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June 20, 2005. Karen Wilber operating on Central Montana Railroad. Karen, from Hartville OH had a personal best - she operated the entire 3 weeks without a breakdown.

June 29, 2005. After following the Lewis & Clark expedition in Montana, we traced their route through the Lolo Pass

Lolo Pass Summit - George, Irene and Molson (Golden Retreiver), Hoppy Hopkins with Sam (Golden Lab)

June 30 , 2005. Safety meeting at N. Lapwai, ID. BG & CM Railroad (former Camus Prairie, 2nd Sub)

Safety meetings had a special feature this year. Each day another operator (or team) presented a short piece of relevant Lewis & Clark history. Here Mary Ellen and Clem Meier, Citrus Hts., CA perform for us.

While we await departure, Molson and Teddy (Lhasa Apso) amused themselves with a tug-of-war

"Big Red" operated by Carl Vanderspek, Burnaby, BC, prepares to reverse over the Halfmoon Trestle. According to notes kindly provided by Denny Anspach, this is bridge curved bridge is 684' long and 141' high with 46 spans.

Chris Baldo used a portable radio to line up the railcars on the trestle for this traditional photo

Chris Baldo used a portable radio to line up the railcars on the trestle for this traditional photo

Hypothetical rail - after being out of service for so long there are places where the rail disappears under weeds or mud.

That's former GM of Camus Prarie Railnet, Jim Morefield, helping excavate the rails sufficiently to move the railcars across the intersection. Although he has retired he continues to provide support and was along with us as a participant this year. Thanks, Jim!

July 1, 2005 - Great NW Railroad (former Camus Prairie 1st and 3rd Subs) Lenore Post Office - still catering to the local population and some eager Speeder-Shoppers.

Dave & Charlene Meyer's motorcar. They joined us from Camp Verde, AZ.

July 3, 2005 - Former Camus Prairie 4th Sub - Jaype - although this was not scheduled, with Chris Baldo and Jim Morefield working on the logistics, three railcars operated on the short piece of track from near Jaype to the point of destruction. Suddenly the rails disappeared into the gully below so we parked the cars for some photos. Marg Hope (Burnaby,BC) Jim Morefield (Lewiston, ID), Keith Mackey (Ocala, FL), Glen Ford (Rough & Ready, CA) pose before end of track with Chris Baldo's faithful dog, Mallet. Chris (Willits, CA) is operating the camera.

Cars lined up on one of the remaining trestles: (L-R) Morefield, Ford, Baldo.

Snowmoving equipment left a ghostly reminder of one of the accidents on this now abandoned rail line.

July 4, 2005 - Blue Mountain Railroad, WA. Set-on in front of Dayton's historic depot - now an excellent museum and archives.

Tour photos - everyone assembled for the group shot

Tom Ferrier ( San Diego, CA) and Renda Mackey bookend three of our four-footed participants: Molson, Teddy and Prince. Prince was the first cat known to have participated in a PNWT.

Dayton Museum's curator and assistant rode along to Walla Walla for lunch

Blue Mtn. RR runs through farmland. Here in the baking heat we passed miles of fallowed fields and newly harvested winter wheat.

July 6, 2005 - Hood River Railroad, OR. At the south end of track we passed the tourist train near Parkdale

Katelyn Andrews, our youngest enthusiast proved to be an excellent flagger and Teddy's best girlfriend

A funky country store near Parkdale sported froggies on the front porch

July 7, 2005 - Portland & Western RR - Besides being the western extreme of Lewis & Clark's trip, this railroad provided a chance to traverse three swing bridges. Two operators unlock the span, insert a long arm into the mechanism and walk around in a circle until the span (normally left open to allow marine traffic) is closed and locked. After we crossed the process was repeated in reverse.

July 7, 2005 - Portland & Western RR - Besides being the western extreme of Lewis & Clark's trip, this railroad provided a chance to traverse three swing bridges. Two operators unlock the span, insert a long arm into the mechanism and walk around in a circle until the span (normally left open to allow marine traffic) is closed and locked. After we crossed the process was repeated in reverse.

July 7, 2005 - Portland & Western RR - Besides being the western extreme of Lewis & Clark's trip, this railroad provided a chance to traverse three swing bridges. Two operators unlock the span, insert a long arm into the mechanism and walk around in a circle until the span (normally left open to allow marine traffic) is closed and locked. After we crossed the process was repeated in reverse.

Charley Black (Olympia, WA)

the end of line for the P& W is marked by a derail and a stop sign. Our crew headed back towards Portland while we continued west.

Arriving in Astoria we were handed off from the P&W to the local railroad authority. Here Chris Baldo lines up behind the City of Astoria Trolley for our parade along the delightful Astoria waterfront to our lodging at the Red Lion Hotel.

July 8, 2005 - On our day off many of us toured the Astoria Railroad Preservation facilities where volunteer Martin Adams helped us appreciate the finer points of restoring a steam locomotive.

It poured rain so here is what some of our tired operators did with a day off.

At our farewell dinner the Astoria Railroad Preservation Society members presented Meet Coordinator, Chris Baldo with the original Baldwin Factory drawing of his latest locomotive restoration project. Yes, he was a bit overwhelmed!

July 9, 2005. Big Red lines up behind the P&W for escort back to our set-on point, North Plains, OR.

Meet Coordinators Marg Hope and Chris Baldo at our final safety meeting. Marg thanked Chris - who had definitely done the bulk of the planning - for the enormous effort he'd made to ensure we could follow the Lewis and Clarke trail by rail.