Mark Toal Has a New Train to Love…

If you follow this blog or my website, you know that I love to photograph the SP&S 700 steam train here in Portland, Oregon. I’ve been their official photographer for about a year.

The other day I walked into the engine house where the three steam engines are housed here in Portland and I noticed that my friend Larry was working on the 197 steam engine. I had never paid much attention to the 197 since I never seen anybody working in it. It’s more of a shell of a steam train with lots of missing parts.

The goal is to fix it up to run the Holiday Express train rides here in Portland in a couple of years. I love the idea of photographing the restoration of this 100-year old engine. The Oregon Rail Heritage Center where the 197 is housed along with the SP&S 700 and the Daylight 4449 is open to the public. If you’re in Portland, please come on down and photograph these amazing trains.—Mark Toal