UP's "City of Portland" (Train): Consist, Route, Schedule

Last revised: February 24, 2025

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 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.

History

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!

Union Pacific, the largest and most powerful railroad in the country, has been with us since 1862. Its creation is thanks to President Abraham Lincoln and Congress's efforts to build a transcontinental railroad.

The company is far older than any other American Class I railroad today with the Kansas City Southern in a nearby second.

A Union Pacific publicity photo featuring train #105, the westbound "City of Portland," posed along the main line between McCammon and Pocatello, Idaho during the summer of 1953. American-Rails.com collection.

In that time UP 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.

At A Glance

Route	Chicago - Omaha - Portland
Travel Time (1957)	40 Hours, 45 Minutes (Westbound) 40 Hours, 30 Minutes (Eastbound)
Service History	May 5, 1935 - April 30, 1971
Train Numbers	105 (Westbound) 106 (Eastbound)
Distance	2,272 Miles
End Terminals	Union Station (Chicago) Union Station (Portland)

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 Portland carries several historical distinctions:

Firstly, 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.

Secondly, 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.

Along with the City of Los Angeles, the 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.

The famous publicity photo of the "City of Portland" features the train skirting the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland. The scene dates to no earlier than 1954-1955 when Union Pacific acquired its 35 lightweight, streamlined cars from American Car & Foundry. Bringing up the train's tail end is Astra-Dome, blunt-end observation lounge #9006. There were five built for the train.

More About The Train

The following information is from rail historian Robert Le Massena regarding the City of Portland and its EMD power:

"Several of the Union Pacific railroad’s earliest Diesel-electric locomotives, used in passenger service, experienced so many modifications, rebuildings, and renumberings that the consequential confusion among experts in that field of motive power history will probably never be entirely dissipated. Some of them received car-body modifications, after which they were rebuilt inside and out; others bore no less than five different road numbers.

The re-use of road numbers among various models contributed no small amount of identification uncertainty, and there were cab-booster conversions plus changes in ownership among UP, Southern Pacific, and Chicago & North Western railroads that augmented the puzzling genealogy of these units.

Two examples are seen in this picture [near the bottom of this page under the "Photos" heading] of four GM-EMD E9 models at the head of the City of Portland. The cab unit bears road number 903, the booster unit immediately behind it being the 903B. Their background unfolds as follows.

The 903 was assembled in 1940 (construction No. 1137) and delivered with the road number 7M-2A. It was an E6-model passenger engine, rated at 2,000 hp, weighed 314,000 lbs, and exerted 52,000-lb tractive effort. After World War II the UP acquired sufficient equipment and motive power to place its “City” trains on a daily basis, and concurrently renumbered its peculiarly identified units; thus, the 7M-2A became 954A. In 1948 there was another renumbering, accompanied by modifications in window arrangements, pilot construction, and heraldic emblems. So, after this second renumbering, the unit was 903.

All of the E6-models were rebuilt into E9-models during 1955–1956, the 903 emerging with engines rated at 2,400 hp and a weight of 336,000 lbs. Its tractive effort had been increased to 56,800 lbs, and it bore No. 903. The UP sold the unit to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad in 1969; thereafter it was the 644. The original 903B, an E8-model, was built in 1952 (construction No. 174) and numbered (second) LA-6. In similar fashion to the 903, it progressed through subsequent renumberings as 926B, 987C, and finally 903B after conversion to the E9-model. Instead of being sold, it was scrapped in 1969.

Four powerful units developing 9,600 hp might appear to be more than adequate for an 18-car train, but the City of Portland’s 2,272-mile journey included a steep climb over the Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon as well as considerable stretches of high-speed running elsewhere on the UP’s main line. It departed Portland’s Union Station at 5:00 PM and arrived in Chicago’s Union Station at 11:30 AM of the third day, after rolling over 485 miles of Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific railroad track between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Chicago.

In the opposite direction, the City of Portland was scheduled to leave Chicago at 7:30 PM, averaging 63½ mph over the entire distance. In this scene the City of Portland is headed eastward along the almost level track paralleling the south shore of the Columbia River at Wyeth, Oregon, 50 miles east of Portland.The presence of three dome-observation cars in the formation identifies it as a post-1955 “Domeliner,” successor to the “Streamliner” title by which UP’s “City” trains had been known for two decades.

Its composition on the occasion of this portrait includes three cars in Railway Express Agency service and a baggage-dormitory car providing quarters for the train’s dining and club car staff, all coupled behind the motive power. A group of six coaches, the first being of dome-observation design, is followed by a café-lounge car catering to the appetites of passengers in those cars. A solitary sleeping car precedes the dome-diner and dome-lounge cars whose facilities were generally reserved for sleeping-car occupants. Two sleepers are at the rear, and the train no longer displays the familiar and traditional observation lounge car, it having been replaced by the domed equipment."

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.

