UP Mainline Looking east, near Fremont near 108th Ave, Portland, OR. February, 1974
UP Mainline Looking east, near Fremont near 108th Ave, Portland, OR. February, 1974
This one is particularly tricky as I am unsure which orientation is correct. My guess is that we’re looking east, as shown in the first one.
Update: Superstar reader “PMC”, using CSI-level 5 skills, has correctly identified this as being near NE Fremont near 108th .
Faded Portland 
I believe the first orientation to be correct. Railroad locomotive engineers sit on the right side of the cab and during the days of steam locomotives, the long boiler ahead of the cab necessitated that block signals be mounted on the engineer’s side so he could easily see them. This practice continues today so it would make sense that the block signal here be mounted to the right less than two full decades after the end of steam operation in the US.
After much digging around I’m 99% sure that this is the Union Pacific mainline heading east just after where it crosses over the 205 / 84 interchange. It appears the cream colored house is still standing and matches the one at 10817 NE Fremont Street. The green house next door is also still there but is now almost completely hidden by trees. As for the rail line itself, it’s still very much active but this stretch is now double-tracked starting roughly at this location and for several miles east of it. This one was tricky but was fairly easy to narrow down due to the fact there was a road running at a slightly lower elevation to the rail line. I-I-84 is just beyond the trees to the right of the tracks. Finally, the clincher was the uniquely angled telephone pole is still present today but appears to have been modified at some point over the past 43 years.
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Nice work Andrew, i believe you are correct. Here is the green house from the side on 109th and freemont https://goo.gl/maps/4ZLEWLAjtox The bay windows is there, the roof line is different on the front portch and the house next door is gone but I think you found it. The hills in the background also look like entrance to the gorge
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Wow. It’s incredible you were able to solve that. It’s a little hard to verify based on the houses alone but along with the other things you cite, I can’t imagine you’re wrong. Thanks for solving and winning!
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I do what I can but being a real train nerd helped. I know where most roads that run parallel to major rail lines are and was able eliminate 99% of the metro area right off the bat with your guess as it facing east was correct. Not many places have that view and while the siding threw me off, old maps and aerial images confirmed its existence in the mid-70s. Google Street View sealed the deal.
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I have a bunch of pics of the Springwater Corridor before it was a trail. Will have to post them for you!
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It’s looking east toward the gorge, all right. That’s Larch Mountain in the background.
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Agree with Andrew. The thing that threw me off at first was the signals. These are not the usual UP three colour light with the shroud around them. Everything else makes sense though.
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