This is a large page with a lot of information about just about everything
Portland has to offer the visiting railfan. More detailed information can
be found in the other 16/17 pages of the Portland Railfan Guides.
Since I try not to put too many internal links to my website on individual
pages, in case things change, the best thing to do is check here for the other
pages I have for Portland: https://railfanguides.us/#OREGON
What's Here:
Union Station and Amtrak
the Oregon Rail Heritage Center
MAX Light Rail
Zoo Train
the Portland Streetcar
Portland Aerial Tram
WES - Westside Express Service
Willamette Shore Trolley
Gunderson (railcar manufacturer)
the Steel Bridge, a multi-mode rail bridge
The deepest transit tunnel and station in the U.S.
Area railroads are:
-- the Union Pacific
-- BNSF
-- Amtrak
-- Portland Terminal RR
-- the Willamette and Pacific
-- the Portland and Western.
Portland is a great, easy to get around railfan town, but if you have never been there before, one of
the first things you may notice is all the bridges that cross the Willamette River.
There are 12 bridges starting with the St Johns bridge in the north to the Sellwood Bridge on the south side of Portland:
-- St Johns Bridge - North Philadelphia Avenue
-- BNSF Railroad Bridge (1908)
-- Freemont Bridge - I-405
-- Broadway Bridge - NW Broadway, carries vehicles and Light Rail
-- Steel Bridge - a double deck lift bridge carries BNSF and Amtrak on the lower level, and light rail and vehicular traffic on the upper level
-- Burnside Bridge - Burnside St
-- Morrison Bridge - Morrison St
-- Hawthorne Bride - Hawthorne Blvd
-- Marquam Bridge - I-5
-- Tilikum Crossing Bridge - vehicular traffic and the Portland Streetcar, eastern shore near the Oregon Rail Heritage Center
-- Ross Island Bridge - Powell Blvd / US26
-- Sellwood Bridge - Tacoma St
And if you come into town at night, it is alive with color on the downtown buildings.
Downtown Portland has an active nightlife scene, with many pubs, eateries and
music! After a day full of railfanning, you will NOT run out of things to
do unless it's your own -steam-!
Acknowledgements:
Rick Holm
EncMstr
Steve Morgan
born1945
Ian
Darrell Clarke
Google Maps
Google Images
Being at the junction of I-5, running north and south, and I-84, heading east
out of town, Portland is an easy town to access from the interstates.
Seattle is about 150 miles to the north.
Salem is about 50 miles to the south
Eugene about 110 miles south.
The Pacific Ocean is about 65 miles west via US26.
A classic and unforgettable building amongst the Portland skyline, the station was built
in 1896 and opened on February 14, 130 years ago! (in 2026). The
station is the fifth busiest on the west coast, and comes in at #21 overall in
the Amtrak network. Trains that stop here are the Cascades, the Coast
Starlight, and the Empire Builder.
There are three tracks for Union Station, and another pair for BNSF trains
passing thru.
Visiting Union Station also puts you in the middle of action from Amtrak, BNSF,
the Portland Streetcar, and the MAX Light Rail.
If you follow Northwest Naito Parkway north, it will lead you to Lake Yard,
Gunderson, the Portland Terminal RR operations, and the western shore of the
BNSF bridge into Vancouver.
Amtrak has three trains coming into Union Station:
-- The Amtrak Cascades, covering Vancouver BC to Eugene OR (about 90 miles south of Portland).
-- The Coast Starlight, going from Seattle WA to Los Angeles CA.
-- The Empire Builder, going from Portland to Chicago via Spokane WA (one of two routes, the other going to Seattle WA)
This museum is probably one of the biggest railfan attractions of the area for most of us. Their
collection includes SP steamer #4449, SP&S steamer #700, and UP steamer
#3203. They offer weekend train rides May thru October, four a day.
They offer special excursions for Father's Day, Easter, National Train Day, and
St Patty's Day. They also run a Santa special for the month leading up to
Christmas, running up to 7 trains a day. They offer a large number of
displays both inside and out, and do special exhibits like honoring Gunderson's
100th anniversary in 2019.
I'm sure most railfans are familiar with 4449, even if you are on the East
Coast. It was featured in the 1986 movie "Tough Guys". It's home base has
been Portland since Doyle McCormick (4449's engineer) has had anything to do with it!