Timetable (June, 1956)

*Read Down Time/Leave (Train #105/Milwaukee Road)*	Milepost	Location	Read Up Time/Arrive (Train #106/Milwaukee Road)
4:45 PM (Dp)	0.0	Chicago, IL (Union Station) (CT)	11:30 AM (Ar)
5:25 PM	37	Elgin, IL	10:35 AM
	80	Davis Junction, IL	9:57 AM
6:56 PM (Ar)	138	Savannah, IL	9:02 AM (Dp)
7:03 PM (Dp)	138	Savannah, IL	8:55 AM (Ar)
8:31 PM	227	Marion, IA	7:34 AM
10:35 AM (Ar)	362	Perry, IA	5:26 AM (Dp)
10:40 AM (Dp)	362	Perry, IA	5:21 AM (Ar)
	423	Manilla, IA	4:27 AM
1:00 AM (Ar)	487	Omaha, NE	3:15 AM (Dp)
*Time/Leave (Train #105/Union Pacific)*	Milepost	Location	*Time/Arrive (Train #106/Union Pacific)*
1:10 AM (Dp)	487	Omaha, NE	3:05 AM (Ar)
F	525	Fremont, NE	F
F	570	Columbus, NE	F
3:14 AM (Ar)	632	Grand Island, NE	12:55 AM (Dp)
3:15 AM (Dp)	632	Grand Island, NE	12:54 AM (Ar)
F	674	Kearney, NE	F
5:05 AM (Ar)	769	North Platte, NE (CT)	11:03 PM (Dp)
4:10 AM (Dp)	769	North Platte, NE (MT)	9:58 PM (Ar)
5:52 AM (Ar)	893	Sidney, NE	8:17 PM (Dp)
5:53 AM (Dp)	893	Sidney, NE	8:16 PM (Ar)
7:35 AM (Ar)	995	Cheyenne, WY	6:55 PM (Dp)
7:45 AM (Dp)	995	Cheyenne, WY	6:54 PM (Ar)
9:09 AM (Ar)	1051	Laramie, WY	5:25 PM (Dp)
9:10 AM (Dp)	1051	Laramie, WY	5:24 PM (Ar)
11:04 AM (Ar)	1168	Rawlins, WY	3:35 PM (Dp)
11:05 AM (Dp)	1168	Rawlins, WY	3:34 PM (Ar)
F 12:55 PM	1287	Rock Springs, WY	F 1:35 PM
1:25 PM (Ar)	1302	Green River, WY	1:15 PM (Dp)
1:35 PM (Dp)	1302	Green River, WY	1:00 PM (Ar)
F 2:47 PM	1372	Kemmerer, WY	F 11:40 AM
4:05 PM	1447	Montpelier, ID	10:20 AM
5:45 PM (Ar)	1546	Pocatello, ID	8:30 AM (Dp)
5:55 PM (Dp)	1546	Pocatello, ID	8:20 AM (Ar)
6:46 PM	1605	Minidoka, ID	7:24 AM
7:32 PM	1654	Shoshone, ID	6:40 AM
7:48 PM	1670	Gooding, ID	6:22 AM
8:25 PM	1706	Glenns Ferry, ID	5:45 AM
8:56 PM	1734	Mountain Home, ID	5:13 AM
9:40 PM	1781	Boise, ID	4:30 AM
10:08 PM	1800	Nampa, ID	4:06 AM
10:17 PM	1809	Caldwell, ID	3:50 AM
10:37 PM	1832	Nyssa, ID	3:29 AM
10:48 PM	1842	Ontario, ID	3:17 AM
11:08 PM	1859	Weiser, ID	2:59 AM
11:40 PM (Ar)	1882	Huntington, OR (MT)	2:35 AM (Dp)
10:40 PM (Dp)	1882	Huntington, OR (MT)	1:35 AM (Ar)
11:53 PM	1930	Baker, OR	12:10 AM
1:05 AM	1982	La Grande, OR	11:10 PM
3:10 AM	2056	Pendleton, OR	9:08 PM
3:50 AM (Ar)	2088	Hinkle, OR	8:30 PM (Dp)
3:55 AM (Dp)	2088	Hinkle, OR	8:25 PM (Ar)
5:30 AM	2188	The Dalles, OR	6:50 PM
F 6:01 AM	2209	Hood River, OR	F 6:18 PM
7:30 AM (Ar)	2272	Portland, OR (Union Station) (PT)	5:00 PM (Dp)

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.

Consist (1952)

A 1952 consist of the "City of Portland." Author's collection.

Consist (1958)

Overall, on a typical 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.

Menus

Breakfast (1946)

Lunch (1959)

Dinner (1959)

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.

Timetable (1958)

Listed as Trains #105 (westbound) and #106 (eastbound) on Union Pacific's official timetable, the 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.

Union Pacific's combined "City of Denver"/"City of Portland" is eastbound at Gilcrest, Colorado circa 1961.

Final Years

Heading to bed that night passengers could then wake up early the next morning ready to de-board at Portland although the train 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!).

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.

Photos

A Union Pacific publicity photo, circa 1960, featuring E9A #903 ahead of train #106, the eastbound "City of Portland", at Wyeth, Oregon near the banks of the Columbia River.

Union Pacific E9A 956 with train 105, the westbound "City of Portland," hustling over the Milwaukee Road at Pingree Grove, Illinois in December, 1965. Rick Burn photo.

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