Trolley Tuesday 11/3/21 - The Oregon Electric Railway... Revisited

Welcome to another round of Trolleyposting in November! Having changed so much since we've first started this blog, I thought it would be a good idea to go back and redo some of the episodes I found quite lacking, either through wholesale absence of information or an early writing style trying to escape from the trappings of Twitter character limits. For our first foray, we return to the state that started off this blog, Oregon, to give you an expanded history on the very first episode, the Oregon Electric Railway, and its long-forgotten interurbans (and its famous rivalry with the SP Red Electrics)!

Stumptown Streetcars

The Spokane, Portland & Southern punches its way into Madras, Oregon,
on the Oregon Trunk Railway's opening on February 15, 1911.
(OHS Research Library)

An Oregon Electric Railway train is seen departing Salem for Portland.
(Offbeat Oregon History)

While streetcars have existed in the Pacific Northwest since the earliest horsecars of the 1860s, interurban development in and around Portland, Oregon, was actually quite slow. By the turn of the century, the only major rail connections in and out of the city were through the Southern Pacific Railway (SP), the Union Pacific (through the Oregon Rail & Navigation Company), and the mighty conglomeration of the Northern Pacific (NP) and the Great Northern (GN) under the powerful hand of James J. Hill. (And later, the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S), also controlled by Hill.) There were plans considered, in the 1890s, to break from these four big railroads in favor of a more local interurban operation that planned to parallel SP's mainline through the Willamette Valley. The earliest proponent of this plan came from the short-lived "Oregon Traction Company" in 1905, which intended to build an interurban line on both sides of the Willamette River down to the capital at Salem. However, the company went bankrupt during roadbed development and that was the end of that affair. 

An Oregon Electric Railway train passes through Albany at speed.
(OSU Special Collections & Archives)

The next year, three local investors named Thomas S. Brooks. Henry L. Corbett, and R.W. Lewis incorporated the Willamette Valley Traction Company (WVTC) on May 14, 1906. The company took over much of the Oregon Traction Company's assets and continued construction on the main line between Portland and Salem, some 46 miles south into the heart of the Willamette Valley. The first trains began running on New Years Day 1908 under a newer, slicker name, the Oregon Electric Railway (OE), and citizens of both Portland and Salem praised the speed and timeliness of the new interurban line. Unfortunately, this period of independent operation did not last long as, after completing two branches to Forest Grove in 1908 and Woodburn in 1909, the OE was purchased by James J. Hill, the man in charge of the NP/SP&S/GN family.

James J. Hill, like Santa Claus if his steam-powered
sleigh were hauled by goats.
(Pioneer Press)

War in the Willamette Valley

A map of the Red Electric lines through Portland, prominently
featuring the towering Union Station building.
(Transit Maps)

There was no subtle, secret reason that James J. Hill purchased the independent interurban for himself, as he had been keeping tabs on his rival, E.H. Harriman (who controlled the SP and Union Pacific) for quite some time and was disquieted at the pace they were building into Oregon. His formation of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle (SP&S) in 1905 intended the regional carrier to be used as a stopgap against SP, blocking them from going up the coast to reach Seattle, a potential invasion if ever there was one. (There was also the issue of parallel competing rail lines being built by both Hill and Harriman on the banks of the Columbia River, but that's a whole other discussion.) Furthermore, by 1912, SP was already in direct competition with the OE through their Red Electric lines, converting their steam branchlines to 1500v DC electricity interurban lines. The final spit-in-the-eye came when SP (as part-owners of Portland's Union Station) blocked any possibility of the SP&S or the OE from terminating in Portland, requiring all non-SP trains to terminate at the North Bank Depot, four miles to the west.

A train of log cars is spotted just south of Portland, showing
why the area became known as "Stumptown". Pic is dated 1920.
(American-Rails)

However, OE had a trump card up its sleeve that ensured its longevity against the SP: freight. Since SP&S was the nominal owner of the OE (to avoid nasty antitrust investigations) and the interurban was standard gauge, it didn't take long for this "stopgap" streetcar to become a major freight boon. Of course, there were rivals in freight operation like the much smaller Portland Traction Company (operated by the local power utilities), but none interchanged more freight than the Oregon Electric between Portland and Eugene. Most of this traffic came from logging camps around the state, where they were brought to the city centers for lumber production, as well as refrigerated car and dry goods deliveries to on-line towns and industries. It is hilariously ironic that while the OE was formed to block the SP's march to Seattle, it ended up using the same tactics that ensured the longevity of SP's own interurban in Southern California. 