Prior to it's current location, the museum was basically in an old roundhouse down in
the Milwaukie/Brooklyn area, in (what else) the Brooklyn Roundhouse.
The days of them being in the UP Yard came to an end when the UP wanted to enlarge the yard.
So they built a whole new home for the museum about 1.6mi (2.6km) south of downtown near the Marquam Bridge.
From Wikipedia: The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge
across the Willamette River in Portland. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian
traffic, while the upper deck carries road traffic, and light rail (MAX), making the bridge
one of the most multimodal in the world. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent
lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical-lift bridge in North America, after the
nearby Hawthorne Bridge.
The bridge was completed in 1912 and replaced the previous Steel Bridge built in 1888 as a
double-deck swing-span bridge. The 1888 structure was the first railroad bridge across the
Willamette River in Portland. Its name originated because steel, instead of wrought iron,
was used in the original bridge's construction, which was very unusual for the time. When
the current Steel Bridge opened, it was simply given its predecessor's name. end Wiki
From Wikipedia: The Washington Park & Zoo Railway (WP&ZRy) is a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge recreational railroad in Portland,
Oregon's Washington Park with rolling stock built to 5/8 scale. Opened in three stages in 1958, 1959 and 1960, it
previously provided transportation between the Oregon Zoo, Hoyt Arboretum, International Rose Test Garden, and
the World Forestry Center. The extended line through Washington Park, now out of service but still in place,
was about 2 miles (3.2 km) long. The service is currently operating on a 1⁄2-mile (0.80 km) loop completely
within the Oregon Zoo grounds.
History: Originally named the Portland Zoo Railway, the 1.2-mile (1.9 km)[5] first section of track opened
for service on June 7, 1958, and was formally dedicated on June 9, more than a year before the zoo opened
fully at the same site. This service used the Zooliner trainset, the railway's first and only train at that time
https://www.gobytram.com/
Weekdays 5:30am to 9:30pm
Saturdays: 9am to 5pm
Closed Sundays and holidays
Single round trip pass: $9
Monthly pass: $40, for current month only
- The Tram is accessible by the Portland Streetcar. All routes comes here.
- The Tram is a five minute ride each way, rising 500 vertical feet and traveling 3300 feet in distance.
- When to ride: Avoid rush hour if possible. The Tram is a popular option for people commuting to work and school.
As a result, nearby streets as well as the Tram may become crowded weekdays, 7am to 9am and 4pm to 6pm.
- The Tram has a panoramic view of the city and surrounding region most any day or night. A colorful sunrise or
sunset, while never guaranteed, is particularly scenic. To view Mount Hood and Mount Saint Helens, visit when
the sky is relatively clear.
Not an attraction per se, but Gunderson is a major manufacturer of railcars
- mostly known for their auto-carriers and truck-trailer carriers. It's
home is adjacent to BNSF's Lake Yard along Northwest Front Ave. The info
from Google AI says production of railcars at this facility came to an end in
2023, with reference to a story in Railfan and Railroad Magazine.
It still looks like there is a lot left here to check out.
The PTRC performs industry switching for UP and BNSF at industries located at Lake Yard
in northwest Portland, OR. UP and BNSF cover all operating and maintenance costs for the PTRC
in return for their use in common. BNSF assumed the accounting functions on behalf of PTRC
and bills the UP for their portion of costs each month. Each Class I railroad handles their
own demurrage and car hire. UP and BNSF equipment are considered home on the PTRC.
History: The Northern Pacific Terminal Company was established in 1882. Ownership was split
Oregon & California —20%, and the Northern Pacific and Oregon Railroad & Navigation
Company — 40% each. On November 1, 1965, the company was renamed Portland Terminal
Railroad Company. The company is jointly owned by UP and BNSF. Under an Operating
Agreement between PTRC, BNSF and UP, the two Class I railroads have use in common
with PTRC at its Guilds Lake Yard.
From Wikipedia: The Albina Yard is a 200-acre (81 ha) rail yard located in the Albina District
of Portland, Oregon, currently operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. One of several yards
operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in Portland, as of year 2000 the Albina yard
processes an average of 1,200 rail cars a day.
