Why wouldn’t they want to operate the 4449 and the 700?

Based on a little research and not official statements-

I believe it was requested by the then owner not to use 700 and 4449 on this track due to their weight.

'49 was out on the mainline last in April 2018 for IMAX movie filming with BNSF cars.
'49 last mainline public excursion was 2017 Portland-Bend and back.
Newest video I can find of '49 steaming is from September 2022. Conflicting news on flu time left since.
700 in final stages of overhaul?

Seems like Amtrak's regs on excursions/private cars have really put a damper on things. With OR&N 197 under renewed effort to be restored, maybe it makes sense to have one of the big engines serviceable at a time, perhaps that's even too much at present?

Joshua

That's what I recall hearing as well. Basically it was putting too much wear and tear on the track and the possibility of having to shut down the excursions due to problem was a risk. That would in turn lead to a lot of disappointed people.

I think the track could be restored to good condition fairly easily, and then they have their own place to operate. Typical power will no doubt be the 2-8-2, the Shay and the diesels, but there's no reason they couldn't eventually do trips with the mainline steam as well. It would be similar to what they do with 1225.

The quote I remember seeing from an OPR employee on Facebook compared running 4449 and 700 on their tracks to firing a telephone pole down one of those plastic children's spiral slides.

Just a reminder what you are talking about...

The axle loading of the ORHC locomotives:

BNSF SW1000 #3613
57.500lbs (230.000 gross)

UP SW10 #96
62.750lbs (251.000 gross)

SP&S 4-8-4 #700
77.000lbs (865.000 gross)

SP 4-8-4 #4449
69.000lbs (788.000 gross)

UP 4-6-2 #3203
48.000lbs (390.000 gross)

Saginaw Timber 2-8-2 #2
28.500lbs (211.000 gross)

Independence Logging 3-truck Shay #1
31.500lbs (190.000 gross)

All number approximately!
Just to determine in which engine cab you like to be when running that line...

Excellent engine for daily use on that line would be the Oregon Pacific SW1 #100
(Portland Railroad and Terminal Division of Portland Traction Co. #100)
with 50.000lbs axle loading. But I don't know if that locomotive is included in the deal?
http://pnwc-nrhs.org/Trainmaster2016/TM-2016-10.pdf

LOL, it certainly is possible that they said that, it surprises me, since the section that they ran on, Oaks Parks to close to Omsi, has very gentle curves. Bad ties and small rail, but the curves are wide radius.

While it’s great to operate mainline locomotives on the mainline - plenty of them operate on short lines and for short “demonstrations” - that’s part of railway preservation.

It's also a much better way to give the local public the chance to ride behind your locomotives. With mainline trips running very rarely, and tickets starting out at $500 a person, the average person never gets a chance to ride.

Compare that to the Santa runs and excursion trains with tickets in the under $50 range, it's a lot more plausible for a family to do that and get a chance to see what railroad preservation is all about.