Driving the Washington side of the river following quite a fruitful morning on the BNSF, shades of Armour Yellow moving quickly along the adjacent Oregon shoreline caught our attention as Union Pacific finally cuts loose their first train of the day. With the beautiful 11,249 foot snow-capped peak of Mount Hood towering at its back, Roseville, CA originated merchandise extra MRVHKX 25 races truck and automobile traffic along nearby Interstate 84 through Biggs Junction as it motors eastward across the Portland Sub, following the Columbia River with tonnage for the railroad's hump yard at Hinkle, OR. Flanking next to the fast moving freight, and probably reasoning behind the line's total absence of morning rail traffic, maintenance-of-way flats for a nearby tie gang who are busy working the 20-mile section of double track between here and The Dalles, sit tied down on a couple side tracks once used for the now vacant Biggs Rufus Silo Building, a historical landmark to the area. While you will not get the quantity of train traffic that you would otherwise see on BNSF's side of the Gorge, quality most certainly favors the UP side, such like the case here as a sharp looking array of five company EMD SD70 products front this long, 120-car freight on Memorial Day weekend.