The south end of the train yard features a distinctive brick smokestack that is easily
visible when passing over the Fremont Bridge. Originally built in 1887 for Northern Pacific
Terminal Company, the smokestack was refurbished in 2008 along with the addition of night
lighting. In 2009, the 50-year-old Union Pacific building adjacent to the yard was dismantled. end Wiki
UP, at least when I was there the last time (which has been a few years),
tolerated railfans parking at the entrance to the yard in the parking lot off
Russell St. I wouldn't suggest going into the yard (or any of them),
because they are pretty conscious about railfans wandering the yard to take
pictures.
From Google AI: Lake Yard is a major rail facility located in Northwest Portland OR, in the
industrial area near Guild's Lake and Front Avenue. Key Details About Lake YardJoint Operation:
The yard is operated by the Portland Terminal Railroad Company, which is jointly owned by
Union Pacific (UP) and BNSF Railway. Interchange Hub: It serves primarily as an interchange
yard where BNSF and Union Pacific exchange freight cars and sort traffic for regional and
northbound/southbound trains. Surrounding Area: It sits near industrial operations like
Gunderson Marine and connects to local rail lines heading toward Vancouver, Washington,
and other Pacific Northwest industrial districts. Note: the underlined
Lake Yard above is a link to my page that covers Lake Yard.
Brooklyn Yard is where SP#4449 and SPS#700 were originally kept, before the
Union Pacific needed to enlarge the yard, and took out the turntable.
The USGS map shows how the yard looked in 1954 and where the roundhouse and turntable stood.
Trimet's Center Street Garage (for busses) sits next to Brooklyn Yard.
Originally built and used by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S), it is used today by
BNSF Railway for local industrial switching, servicing nearby facilities like Zenith Energy, and handling local interchange jobs.
Portland has four rail transportation systems:
-- MAX Light Rail
-- WES regional rail
-- the Portland Streetcar
-- the Willamette Shore Trolley https://trimet.org/home/ Live map. https://trimet.org/max/
The light rail system has developed into a fairly well integrated system covering:
-- Hillsboro to the west (Blue)
-- Beaverton on the west side (Blue, and the end of the Red line)
-- Gresham on the east side (Blue)
-- The Portland Airport, northeast of center city (Red)
-- the Expo Center, north of downtown (Yellow)
-- Clackamas, southeast of downtown (Green)
-- Milwaukie, south of downtown (Orange)
Portland has done an excellent job of providing transit
service to the area. Overall, during the years 1998 to 2002, when the
company I worked for was headquartered in Beaverton and I used to get there on a
regular basis, the overwhelming majority of Portland seemed to be happy with the
light rail service. Only a few dissenters along the route were not happy
with the light rail running behind their homes, some even putting up banners
saying how they were held captive in their own homes (I live next to the
Baltimore Light Rail tracks, and don't feel that way).
The original section of the system, the Eastside MAX Blue line, opened on September 5th, 1986.
It has 30 stations, is 15 miles in length, runs from City Center to Gresham, and
cost $214M. Construction was 3/82-9/86.
The Westside MAX Blue line opened September 12th, 1998.
It has 32 stations, runs 18 miles from Hillsboro to City Center, and cost $963M.
Construction ran from 7/93 to 9/98.
The Airport MAX Red line opened on September 10th, 2001, has
4 stations, and is 5.5 miles long, but covers some 30 miles from PDX airport to the Beaverton Transit Center.
It cost $125M, and construction was from 5/99 to 9/01.
The Interstate MAX Yellow line opened in May 1st, 2004. It has 10 stations,
runs 5.8 miles, and goes from the Expo Center to PSU. Construction was
from 11/00 to 5/04, and cost $350M.
The MAX Green line opened in 2009, has 28 stops, and runs 14.1
miles between Clackamas and PSU. No details from the Tri-Met webpage were
available for the Green line.
If you add up all of the above numbers, you will notice
that it adds up to more than the number of stations the MAX has, 85.... That's
because 38 stations are served by two lines, and 8 by three lines. There
is a total of about 52 miles on all of the lines.
Interestingly, the system uses two different voltages.
The standard 750VDC is used west of NE 9th Ave and Holladay, and 825VDC on the
rest of the system... I have not come across an explanation for this since
750VDC is pretty much the standard now (600VDC WAS the standard in the old
streetcar days).
Hillsboro, 2008, by Darrell Clarke
Trimet's Operations Headquarters on SE Center St, next to UP's Brooklyn Yard.
