 Oregon Pacific 901, anEMD SW900, parked in the American Steel siding in Canby, Oregon | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon |
| Reporting mark | OPR |
| Locale | Oregon,United States |
| Dates of operation | 1991– |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
Oregon Pacific Railroad (reporting markOPR) is ashort-line railroad operating two disconnected routes: one in southeastPortland, Oregon, and another incorporating portions of the formerSouthern Pacific Molalla Branch betweenCanby andLiberal, Oregon.
Dick Samuels, a local businessman owning a scrap steel business, purchased the rights to salvage the remnants of thePortland Traction Company's remaining freight railroad between Portland andBoring. ThePortland Terminal Railroad was once an interurban railroad but had been owned 50/50 by theSouthern Pacific andUnion Pacific railroads since the mid-1950s to handle the remaining freight business along the road. By the mid-1980s the remaining freight business east ofMilwaukie was virtually gone as local land uses shifted from farming and industrial to housing. Some of the last shipments along the railroad wereTriMet's first light rail cars, delivered to its Ruby Junction shops, which were located on a former Portland Traction Companybranch line that had been abandoned years before.
Despite the loss of most business, there was still a handful of shippers that continued to reliably ship by train from an industrial park located in the northern part of Milwaukie along the Portland city boundary. Mr. Samuels purchased the approximately five miles of track from Portland to Milwaukie and formed the East Portland Traction Company to continue rail service to those customers. The customers includedAmericold,Darigold, and theOregon Liquor Control Commission.
In 1993, the East Portland Traction Company began running an excursion train known asSamtrak (named after the owner as well as a play onAmtrak, the national passenger railroad company) from theOregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) to Portland'sSellwood neighborhood. The train itself was modest with a small General Electric45-ton locomotive, an open-air coach made from an old flatcar and a converted former logging railroadcaboose. Although the excursion trains stopped running in 2001, the Oregon Pacific Railroad continues to host special excursions featuring the popular Holiday Express trains usingSouthern Pacific 4449 andSpokane, Portland & Seattle 700 restoredsteam locomotives, as well as severalspeeder (motorcar) runs every year.
Also in 1993, the Oregon Pacific leased the Southern Pacific's Molalla Branch connectingCanby withMolalla. This approximately 10-mile (16 km) route serves several shippers within Canby as well as in the small community of Liberal. However, several miles of track from Liberal into Molalla were abandoned after the loss of all shippers in the town. This operation was originally known as the Molalla Western Railway.
In 1997, both railroads were officially merged into the Oregon Pacific Railroad with the East Portland Traction Company becoming the East Portland Division and the Molalla Western Railway becoming the Molalla Branch Division.
As of 2012[update], the Oregon Pacific continues to operate its two railroads to provide freight service to its shippers. It also allows organizations or private individuals to charter a train, has operated trains featured in at least one movie and several television shows, and operates the popular Christmas time Holiday Express trains.
In December 2024, it was announced the Oregon Pacific Railroad East Portland Division, the 5-mile line between Portland and Milwaukie along theWillamette River, would be acquired by October 2026 by theOregon Rail Heritage Foundation with the goal of continuing and enhancing excursion operations.[1]
| Number | Builder | Model | Built | Former | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | GE | 45-ton | unknown | Unknown scrap yard | Stored out of service. One engine was removed and replaced with a hydraulic boom for lifting rails and ties from the right-of-way. |
| 100 | EMD | SW1 | 1952 | Portland Traction Company 100 | One of two locomotives purchased by the Portland Traction Company specifically for this route. Assigned to the East Portland Division. During a restoration in 2016, thetrolley poles No. 100 carried until 1958 – not for power but to activate signals on the then-electrified sections of track – were reinstalled.[2] |
| 101 | GE | 80-ton | 1956 | Pacific Lumber Company | Scrapped in 2014. |
| 187 | EMD | NW5 | 1946 | Great Northern/Burlington Northern | Scrapped in 2014. |
| 500 | GE | 80-ton | 1950s | U.S. Army | Scrapped. |
| 501 | GE | 80-ton | 1950s | U.S. Army | Sold to CDL Pacific Grain (Portland, OR) in 2014. |
| 801 | EMD | SW8 | 1951 | Great Northern/Burlington Northern | Assigned to the Canby-Liberal line. Burned during the2020 Western United States wildfire season[3] |
| 802/1127 | EMD | SW8 | 1953 | Southern Pacific | Currently being overhauled on the East Portland Line. |
| 803 | EMD | SW8 | 1953 | Texas and New Orleans | Was sold to Western Rail in 2010 and purchased back in 2020. Currently inoperable and assigned to the Canby-Liberal Line. |
| 901 | EMD | SW900 | 1950s | Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway | Rebuilt from an SW8. Assigned to the Canby-Liberal Line. |
| 1202 | GMD | SW1200RS | 1953 | Canadian Pacific | Rebuilt from an SW9. Assigned to the Canby-Liberal Line. |
| 1413 | GMD | GMD1 | 1959 | Canadian National | Purchased in 2010; Assigned to the East Portland Division. 2nd locomotive officially named Eileen Williams Samuels. |
| 5100 | GE | 70-ton | 1949 | Southern Pacific | Purchased in 1989. As of 2001[update], the unit is out of service. Painted in "as-delivered" Southern Pacific paint scheme. As of 2020, the unit was sitting at the OPR shops in Milwaukee. |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
