The Port of Tillamook Bay railroad is extensively covered in one of several new titles from Bates Publishing that focus on both the POTB and the Portland and Western railroads. To date, this is the only tape completely dedicated to the line, and it has its strengths and weaknesses.

Bates spent several days over the course of two weeks filming along the line. It took a little while to figure out BatesÕ approach, but once I caught on, it struck me as a very logical way to cover the railroadÕs operations.

Rather than being a mish-mash of runbys from either direction, Bates methodically follows the line from its connection to the outside world at Banks over to Tillamook, and then back to Banks.He does his own narration, carefully identifying each of the trains and trying to provide locational information. Again, it took a moment to make sense of BatesÕ method, but itÕs obvious that he gave this approach some serious thought, and it comes through when trying to turn the images into real information that may be of assistance on a railfanning visit to the railroad.

Of great assistance to this cause are the trio of maps that come packaged inside the tapeÕs case, each carefully labeled with the locations of each runby, and the particular train that was captured there. Unfortunately, not all of the roads are shown on those maps, so they are no substitute for a little higher detail map. But given their size - about the size of a half sheet of paper each - they are fairly detailed.

This whole approach struck me as being a little more organized and coherent than many of the mass-produced ÒrunbyÓ videos that simply pound you with train after train in a whirlwind Òpoint A to point BÓ tour, with no real correlation to how the railroad actually operates. To my annoyance, these tapes often fall out of sync time-wise. On a westbound trip, youÕll run across the same several eastbound trains over and over again, earlier in their runs than they were last time you saw them.

Most railfan videographers spend only a day or two photographing the line when producing their product. To get a reasonable stock of video to fill out a tape on the POTB would require far more than the normal day or two approach. Most would back away, but Bates takes on the problem head-on.

Bates also acknowledges that there is some switching involved in the daily operations, another point that is often lost on the runby tape people. This yielded several enjoyable moments for my two-year-old son, Trevor, who likes watching train videos and got quite a kick out of seeing dad in one of them. I doubt I could do better without showing up in a Thomas the Tank Engine tape. (Note to Britt Allcroft: I am a qualified conductor, and certainly am available next time Alec Baldwin comes up sick...)

Supposed celebrity aside, Bates spends plenty of time featuring the PortÕs employees in action, giving a little clearer sense of what it is that we do around here, and why.

I talked to Bates several times during his visit to the railroad last summer, and he basically told me that he is a hobbyist, and that the tapes he produces help to support his hobby. More power to him, but the amateur status is possibly the tapeÕs biggest weak link.

Filmed on Hi8, the video has good color (including an eye-popping blue sky reflection shot from the pier in Garibaldi) but sometimes seems to lack a little resolution when compared to the results from a digital camera. Also, although Bates is diligent with his tripod, there are some occasional moments of shake, and at least one shot that is noticeably off level.

The amateur presentation also hurts the finished product. Edits are choppy, with no fades, dissolves, or other polishing. In several places, the tape seems to leap as we go from the front of the train to the middle quite suddenly. Without seeing his editing equipment, I would probably attribute this to his use of analog equipment, which makes such specialties much pricier to produce. (My iMac came with a complete digital video editing suite called iMovie that makes such effects a quick and easy breeze.)

At a little more than two hours, the tape runs a little long as well. There are several repetitive shots from the same location, and approach/away shots that could have been trimmed or eliminated to help the overall flow.

There are also at least two glaring omissions in the coverage of the line. First, Bates makes no forays into the remote Salmonberry River canyon. ItÕs unfortunate, since this is by far the most scenic part of the line. But it would require a substantial amount of hiking just to get one shot, and BatesÕ camera seldom seems to stray too far from the road.

It may be a petty complaint, but Bates also fails to show the World War II blimp hangar B, the largest clear span wooden structure in the world, and centerpiece of the PortÕs industrial park. At one point while covering switching operations, Bates stands with his back to the existing hangar - which now sports an air museum with a fine collection of vintage warbirds and other aircraft - and makes mention of the remains of hangar A, which burned down in the early 1990Õs.

Like the hangar, Bates also doesnÕt go far enough in my opinion to feature the area as a whole. The area that the railroad runs through is rich in history, tourism and character. One of the things that always attracted me to the line was the fact that there is far more to do out here than just chase trains. (And with a mere two trains a day, itÕs nice to have a little something extra...)