DISCLAIMER: All of the information shared today can be found on the Oregon Pacific website. This is my retelling of it, giving it some poetic expression, but otherwise I do not desire to plagiarise the writings of the Samuels family. Please support them, and the OPRR, by following the links in the epilogue.
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| An original SW-1, Baltimore & Ohio No. 2, at LaGrange, 1938 (Digital Rail Artist) |
In December, 1938, a new class of switching diesels were outshopped by the Electro-Motive Corporation factory in LaGrange, Illinois, on behalf of General Motors. These locomotives featured a brand-new 6-cylinder, 600-horsepower prime mover, 567 cubic inches large and designed specifically for the demands a railroad locomotive would have to meet. These were known as the SW-1s (Six hundred HP, Welded frame) and 661 units would be built for several North American railroads between 1938 and 1953. One such unit was works number 16899, delivered to the Portland Railroad and Terminal Devision Company (formerly the Portland Traction, but referred to as "PTCo." here) in February 1952.
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| Portland Electric Power Co. 1405 and an unidentified motor behind, hauling freight (Don Ross) |
At the time, Portland Traction was in dire straits concerning their freight operations. The normal way to haul freight was to use two 50-ton ALCO-GE or SP&S-homebuilt steeplecabs as one, 100-ton unit. Unfortunately, this raised operating costs on PTCo. as far as crew and maintenance were concerned, and the removal of an AC/DC converter from the Oregon City substation meant there would be less interurban DC power to feed off of going to that location. Anticipating that Portland General Electric (which had spunoff in 1946, leading to the new name) would abandon DC power and force the railroad to pick up the slack, dieselisation seemed the best way to go about business as usual.
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| The Clackamas River Bridge (Bridgehunter) |
The defining factor in selecting a locomotive was the Clackamas River Bridge, which could hold the weight of two 50-ton motors. After much selection, it was eventually concluded that one 100-ton SW-1 could replace two motors as cheap and effectively as they could make it. So, SW-1 16899 was officially christened as Portland Traction No. 100 and immediately sent to work with the existing electric motors. Due to the prevalence of wire-mounted crossing sensors rather than track-mounted, PTCo 100 was fitted with two "dummy" trolley poles (one on the roof, the other on the hood) to facilitate its... existence far as the signals were concerned.
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| Portland Traction No. 100 in 1952, shortly after delivery (Don Ross) |
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| Portland Traction 200's builder's photo at EMD LaGrange (Worthpoint) |
PTCo. 100 eventually got a sister in the form of SW-1 No. 200, which was delivered to Portland in 1953. The job of the SW-1s were to go where the motors couldn't if the wire was disconnected, and to also provide extra power on long freight hauls (as long as the system allowed). These two locomotives continued operating past cessation of all electric locomotive activity in 1958.
Now under jurisdiction of the Southern Pacific (SP) and Union Pacific (UP), the two SW-1s would continue to work until the late 1980s, when incoming SP SW1500s would displace them. But before then, No. 100 held a particular distinction for rail preservation in Portland.
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| Locomotives 197, 700, and 4449 (left to right) at at flooded Oaks Park in 1964 (Steve Dale & Friends of the 4449) |
Starting in 1956, Oaks Park established a small railroad display on their grounds featuring the only Spokane Portland & Seattle (SP&S) Northern-type 700, the former Daylight locomotive Southern Pacific GS-4 class 4449, and Oregon Rail & Navigation Pacific-type 197. The former two were positioned on their plinths by No. 100, under the care of ex-SP employee Jack Holst. When time came to restore the engines in the early 1970s (4449) and 1980s (700), PTCo. 100 was once again called to haul the mighty beasts out of the park and to the Brooklyn Roundhouse nearby.
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| PTCo. 100, now under Oregon Pacific, hauls SP&S 700 out of Oaks Park in 1987 (Richard Samuels and OPRR) |
After being displaced by SW1500s in the late 1980s, PTCo. 100 was sold to a paper mill in Wallua, Washington to switch under the Watco Transportation Company (which operated switching shortlines.) PTCo. No. 200 would be sold to the Harvest States Co-op in Wisconsin, where she still works. Unfortunately, Watco wanted to get rid of the 100 as soon as they got her, finding her too light to be an appropriate switcher. This is where Richard Samuels steps into the picture, as he had just finished organizing the East Portland Traction Company (EPTCo, now OPRR) in 1987 to facilitate the scrapping of the ex-Portland Traction Boring line. (Trust me, it's fascinating.)
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| PTCo. 100 on the OPRR's Boring branch, with SP 4449 posed and providing some un-boring excitement (Greg Brown, OPRR) |
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| Mr. Richard Samuels in his natural habitat (OPRR) |
However, purchasing No. 100 was not without its hardships. Due to the contemporary (and modern) regulations disallowing friction-bearing rolling stock, Union Pacific made Mr. Samuels repack each journal and ride in the cab to check for any hotboxes all the way back to Portland. Once there, Mr. Samuels started his heavy restoration to return PTCo. 100 to her former glory. And, of course, it would be remiss of me to say that Mr. Samuels is a very, very ardent railfan.
PTCo. 100 would set many firsts as the OPRR's flagship locomotive, running on the East Portland Branch in 1991 and the Molalla Branch in 1993. Since then, the East Portland has been her home when not enjoying the weekends hauling cars of happy tourists from the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation to Oaks Park on old home rails. With shining orange paint, sharp black stripes, and her distinctive trolley poles on display, she is every bit Mr. Samuels' engine and, inarguably, the "most famous diesel in the Northwest."
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| PTCo. 100 hauling SP 4449's "Oaks Park Daylight" backwards in a ceremonial reenactment of 4449 being brought home in 1974. (Pamplin Media Group)
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Thank you for reading today's special short-line edition of Trolley Thursday! Please support Richard Samuels, his family, and the OPRR by following the links provided to the ORHF's weekend trains and also follow them on Facebook! Every dollar spent on their ride keeps locomotives like PTCo. 100 running far into the future!
Ride safe out there!
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