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I just started a job in Hillsboro and take the Max out there. Today I noticed a ROW that I am curious about. It's right past the Elmonica stop going East. I know that the Max has a connection with the P&W right there for equipment transfers, I saw the ramp. This ROW continues parallel to the MAX past where the P&W branch swings off. It looks like fresh ballast, there are spike piles and insulated joints, and the road crossings have tracks embedded in them, as if the crossings were designed for a 3rd track. As the P&W branch does, this ROW also swings away from the MAX line and there are bundles of new ties. Anyone have any idea what this might be?

Looking at the Google Maps satellite views, that looks like a P&W spur leading to a warehouse-like building behind Carr Chevrolet (yes, its kind of a roundabout way to get there). I don't know why it might be being improved. Maybe a new customer.

It's not being improved, it's being removed. It used to serve General Motors but the plant closed.

I've seenP&W not too long ago using it to rotate out some cars.

lbshelby wrote:It's not being improved, it's being removed. It used to serve General Motors but the plant closed.

The building that the spur went to was a former GM parts distribution center. Carr Chevrolet happened to relocate to what used to be the front parking lot of the facility a few years ago, it was coincidental but gave Carr a benefit in having very easy parts access (just walk back to the warehouse!).

(From 1996 to 2000 I worked in the white office building just north and east of the old GM warehouse. Occassionally I'd get to catch the P&W shove a few high-cube boxcars in/out of the facility, but dumb me never bothered to take pictures of it.)

Since P&W moved their "yard" operations to Tigard, the auxiliary trackage in and around St. Marys is really unnecessary. So the trackage alongside the MAX line and into GM has been removed. The spur and siding from St. Marys north (the 1984 era interchange track) will remain for car storage purposes. However when I was last out there last week, I noticed some of the track west of the old OE switch, west to the MAX ramp, was also removed. This would seem to prevent TriMet from being able to accept rail delivery of LRVs in the future - apparently some of the 400s were shipped by rail, but the end of the 200s and all of the 300s were trucked up from Sacramento. I've heard conflicting reports on the 400s, apparently some were trucked and others sent by rail.

wigwagfan wrote:

lbshelby wrote:It's not being improved, it's being removed. It used to serve General Motors but the plant closed.

The building that the spur went to was a former GM parts distribution center. Carr Chevrolet happened to relocate to what used to be the front parking lot of the facility a few years ago, it was coincidental but gave Carr a benefit in having very easy parts access (just walk back to the warehouse!).

(From 1996 to 2000 I worked in the white office building just north and east of the old GM warehouse. Occassionally I'd get to catch the P&W shove a few high-cube boxcars in/out of the facility, but dumb me never bothered to take pictures of it.)

Since P&W moved their "yard" operations to Tigard, the auxiliary trackage in and around St. Marys is really unnecessary. So the trackage alongside the MAX line and into GM has been removed. The spur and siding from St. Marys north (the 1984 era interchange track) will remain for car storage purposes. However when I was last out there last week, I noticed some of the track west of the old OE switch, west to the MAX ramp, was also removed. This would seem to prevent TriMet from being able to accept rail delivery of LRVs in the future - apparently some of the 400s were shipped by rail, but the end of the 200s and all of the 300s were trucked up from Sacramento. I've heard conflicting reports on the 400s, apparently some were trucked and others sent by rail.

Wouldn't surprise me if Siemens just decided to move them up directly to Union station and setup a temp track to load them right onto the new downtown line.

AgentSkelly wrote:Wouldn't surprise me if Siemens just decided to move them up directly to Union station and setup a temp track to load them right onto the new downtown line.

Would there even be enough room to do so there? I don't think there's enough space between Union Station Track One and the westbound Green/Yellow line...

The Merlo ramp was convenient in that it was very close to the Elmonica shop - doesn't take long for the Unimog or Brandt to move it out of the way. At Union Station, you would have to make the move at night.

wigwagfan wrote:

AgentSkelly wrote:Wouldn't surprise me if Siemens just decided to move them up directly to Union station and setup a temp track to load them right onto the new downtown line.

Would there even be enough room to do so there? I don't think there's enough space between Union Station Track One and the westbound Green/Yellow line...

The Merlo ramp was convenient in that it was very close to the Elmonica shop - doesn't take long for the Unimog or Brandt to move it out of the way. At Union Station, you would have to make the move at night.

Yeah, you have to make the move at night, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

AgentSkelly wrote:Yeah, you have to make the move at night, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

Well, since the overhead crews like to do the overhead maintenance at night, having a train come through would be a bit of a distraction...they only have about three hours to do their job each night and need every minute they can get.

In fact, that's part of the reason that they no longer bring the Streetcars down to Ruby Junction for wheel turning, it's actually easier to jack the Streetcar up, remove the truck, put the truck on a flatbed, drive it to Ruby Junction - and do it all again in reverse. It just took way too long to move the Streetcar on the MAX line - at night, at 35 MPH, from downtown to Ruby, competing with the overhead crews.