GPS Coordinates west end: 45.50632, 122.75383 (Sunset Hills Mortuary)
GPS Coordinates east end: 45.51908, 122.69974 (Goose Hollow)
The honor belongs to Trimet's Red and Blue Lines that use the Robertson Tunnel.
There is one station in the tunnel, making it the deepest transit station in
the U.S. at 260ft!
East end tunnel portal, 2007, photo by EncMstr via Wikipedia
East end tunnel portal, 2007, photo by born1945 via Wikipedia
West end tunnel portal, 2007, photo by EncMstr via Wikipedia
Tri-Met also operates a regional rail/commuter style system called the WES - Westside Express Service.
It is a 14 mi long system with five stations that connects Beaverton with communities to the south.
Commuters needing to get into Portland can take the Blue or Red line light rail into Portland.
Beaverton is a western suburb of Portland.
WES only operates during the week. Service is every 45 minutes. The fare (in 2026) is $2.60 one-way with a 2-1/2 hour limit, or $5.60 for a day pass.
The stations are:
-- Beaverton Transit Center (transfer to the light rail system)
-- Hall/Nimbus Station
-- Tigard Transit Center
-- Tualatin Station
-- Wilsonville Station
The Portland Streetcar, an independent operation owned by the city,
operates a completely different route than the light rail system.
Following in Tri-Met's success with it's MAX light rail
system, the Portland Streetcar opened for service in 2001. The system is
owned by the city of Portland and operated by the Portland Streetcar Inc.
Maintenance on the streetcars is carried out by Tri-Met personnel in the
Streetcar's own shops under I-5. Being a streetcar system, the system
qualifies as being the first system in the United States to order new cars since
the end of WWII. The system is almost 4 miles long, but an extension is
expected to open next year in 2012.
311 N. State St. Lake Oswego OR 97034
503-697-7436
mark@oerhs.org https://wst.oregontrolley.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Shore_Trolley
The regular seasonal schedule runs from Memorial Day weekend through late September.
Round-trip tickets are $22 for adults and $20 for seniors (one-way options are available at $11 and $10 respectively).
Weekdays 5:30am to 9:30pm
From their website: Ride in a Vintage Trolley from Lake Oswego into a dark tunnel and meander through
posh neighborhoods. You will ride on a historic rail line dating from the late 1800s, and the tunnel dates
from 1921. At one time, electrified interurbans ran on this line from Portland to Oswego and Hillsboro,
McMinnville, and Corvallis. The Vintage Trolley is a replica of Portland’s Council Crest cars.
Two of the original cars can be found at our museum in Brooks. Before coming to the Willamette Shore
Trolley, the Vintage Trolleys had formerly run on the MAX Line and the Portland Streetcar.
- Note: Our Portland Terminal is by the Tesla Building, one block south of Moody and Bancroft Streets.
- Trolleys depart from Lake Oswego or in SW Portland on Saturdays and Sundays, plus Labor Day. Servcie continues to the end of September.
- Online tickets are valid for one direction only; please ensure you purchase tickets for your return trip as well.
History: The Right-of-way of the WST dates back to the 1880s as a narrow-gauge steam railroad
linking Portland to Oswego (as Lake Oswego was known back then) and south into the Willamette
Valley. The Southern Pacific acquired the line and converted it to standard gauge.
In 1914, the line was electrified, and Red Electric Interurban service was born. One could
board a Red Electric Car and ride to Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Newberg, McMinnville,
and Corvallis. In 1921, the Elk Rock Tunnel was opened, replacing a wooden trestle that
went around Elk Rock. Passenger service ended in 1929, but freight service continued until 1983.
In 1984, the Southern Pacific filed for abandoning the line from Lake Oswego to Portland. A
Consortium of local governments and agencies acquired the line to preserve it for future transit use.
In 1987, the Willamette Shore Trolley was born. The first car on the line was Blackpool
Double-Decker #48, operated by the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Later, a
different entity operated other heritage trolleys on the line. The OERHS took over the
service again in 1995 with the double-decker and later with a Portland Brill Master Unit streetcar.
The line was extended north to Riverplace at one point but was later cut back to Moody
St to permit Portland Streetcar to enter the south waterfront district.
