Oregon Rail Heritage Center

Oregon Rail Heritage Center is up and running again! This is my kid's favorite spot. Any train lover will love this place. It's been closed due to Covid, then it reopened, then closed, and now it's open again. I believe the place is run by volunteers so I truly appreciate their efforts!

You get to take a look at displayed locomotives and read about the history of railway in Oregon (more on that later). But the highlight of this place is the train you can take. It was $10 for adults and $5 for my 3-year-old kid and they take cards. Not the cheapest, but totally worth just for the view you get to see especially on a sunny day. The train ride tends to get windy, so prepare a jacket!

The train runs south along the Willamette River. Anyone knows the exact origin or meaning of Willamette? A quick google search seems to suggest it means "sickness" in (I'm not sure which) Native American language. I'd need to do more research on this. Some seems to suggest it was due to many allergens in the area, and if that's true, I can certainly attest to that. The train goes all the way south to Sellwood Riverfront Park. Along the way is a very nice bicycle route. We passed many people who waved their hands. One man, in particular, was standing in the middle of the road, waved his hand, and took a photo of the train we were riding. Was he a photographer? Why did he do so? Were we captured? Would we end up featured on some random promotional photos? Anyhow, I waved back a number of kids, too, and had a ridiculous idea. The simple act of waving one's hand felt so pure and without any malice at all, it made me think, what if we could just be that person waving back and forth at each other in everything we do. Approaching everyone with an innate kindness and curiosity.

There was something I had missed before. These posters and plaques that showed racial segregation in the 1800s. You can clearly see the racist banners that were common practice at the time.

It felt strange, to say the least, and chilling, to be standing in front of these plaques, especially as a person of color. It's also a strange juxtaposition against what happened last summer in Portland (BLM). But this is why heritage centers and museums matter so much. We learn by seeing, reading, and visiting these places. Not to repeat what's wrong.