The OE also operated express-freight service on its limited trains, like this train at Multnomah Station.
(PDX History)

See the Scenic Pine Trees!

A complete map of the Oregon Electric's main line,
with branches to Corvallis, McMinnville, and Forest Grove.
(American Rails)

OE No. 1001 "Champoeg" brings up the rear of a special run.
The fanciful bunting and lunch buffet service certainly made
the railway stand out among its contemporaries.
(PDXHistory)

Shortly after purchasing the OE, Hill and his investors extended the mainline 25 miles south to Albany by July 4, 1912, and extended another 44 miles south to Eugene by October of that year. The final line, a branch line, connected Albany to Corvallis, 10 miles southwest along the winding Willamette River. With this final branch in place, the OE was officially the largest interurban line in Oregon with 122 miles of track (most of it on the main line). Around Portland, the interurban was able to service much of the city's growing suburbs like Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Beaverton, and Tualatin, ensuring that students and commuters alike did not have to live close to the city and still get to work or school in a timely manner with almost a dozen trains a day. For people outside Portland, the railway was a boon to both business (as farmers and loggers could depend on the cheaper interurban freight rates) and the four-to-five trains running between Portland and Eugene, fostering more urban growth in the Willamette Valley. There were even reduced-fare weekend excursions between Portland and Salem, allowing day-trippers to enjoy the natural beauty of the Willamette River while getting home on time, and the company did this all in the finest first-class style.

Notable Streetcars and Locomotives

Sleeper car, "Santiam", heads a train with sister car "Calapooia" in Eugene, 1913.
(Richard Thompson)

A false-color postcard of the Eugene depot shows the
shade of brown the OE cars were painted in.
(PDXHistory)

Early in the OE's history, their roster was populated by lavish wooden interurban cars from the Niles Car Company of Niles, Ohio. These wooden interurbans came in various configurations on the OE, from normal chair cars and combination baggages, to first-class cars like the two observation-buffets (named "Champoeg" and "Sacajawea"), smoking cars, and even a few sleeper cars for the drowsier clientele. The sleeper cars were used on the late Portland-Eugene runs, with the cars switched onto terminal sidings to allow a full night's sleep. Originally, all of these cars were painted in "traction orange", a light brown color that was popular on its introduction with many interurban railways, but after Hill's ownership all of the cars were painted in a subtle Pullman Green with gold stripes. Because of the OE's slower schedule, emphasizing luxury over speediness, operating speeds were also slow at a leisurely 45 miles per hour and a one-way trip from Portland to Eugene took about 4 hours. 

The handsome, upright-backed and comfy interior of the Niles cars.
(PDXHistory)

Oregon Electric No. 50, truly a homebuilt monster.
The only things that came close were the South Shore's "800s".
(American-Rails)

Freight traffic was handled by standard ALCO-GE steeple cabs that were delivered between June and October, 1912, shortly after SP&S purchased the interurban. However, what everyone remembers the most about the Oregon Electric were its five massive four-truck electric locomotives built between 1941 and 1944. A creation of SP&S' own shops, the first locomotive (No. 50) recycled redundant Niles Company trucks and motors on a span-bolster frame, enabling this giant 1,080-HP engine to negotiate streetcar-sized curves... if the clearances allowed. Four more locomotives (Nos. 51 and 60-62) followed in the intervening years and were built as long-nosed centercab designs. Despite their outrageous size and performance, these locomotives had a very short working life (No. 62 only working for one year) before being replaced by diesels in 1945. The giant locomotives were later purchased by the North Shore Line between Chicago and Milwaukee, where they worked as freight locomotives from 1948 to 1963.