The Double-Decker and the Master Unit were retired back to the Trolley Museum in
Brooks due to the wear and tear of running the cars on the WST. The streetcar
operated today is a modern-built Vintage Trolley.
The Vintage Trolley #514 was used on the Portland MAX line and Portland
Streetcar as a tourist draw. The car is one of 4 cars built in 1991 for this
service. Although popular with the tourists, the frequency of MAX and Portland
Streetcar left little time slots for the VT cars to operate. St. Louis leases
VT # 511 and 512 for a new streetcar line. VT513 and VT514 are now residents of the WST.
The Willamette Shore Trolley's Bancroft Street terminus, in Portland. Photo by Steve Morgan via Wikipedia.
photo by Ian
I have a fondness for the number 513, cause I used to live at 513 Victory Dr in Tyler TX :-) :-)
The most common nickname for Portland is The City of Roses, and it became the official
nickname in 2003.
And speaking of roses, the Portland Rose Festival takes place in June.
TV/Movie people you may know that hail from Portland are Matt Groening (the Simpsons),
Sam Elliot, and Sally Struthers.
Musically, the Kingsmen
and Paul Revere and the Raiders are from
Portland.
Quite a few TV shows and movies have been filmed in Portland, whole or in part.
OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry has an OMNIMAX theater and the
USS Blueback, a submarine used in the filming of
The Hunt For Red October.
Powell's City of Books
claims to be the largest independent book store in the U.S. and the largest
bookstore west of the Mississippi.
The major malls in the area are: Bridgeport Village, Clackamas Town Center,
Pioneer Place, Lloyd Center, Washington Square, and Vancouver Mall.
If you are into beer, Portland is famous for it's
microbreweries, and boosts the largest number of them in the U.S., over 40!...
CNBC named Portland the best town in the states for happy hour.
Portland, despite it being 80 miles upriver from the coast,
is the largest shipper of wheat in the United States, and the second largest
wheat port in the world.
Portland has it's very own cable cars, the Portland Aerial
Tram, which takes off from the South Waterfront, and climbs the hill to the
Oregon Health & Science University on Marquam Hill overlooking the city (it can
be found on my Portland Streetcar map).
In the shadow of the Marquam Bridge (I-5), is the USS Blueback Submarine,
which is open for tours and apparently you can do sleepovers there too!
Mt Hood can be seen from the surrounding hills, and it is about 40 miles to the east.
Mt. Saint Helens is about 65 miles to the north east. The "big"
eruption was in 1980, but had smaller ones 2004-2008. When I visited
around 1999, it had started to recover pretty nicely - I imagine the 2004
eruptions killed a lot of that off. :-(
Vancouver is on the "other side" of the Willamette River from
Portland, and seems to be a favorite spot for railfans who want to just sit and
watch the trains come by. From the station platform, you can look straight
down the bridge coming over from Portland, and offers the opportunities for some
nice shots - it's a famous railfan photo spot! The Amtrak station is in the middle of a wye.
Salem
Salem is less than an hours drive south of Portland
straight down I-5. It is the capitol of Oregon, and has one of the newer
state capitol buildings being completed in 1938. The preceding capitol
building (the second) was destroyed by fire in 1935. The town also has a
more modern train station, which Amtrak stops at on it's way south. It is
the states third largest city after Portland and Eugene. Salem is home to
four correctional facilities, including the states only maximum security prison
(lucky them :-).
The film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was
filmed at the Oregon State Hospital.
The Salem area has quite a few wineries and vineyards, and the oldest one in
Oregon is here, the Honeywood Winery.
UP has a small yard in town and the Portland & Western has a small
maintenance facility here.
Albany
Small UP and P&W yards and an Amtrak station.
Eugene
Eugene is about two hours south of Portland, and is the state's second largest
city. Eugene, back in the Southern Pacific days was home to the infamous
tunnel motor geeps, as part of the helper facility there. The Central
Oregon and Pacific RR now maintains engines in part of the Espee yard.
I miss the old Bing Maps birds-eye-views! :-( :-(
Hillsboro, 2008, by Darrell Clarke
East end tunnel portal, 2007, photo by EncMstr via Wikipedia
East end tunnel portal, 2007, photo by born1945 via Wikipedia
West end tunnel portal, 2007, photo by EncMstr via Wikipedia
photo by Ian
