The equipment there (near BNSF Lake Yard) is a couple of MOW service SP or UP cars, GN coach "Ice Lake," SP sleeper "Clackamas River," and the former UP/ACF generator car.

Also included is the former SP&S Alco FA, rumored to be slated for scrapping soon according to ORHF-affiliated individuals.

Ice Lake is GN #1130 (NJT #104/#5301); note that the name is not original, as GN did not name their various 48 and 60 seat chairs.

Clackamas River is the former SP prewar 10-5 Rincon Hill I mentioned earlier, which I knew had been heavily vandalized.

The former UP power car #206 is of course the power car from the 1975-76 AFT, the #111, originally a NYC #9100-series end-door baggage-express (and yes, AC&F-built)

I was not aware of the other ex-UP/SP MofW cars...I do know that two ex-UP cars, the 4-4-2 sleeper Imperial Rock (#906213) and postal storage #5811 (#903672) went on to other owners (Iowa Pacific and CP respectively).

That heavyweight GN coach must've already been scrapped or otherwise moved.

It is sad to hear that these cars currently in the NW District will soon be no more, but also not surprising given the damage that has been done.

For notation purposes, the heavyweight GN coach I mentioned earlier is the #4523/#973, one of the late Barney & Smith all-steel examples, from 1914. This was one of the cars that at one time were owned by Bruce Moore over in Pasco, including a number from the same B&S 1914 order. The #973 is one of those 1914 cars that was later rebuilt with a fully streamlined roof profile. Unfortunately, most of the cars that were once in the Moore collection were scrapped in-situ in Pasco and Walla Walla, with only the #973, the #952, and the wood business car escaping (#952 went to the Inland NW Rail Museum, which also owns several other #4500-series cars).

(I had thought it was more than one of these #4500's stored in the NW District, but upon checking, I only see the #973 listed.)

Last note, the GN business car in question is the #A26 (2nd) (ex-#A28 [2nd], exx-#A30 [3rd], exxx-sleeper lounge observation #917, nee-#9017), built by Barney & Smith in 1911 and rebuilt in 1925, to MofW in 1967 as #O-3445.

GN info is sourced from Ben Ringnalda's website: http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/index2.htm?GNEPreservedGNPassengerCars.htm

I asked around about this unit, SP&S 866/LI 613, and received a collective NW shrug, "it's been gutted", "you can't save them all", etc.. Strange, given all the effort on the East Coast to save similar ex-LI Alco FA cab cars. One is being restored at IRM, one had been stored on the ground in a NJT surplus equipment lot, also not a runner, until saved with the help of Richard Glueck of RyPN. I wish I had his connections. I recall an ex-WM FA being trucked all the way from Maryland to Kansas City in the last year or so, though that one still had its engine.

So, if any of you Eastmen want a genuine Alco FA, not an ex-CN Candian copy, it's available (I have no idea what "scrap value" would be in this case, however). You likely won't get any objection that it is being removed from anyone in Oregon. KJ Larson photo.

I thought the same thing. Wasn't an Alco cab unit in much worse condition restored to operation AT ORHF?

Seems like itd be a good candidate for at least a cosmetically restored static display. How many SP&S diesels are still with us?

I believe the only other Alco cab unit at ORHF was the privately-owned ex-Santa Fe PA, now in Pennsylvania.

At least one other SP&S Alco FA, SP&S 864, exists: viewtopic.php?p=293198#p293198 But they aren't making any more ALco FAs, so it is a scarce resource, especially if you want a genuine Alco cab unit.

I know that SP&S F7 #804, later an IOU Pacific unit, still existed in Alamosa CO as of 2021, but no idea if it still does (I rode behind it on the Minnesota Zephyr dinner train outside St. Paul MN in sub-zero temperatures in late 1998). Gil Gerard photo.

A year ago the Inland Northwest Rail Museum in Reardan, WA was fundraising to purchase relocate SP&S F7 #804 to its museum: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37275

Is this effort still active? There is no information available on the museum's website.

On the museum's facebook page they posted this in November 2023 ("We are very excited to be the final home of this beauty, and hope she will arrive sometime in 2024."): https://www.facebook.com/InlandNorthwes ... PjKYn2LtRl which included the below photo from October 18, 2023 with this caption by Jim Pearson Photography:

"During my recent trip to Colorado to chase steam we stayed in Alamosa for the Cumbres and Toltec portion of the trip. On October 18th, 2023, I captured this shot of Minnesota Zephyr F7 804 (RPCX 804) sitting in the Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad (SL&RG) yard there."

From previous posts it looks like they own it for sure and they are awaiting shipment by rail, the main problem had been the condition of the wheels ("flanges like a knife's edge" I recall seeing), but they have rectified them, e.g. from early 2023: https://www.facebook.com/InlandNorthwes ... zd5rtrBvbl

"Generous support from members of the SP&S Historical Society saved this locomotive at the last minute from scrapping. New traction motors and wheelsets are currently being installed with shipping by rail to Spokane, Washington already arranged once all maintenance is completed. According to our sources, the diesel motor (its original 567B) still turns over. We will further assess its condition upon arrival. At a minimum, we look forward to removing the old dinner train paint scheme and returning it to proper SP&S colors."

So good news I wasn't expecting. I still would rather have the Alco, but I'm not the one working on it.

The December 2011 edition of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society's newsletter, https://pnwc-nrhs.org/Trainmaster2011/TM-2011-03.pdf has a list of equipment moved from the UP's Brooklyn roundhouse. 

• DLMX 2000, former UP tank car
• ALCO FA-1, former SP&S 866 (the last FA-1 built)
• Clackamas River, formerly SP 9201, 10 roomette, 5 double bedroom sleeper, originally named Rincon Hill
•  1201, former Willamette & Pacific tank car
•  PRPX 111, NYC 9100 series baggage car (former AFT 111 power/exit car), formerly UP 206
•  DLMX 5001, former Shasta Daylight RPO car, then MOW
•  DLMX 5000, former Shasta Daylight RPO car, then MOW
•  GN 1130, Ice Lake coach

DLMX 5000 and 5001 were built in 1948 SP class 83-BP-30-1 RPO cars for the Shasta Daylight, where they carried Daylight red and orange. These aluminum bodied cars were later painted Lark dark gray and worked on other trains across the system. This included being carried on SP train 145, a commute between San Jose and San Francisco, until 1965.

Here is a 2006 photo of DLMX 5000: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPict ... ?id=111010

Here is a 2006 photo of DLMX 5001: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsPict ... ?id=111009

It would be best for ORHF to make a public statement about the availability of these cars, with current information (and photographs) about their condition. This would give clear, concrete information to those who would lead a preservation and fundraising effort, as well as potential donors—all of which are key ingredients for a successful preservation effort that has a broad base of support.

Even if there is nothing left of the RPO apartments, these cars would do well as open cars for a tourist railroad or an operating museum that preserves Southern Pacific rolling stock. This photo of the John H. Emery baggage car owned by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society shows the potential: https://www.indianarailexperience.org/w ... r-trip.jpg