Railfanning in Vancouver, Washington, on July 13, 1997

On July 13, 1997, my dad and I went railfanning with his friend Fred Anderson. Our first stop was the Amtrak depot in Vancouver, Washington. Located in the center of a wye junction, this has always been an excellent location for train watching. The first train we saw was a northbound Union Pacific freight train.

This train was led by Union Pacific #6240, 1 3,800-horsepower SD60M that was built by the General Motors Locomotive Group in London, Ontario, in October 1990.

The trailing unit in this train's locomotive consist was Chicago & North Western #8640, a 4,380-horsepower Dash 9-44CW that was built by General Electric in January 1994. 

The Chicago & North Western had been merged into the Union Pacific in April 1995. C&NW locomotives were rarely seen in the Pacific Northwest before the merger, and were still considered fairly exotic at this point.

Next came a Burlington Northern Santa Fe light power move from Portland to Vancouver, led by Burlington Northern #3042, a 3,000-horsepower GP40-2 that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in May 1979 as St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco) #752. The Frisco had been merged into the Burlington Northern in 1980.

A westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train arrived from the Columbia Gorge bound for Portland, led by Burlington Northern #6385, a 3,000-horsepower SD40-2 that was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in May 1974.

The second unit in the BNSF freight train was Burlington Northern #5588, a 3,000-horsepower C30-7 that was built by General Electric in June 1979.

The last train we saw before heading across the Columbia River to Portland was Amtrak's southbound Coast Starlight, led by Amtrak #807, a 4,000-horsepower Dash 8-40BP (or B40-8P) that was built by General Electric in 1993.

We continued railfanning in Portland, as will be seen in the next post.