The "improved" SP&S electric locomotives, featuring a center steeple cab and roof extensions
to support the trolley bases and hooks.
(America-Rails)

Dieselization

This early view shows a two car train at 10th and Hoyt in Eugene.
Note the air-ringer bell and locomotive headlight.
(PDXHistory)

The OE's passenger numbers peaked in 1920, but by that point the writing was also on the wall. No freight carrying could stem the company's losses, with SP&S's accountants having to deal with an annual operating debt of $500,000. The Red Electrics, OE's main rival, closed its carhouse doors on October 5, 1929, and the OE followed soon after by closing the Eugene-Corvallis branch in 1931. The next two years were a flurry of closures as SP&S paid its debts off, reducing service down to just essential Eugene and Portland local trains. By 1933, OE's parent company had had enough and announced that they were announcing a complete cessation of all passenger service. On May 13, the last services were rendered between Portland and Eugene and, from that point on, the OE was a purely-freight road. 

OE No. 51 is now North Shore No. 459, now with two
sets of trolley poles to possibly avoid overloading one pole.
(Unknown Author)

Because of the OE's position as a major interchanger, the loss of passenger service helped the interurban's finances bounce back. However, there was still the expensive matter of operating the electrics. OE was purchasing electricity from the Portland Railway Light & Power Company (another streetcar utility that ran Portland Traction) to power its inner city connections at the time, and it was figured that if the line just switched to diesels, then there wouldn't be a matter of electricity bills. Thus, on July 10, 1945, it was decided that the wires would come down for the last time. From that point on, until the 1990s, the Oregon Electric was completely dieselized with its handsome freight locomotives replaced by SP&S' ALCO road switchers. At least they went to better homes...

In this March 18, 1967, view, SP&S RS-3 No. 78 passes by on the old OE line through Albany, Oregon.
(David Lustig)

Surviving Equipment and Remnants

It seems EH Harriman got the last laugh, as P&W GP9 No. 1801 
(painted in SP's Black Widow livery) is seen in Eugene Oregon, September 2016.
(Mike Danneman)

Due to the OE's mainline lasting longer in diesel freight interchanged, most of the line is still in use by rail in one form or another. Most of the line between Tigard and Eugene is operated by shortline Portland & Western (P&W), while ownership is now under SP&S's successor company, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). The BNSF has also divested sections of the line to Portland's public transit agency, Trimet, whose MAX Blue Line now runs on the former OE branch between Hillsboro and Beaverton. Trimet also runs a heavy-rail commuter service on the former line between Tigard and Wilsonville, sharing space with the P&W. As the city of Eugene has renovated and grown, tracks have also been uncovered by city workers in various places, showing just how hidden the abandoned lines actually got. Former stations, like in Eugene, Albany, Multnomah, and Portland's North Bank Terminal, have all been preserved in some fashion and have found new purposes like restaurants, warehouses, and condominiums.

Eugene's Oregon Electric Station, now a nice pizza joint.
(Another Believer)

Black Hills Central Coach No. 65, the "Edward Gillette",
was originally OE No. 65, and those Niles lines are unmistakable.
(Black Hills Central)

As for the rolling stock, eleven interurban cars and two locomotives survive in preservation. The lion's share now operate on the Black Hills Central's "1880 Train" and have been restored as tourist passenger cars, with interurbans eight cars (Nos. 112, 125, 133, 139, 140, 144, 65, and freight trailer 950) in regular service. One of the parlor-observation cars, No. 1001 "Champoeg", found a new home in the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, CA, after being purchased by the Pacific Great Eastern of British Columbia, Canada, for use as a bunk car. It has now been restored to its former glory and can usually be seen operating in a train every so often. Finally, one piece of the OE has managed to find its way home. After being sold to the British Columbia Electric Railway in 1945, steeplecab No. 21 worked under its new owners until 1946, when it was then sold to Edmonton Transit and worked for another thirty-five years. It was donated to the Edmonton Radial Railway Society in 1996, then to the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway in 2012, before finally arriving home to the Oregon Electric Railway Museum in Brooks, Oregon, in 2015. It is currently being restored in its original identity and is the only OE equipment to come back to its home state.

Ex-OE No. 21 as Edmonton Transit No. 2001 on an unknown date, prior to returning to Oregon.
(Unknown Author)

Thank you for reading today's [REWRITTEN] Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included the Oregon Encyclopedia, PDXHistory, "The Spokane, Portland & Seattle" by Charles and Dorothy Wood, and the heritage railroads and museums like the Black Hills Central of Keystone, South Dakota, the Western Railroad Museum of Rio Vista, California, and the Oregon Electric Railway Museum at Antique Portland in Brooks, Oregon. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Tuesday, For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!