Oregon Pacific Railroad 45
Last Update:  May 26, 2009
Oregon Pacific Railroad No. 45
The OPR 45 at Milwualkie.
Photos: Jan. 2005
The OPR 45 is a GE 45 tonner originally built with twin engines, but later had one engine removed and replaced with a
crane.   This crane was used to remove ties.    The engine is currently not used and is in storage at Milwaulkie.

This Mr. Samuels second full sized locomotive that he purchased after he purchased the Davenport Leroi.   It was purchased
from a scrap yard with only one engine, but both hoods still intact.   Mr. Samuels removed the unused hood and custom built
this crane attachment and it was first used during the early years of scrapping the Boring Branch.

Its lettered for Samuel Pacific Industries as that was Mr. Samuels original steel business, prior to organizing the East Portland
Traction Company.   The engine is worn out and has seen very little use since the early 1990s.

It was recently vandalized as the windows were broken out, but were later replaced.  Its fate is uncertain.  Because it gets
virtually no use today, it may end up being scrapped.
The OPR 45 at Milwualkie.
Photos: Oct. 2007
Copyright © 2004-2009 All Rights Reserved
Webmaster  
Brian McCamish
In Search of History Expeditions
Active & Abandoned Railroads of the Northwest
Webmaster
Mr. Samuels wrote the following on Trainorders.com recently, about this locomotive:

 The GE 45-tonner with the log loader was constructed to assist in the scrapping of the Portland Traction Boring line in 1988.
Most all of the rail was exported to Taiwan for use as piling and as such, was loaded into cargo containers. The "elephant" as
we called it, was outfitted with a grapple (since removed) for picking up stacks of rail (5 pieces at a time) and sliding them into
the container. At that time it had a shorter vertical leg which hooked onto the grapple in order to clear the roof of the
containers. Depending upon rail size (56 to 70 lb) up to 46 lengths per container were the norm. Samuels Pacific Industries
was the non-railroad leg of the company at the time of the salvage contract with UP/SP since the common-carrier rail
operation (East Portland Traction Co.) would not officially commence until April 1, 1991.

Upon completion of the scrapping in 1992, the vertical leg was extended along with the hydraulic hoses for use in clearing
debris from a low trestle that crosses Johnson Creek which filled up with the first heavy storm of the season. In addition to the
standard locomotive controls, a set of controls (hydraulic valve bank) were installed in the cab adjacent to the brake valves to
control the grapple. The "elephant" was unofficially retired upon purchase of a trackhoe with sufficient reach to remove the
debris from the stream bank.