Interesting! Are there locals running out of Bend (North or South) and do they generate much traffic or is the OT pretty much a through line? Thanks in advance for any info.
Bob
The OT Local (not to be confused with RRF member "OT Local") works 5 (?) days a week, usually with a pair of GP's.
Local traffic obviously is heavy enough to justify a local.
Known industries:
Bend:
Plastic bottle recycler that loads shredded plastic into covered hoppers, usually three 3-bay covered hoppers on site at a time.
Two propane distributors.
Fuel/oil distributor that usually has a tank car or two of diesel or heating oil? Not sure what it is, but it is NOT propane.
Cement distributor, usually 5-8 2-bay covered hoppers on site at a time.
Redmond:
Several propane distributors.
Not sure what else is going on in Redmond, all the mills are shut down or do not use rail?
Prineville Jct:
City of Prineville RR interchange. Box cars of tires going to Les Schwab in Prineville, outbound woodchips. Not sure what else.
Madras (as far north as local goes):
Alblina Asphalt gets lots of tank cars (of asphalt?), usually 10-28 on site at a time.
Warm Spring Forest Products loads lumber there (mill is about 10 miles away without rail access). A couple of other industries there, not sure what they are.
Just this evening the local was heading north about 6:00pm with two GP38-2's and three 3-bay covered hoppers. Not sure what they were carrying (or empty) or where they were going.
Most of the trains are handling through traffic. Don't ask how many trains come through, as the "experts" that don't live here will tell you we only see four trains a day. We regularly count six (not including the local), sometimes more, occasionally less.
I live within earshot of the tracks (and you can't NOT hear a southbound climbing out of town). My shop is a block away and has a clear view of the tracks, I'm there much of the time, otherwise I'm on the road and within site of the tracks much of the time.
Warren Root spends much of his day at a friends house building 1.5" scale trains, the shop is about 80' from the mainline. And he lives close enough to the tracks to hear every train go by.
"OT Local" is retired and monitors the scanner when at home.
But the "experts" tell us we can only see four trains a day.
