speeders crossed the busy highway 99E crossing to reach the long OPR/UP interchange in the heart of Canby.
During the break at the interchange, some speeder operators checked out Mr. Samuels Jeep Hy-Railer.  Others were turned for the move back
down the railroad to Liberal.  Here Mr. Samuels and others help to manually turn a car on the tracks.
Heading south back towards Liberal, crossing Highway 99E.
On the way back, speeders stopped at the American Steel Spur.  Note OPR No. 901 inside the American Steel complex.
Passing over the Milk Creek and Molalla River bridges on the return leg of the journey.
Speeders toured the entire branch, took a break at the East Portland Yards, then returned back to Milwaukie.
View from the OPR shops looking south down the McBrod Spur, where speeders setting off the OPR for the day.   It was a long full day of speeder
operations.  The weather was great.  Speeders toured the entire mainlines of both branches and had a great bar-b-cue at the Samuels
residence.  The OPR thanks everyone for participating and enjoying this unique operation.
After the bar-b-cue at the Samuels family residence, speeder operators were given the opportunity to run the East Portland Branch.  Many
operators took up the opportunity and set off from the RSG Mill and Molalla Branch and set on the East Portland Branch south of the OPR shops in
Milwaukie.
Speeders run up the challenging 6% grade out of the OPR shops and onto the mainline heading north to East Portland.   Views are from the OPR
Jeep hy-railer.
Photos of speeders traveling along the line towards the East Portland Yards.
Speeders were invited to run the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad (BYCX) in Yacolt, Washington.   Speeders met up and set on initially at the Chelatchie
Prairie Train Station in Yacolt.
Guy and Kay Howard lower their speeder off of the trailer and onto the railroad.
Speeders are lined up at the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad station in Yacolt.   Photo on right was taken from the OPR Jeep Hyrailer as the speeders
first headed north towards Chelatchie from Yacolt.
The route between Yacolt and Chelatchie is fairly remote and rarely seen by  riders as this part of the line is not used to carry passengers on the
tourist trains.    The photos on the right are of the former LP&N shops, now used the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad in Chelatchie.
Speeder operators took a break at the Chelatchie Praire shops and took a look at the equipment owned by the BYXC.  Note: not all equipment
shown here is owned by the BYCX.   Some is owned privately and only stored here.
Richard Samuels operating his Jeep Hyrailer at the Chelatchie Shops and then back at Yacolt.
From Yacolt, speeders headed south to Moulton Falls Station.    Along the way, speeders had to cross through the famous tunnel on the line.   
These photos were taken from the OPR Jeep Hyrailer.
Group photo of all of the speeder operators and passengers that participated on this run.
After lunch, speeders took one last trip through the tunnel and prepared for a group photo.
Both BYCX and the speeders can only go as far as Heison so that's where we stopped, before turning around and headed back to Moulton Falls.  

At Moulton Falls Stations, the crew of the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad provided lunch for all of the speeder operators and their riders!
After the tunnel, the speeders cross over a large bridge over the Lewis River.