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.