Union Pacific's City of Portland

The City of Portland was one of the Union Pacific's very first streamliners in its City fleet. The railroad hosted an entire array of other plush City trains including the City of Angeles, City of Denver, City of Salina (the original M-10000), City of St. Louis, City of San Francisco). The City of Portland became a highly successful streamliner following its debut as an semi-articulated trainset and convinced the UP that offering numerous on board amenities along with a sleek-looking train was the future of passenger rail travel. Today, the City fleet can still be witnessed, in a manner of speaking, as the UP’s official business train is not only decorated in the Cities’ classic livery but also includes the original equipment from them, right down to the two E9A and E9B diesel locomotives that power it!

The Union Pacific's train #103, the westbound City of Los Angeles has arrived at the City Of Angels' LAUPT led by E9A #952 during March of 1971.

The Union Pacific Railroad (UP), the largest and one of the most powerful railroads in the country, has been with us since 1862, some 146 years. The Union Pacific is far older than any other American Class I railroad today with the Kansas City Southern in a nearby second at 111 years. In that time the railroad has become not only one of the most highly respected institutions in the nation but also has seen nearly every major railroading event in our country’s history, and accordingly has a very long and storied history.  Initially launched on May 5, 1935, the City of Portland was Union Pacific’s gateway to the Pacific Northwest, although, because it operated a more southerly routing than famed Northwestern passenger trains like the Great Northern’s Empire Builder or Northern Pacific’s North Coast Limited the train is sometimes forgotten about or overlooked.

Like the City of Los Angeles, for the first twenty years or so of the train’s existence it was operated in conjunction with the Chicago & North Western Railway which ferried the Portland from Omaha, eastward to Chicago. This setup lasted until 1955 when the UP, dissatisfied with the services C&NW was providing handed the train over to rival Milwaukee Road, a partnership that would last until the train’s end.  While the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited may go down in history as the most famous Northwestern passenger trains, the City of Portland carries several historical distinctions; first, the train was the very first streamlined transcontinental passenger train to operate when it took to the rails in the spring of 1935, known on the UP as the M-10001 it was a semi-articulated trainset with a five-car consist; second, the Portland was the first to offer dining and sleeping services. The train was also the first to feature the now-classic round-end observation.

Adorned in Union Pacific paint for shuttling its much of its "City" fleet into Chicago, Milwaukee Road E9A #30A hustles a passenger run through St. Paul on June 4, 1964.

Along with the City of Los Angeles the City of Portland was Union Pacific’s premier passenger operation and the railroad spared no expense on the train. While the City of Portland's routing offered a bit less scenery over the prairies and foothills of the famed Overland Route between Omaha, Nebraska and Granger, Wyoming the train featured accommodations as fine as anything one could find nationwide.  With the railroad receiving upgraded equipment from both Pullman-Standard, American Car & Foundry, and EMD following World War II, the Portland the train was completely reequipped with new lightweight, streamlined equipment and in the 1950s received Domeliners.

The new equipment, as the original streamliners that had debuted in the mid-1930s, was also adorned in a striking livery of Armour yellow and light gray with red trim, a paint scheme still in use today on the Union Pacific. Overall, on a typical City of Portland train one could expect to find four Pullman sleepers, café-lounge, dome lounge-observation, dome coach, and a dome diner (in total the train's consist included about 13 cars). For power the train featured E7s on the point, and later used both E8s and E9s (the last two E series models EMD ever produced).

Interestingly, despite the City of Los Angeles and City of San Francisco normally receiving the most attention by historians, UP always considered the City of L.A. and City of Portland its two, premier streamliners, providing them with the newest and best equipment as it became available.  To provide passengers with the best viewing experience aboard the Portland the Union Pacific scheduled the train to run through darkness, as much as possible, east of Cheyenne, Wyoming so that patrons could enjoy the breathtaking views of the mountain ranges through western Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. Listed as Trains #105 (westbound) and #106 (eastbound) on Union Pacific's official timetable, the City of Portland would leave Chicago Union Station around 5 pm in the evening and be handed off to the UP at Omaha around 1 am early the following morning.

From there patrons could wake up to breakfast at Cheyenne and see the gorgeous mountain views for the rest of the day, having dinner that evening in south-central Idaho as the continued westward. Heading to bed that night passengers could then wake up early the next morning ready to de-board their train Portland although the City of Portland did offer through sleeper service to Seattle. Overall the trip would normally take just under 41 hours with UP able to carry an average train speed of nearly 56 mph (quite fast for the rugged country in which the railroad operated!). For more information regarding the City of Portland's consist and timetable information please click here.

Through the end the City of Portland, along with her sister City trains, remained a top-notch, all matching consist operation by Union Pacific although by the 1960s the railroad had combined most of its City fleet east of Wyoming. While service remained at a high level this, however, did not secure the Portland or other City trains’ futures as they were all discontinued with the startup of Amtrak in the spring of 1971. Today, the trains live on in memory only and UP's official business train.

A faded and worn UP E9A is now under the direction of Amtrak (although still sporting its original number) as it boards passengers at the 16th Street Station in Oakland, California during September of 1973.

For more reading on the Union Pacific you might want to consider Union Pacific Railroad from authors Joe Welsh and Kevin Holland. Of course, being that the Union Pacific is so well known and has been around for so many years, hundreds of publications (many quite good) have been written about it detailing various subjects of the railroad. However, this book will at least give you a general overview and history of the UP (filled with many, excellent, historical and colorful photographs) at which point you can decide if you are interested in further books of study on the railroad. Even if you are a historian of the UP and have not seen this book I'm sure you will enjoy it!

Also, for more reading on streamliners like the City of Portland you might want to also consider the book Streamliners: History of a Railroad Icon from renowned author Mike Schafer who covers in detail most of the well known and remembered “classic” passenger trains to operate in the country. If you have any interest in such you should very much enjoy Mr. Schafer’s book. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.