Passenger Trains to Bend, OR

[Fr.Al]

I know I've discussed the Georgia mixed trains on another thread. I believe they ended in the spring of '83. I think the one in the UP of Michigan was ended a few years later.

     I've had non-railfan friends wonder why railroads can't run mixeds nowadays. In a Harry Turtledove alternate timeline, where Henry Ford and the Wright brothers never appear, perhaps we could imagine them.

[rcdrye]

The Oregon Trunk mixed was a regular service (Oregon Trunk was an SP&S subsidiary), used mainly by fishermen and hikers.  The number of passengers involved (few enough to handle in a caboose) and the expense of a train-off (not small) let the service survive by benign neglect, much in the manner of the Soo Line "mixed trains" in Wisconsin and Michigan that survived into the 1980s, and the CSX ex-Georgia RR mixed that survived even longer.

[Overmod]

Sounds to me like you could make arrangements to ride in the caboose if you wanted to get there by rail.  Be interesting to see if the Bend service was required by the relevant PUC or was offered as a convenience by the railroad and 'held over' up to Amtrak Day.  

Also be interesting to see if 'consulting the agent' involved signing some sort of waiver against the hazards involved... particularly slack action?

[Deggesty]

I looked in the April, 1971, issue of the Guide, and found that there was mixed service between Wishram and Bend--and you had to "consult agent" to learn more. The station index, however, indicated freight service only; the timetable for the passenger service into Portland had the note about consulting agent. The agent at Wishram, perhaps?

[KBCpresident]

Hi All. On page 29 of the Summer, 2011 issue, there is a map of the passenger rail netywork the day before Amtrak, and then the first day on Amtrak. It's incredible how much the system was chopped. But I digress.

The map shows a BN Passenger train running along the Oregon Trunk Line to Bend. While I have no doubt that there was one a passenger line here, I was under the impression it had been canceled long before 1971. Furthermore, It shows the Fargo-WInnipeg line on the map too, and someone in the trains mag forum said that this train was canceled. So my question:
Was there a little train runnign to Bend Oregon on the eve of Amtrak? I looked on an early BN timetable and Bend is not menitoned anywhere. I'm wondering if the map is incorrect. And for that matter, do you all see any errors on the map?

PS: anyone ever watched trains in the Deschutes river canyon? Good flyfishing too!