D. C. Jesse Burkhardt Books

Hillsboro, Oregon, always seemed destined to be an important railroad town. When the first trains arrived in Hillsboro in 1871 under the banner of the Oregon & California Railroad, the town began to develop into a key railroad junction point. Hillsboro was strategically located just 20 miles from the booming Portland metropolis, a regional center of manufacturing and trade, and by 1911, Hillsboro was where several rail lines branched off. One line headed west toward Tillamook, where the railroad tapped rich timber resources along the Oregon coast. Another line cut south into the fertile Willamette Valley, accessing prime agricultural lands that produced a bounty of wheat and other commodities. A third route carried passengers and goods to and from Portland and the neighboring communities of Cornelius and Forest Grove. As these routes developed, heavy volumes of freight began rolling into Hillsboro. At the same time, travelers moved through Hillsboro on passenger trains, including the Southern Pacific Railroad s famed Red Electrics and the Oregon Electric Railway s interurbans, which advertised passenger service with no soot and no cinders. "

Featuring 150 photographs, maps, and postcards, Traces of the Ann Arbor Railroad chronicles vital aspects of this unique railroad's history, with a primary focus on what has transpired from the 1960s to 2020. The book's pages reflect on the years (1963-1973) the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton controlled the Ann Arbor Railroad, which served shippers along a 292-mile mainline almost entirely in Michigan (the AA operated several miles in northern Ohio); the demise of the AA's Lake Michigan car ferries; the new carriers that have sprung up to handle operations on the former Ann Arbor line in the wake of the company's bankruptcy in 1973; the disposition of the fleet of ten new GP35s that were delivered to the Ann Arbor direct from the factory in 1964; and the new Ann Arbor, a shortline operating between Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio, that was created out of the remains of the old Annie. The final chapter highlights the 22-mile Betsie Valley Trail between Elberta-Frankfort and Thompsonville, a rails-to-trails corridor that opened in 2005 along an abandoned segment of the historic Ann Arbor Railroad.

The Columbia River Gorge is a land of scenic wonder, revered by tourists for its beauty and by recreationalists for its fishing, windsurfing, hiking, and rafting. The region is also a major transportation corridor, home to two vital east-west railroad routes: Burlington Northern Santa Fe on the Washington side of the Columbia River and Union Pacific on the Oregon side. Every day, dozens of freight trains--as well as Amtrak passenger trains--snake along on opposite banks of the wide river, and rail operations have become an integral part of the heartbeat of the gorge. The colorful images in this work celebrate the art and magic of the trains that move goods and passengers through this striking, rugged landscape.