Seen from a rural road crossing between Tangent and Shedd, Oregon, Union Pacific's main line cuts an arrow-straight path south up the Willamette Valley as a half moon hangs in the evening sky of July 12, 2008. The foothills of the Cascades rise in the southeast.
Four locomotives lead Union Pacific's Roseville to Portland Terminal freight train north over the Willamette River on the evening of July 30, 2008. The train is crossing the former Southern Pacific bridge, while the bridge in the foreground carries Portland and Western's former Oregon Electric Railroad line.
Late in the day of August 14, 2008, four Union Pacific locomotives lead Portland and Western's Eugene Hauler south as a tractor kicks up dust heading north through a field in the Willamette Valley near Harrisburg, Oregon.
The setting sun touches the ridge of western Oregon's Coast Range mountains, silhouetting Union Pacific's Roseville to Portland Terminal freight train in the dusky harvest evening of August 14, 2008.
The setting sun silhouettes a cross buck on a rural road and the lead locomotive of Union Pacific's Roseville to Portland Terminal freight train on the evening of August 16, 2008.
The rising sun silhouettes a Union Pacific locomotive and former Southern Pacific searchlight signals near Tangent, Oregon, on the morning of September 15, 2008.
Two Union Pacific Railroad SD70M diesel locomotives pull a ballast train south through the Willamette Valley near Tangent, Oregon, on February 7, 2009.
Amtrak's Coast Starlight passenger train no. 11 glints as the sun sets over the Willamette Valley near Harrisburg, Oregon, on February 7, 2009.
Amtrak's Coast Starlight passenger train no. 11 rolls south near Tangent, Oregon, as the evening sun breaks through heavy clouds on February 9, 2009.
Union Pacific Railroad mixed freight train rolling north in the Willamette Valley at dusk in a 1/4-second panned shot on February 9, 2009.
Amtrak's Coast Starlight passenger train no. 14 rolls north past Alford Siding as clouds swirl above the Willamette Valley near Harrisburg, Oregon, on March 2, 2009.
Union Pacific's local freight train is returning north to its base in Albany, Oregon, with five cars including a flatcar carrying a John Deere harvester for delivery via the team track on March 2, 2009.
Spring is my favorite season in Oregon and the ever-changing sky is my favorite part of the Willamette Valley. On the kind of afternoon that explains those preferences, Portland and Western's Eugene Hauler freight train heads north behind Union Pacific power on the Union Pacific main line.
Union Pacific Railroad container train heading north in western Oregon's Willamette Valley under a dynamic spring sky just before sunset on May 7, 2009.
Union Pacific freight train rolling south past sheep and lambs in western Oregon's Willamette Valley on May 8, 2009.
Amtrak Cascades passenger train no. 507 passes a field full of sheep in western Oregon's Willamette Valley just before sunset on May 8, 2009.
Amtrak Cascades passenger train no. 504 rolls down the Willamette Valley under a dramatic spring sky above western Oregon on May 11, 2009.
Amtrak Cascades passenger train no. 500 rolls north as the sun rises through morning fog in western Oregon's Willamette Valley on May 15, 2009.
Clouds roll above the Willamette Valley as Union Pacific's Roseville-Portland Terminal freight train heads north near Tangent, Oregon, on November 11, 2009.
Amtrak's Coast Starlight passenger train and a jet both head south just after sunset in western Oregon's Willamette Valley on January 2, 2010.
A single locomotive operating in distributed power mode brings up the rear of Union Pacific's Hinkle-Roseville freight train heading south through western Oregon's Willamette Valley on January 3, 2010.
Amtrak's Coast Starlight passenger train glints in the setting sun as it rolls south up the Willamette Valley on February 16, 2010.
Union Pacific Railroad freight train heading north past a windmill in the Willamette Valley near Halsey, Oregon, as the sun sets on February 16, 2010.
Union Pacific Railroad container train rolling north through the fields near Shedd, Oregon, on February 21, 2010.
Union Pacific Railroad local freight train heading north with two cars past a windmill near Halsey, Oregon, on February 24, 2010.
Amtrak Cascades passenger train north no. 504 passing the Independent Order of Odd Fellows cemetery near Harrisburg, Oregon, on the morning of February 27, 2010.
Union Pacific Railroad mixed freight train south passing three gravestones in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows cemetery near Harrisburg, Oregon, on February 27, 2010.
Union Pacific Railroad mixed freight train south passing a farm north of Eugene in western Oregon's Willamette Valley on May 5, 2010.
Union Pacific Railroad mixed freight train south running through the fields just north of Eugene, Oregon, late in the day of May 5, 2010.
Union Pacific business train north, led by the Southern Pacific heritage locomotive, passing the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows Cemetery near Harrisburg, Oregon, on May 30, 2010.
Union Pacific container train north passing the soon-to-be-demolished grain elevator in Halsey, Oregon, on July 16, 2010.
The conductor of a Union Pacific freight train south gives a visual "roll-by" inspection to an intermodal train north at Marion, Oregon, early in the morning of February 11, 2009.
Stars shine through a clear night in the Willamette Valley near Shedd, Oregon, as Amtrak Cascades train no. 507 approaches on January 18, 2009.
The full moon rises over former Southern Pacific searchlight signals north of Shedd, Oregon, on August 15, 2008.
Amtrak Cascades train no. 507 rolls south in Oregon's Willamette Valley after sunset on August 14, 2008.
Union Pacific Railroad mixed freight train north rolling through western's Oregon's Willamette Valley at sunset on August 14, 2008, with Marys Peak in the background.
Union Pacific's Portland to Roseville freight train heads south in Oregon's Willamette Valley as the full moon sets at dawn on July 18, 2008.
Amtrak Cascades train no. 509 rolls south in Oregon's Willamette Valley under a full moon on July 14, 2008.
Amtrak Cascades train no. 509 rolls south in Oregon's Willamette Valley under a full moon on July 14, 2008.