Willamette Shore Trolley
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The Willamette Shore Trolley is a tourist trolley which travels along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in Oregon. The line runs for about six miles, including a passage through the quarter-mile-long Elk Rock Tunnel. The current Portland terminal is at SW Bancroft St. (& Moody St.) in the new high-density South Waterfront neighborhood now under construction. Within a few years it is planned that the Portland Streetcar will be extended to Bancroft St. allowing an easy transfer. The Lake Oswego Terminal is downtown at State St.
Its right-of-way was established in the mid-1880s by the Portland and Willamette Valley Railroad, which began steam-powered service on July 4, 1887. It provided Oswego (as Lake Oswego was known then) with a direct link to Portland. Prior to this, access to Oswego was limited to primitive roads and river boats.
The line was later purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Southern Pacific widened the line from narrow gauge to standard gauge, and electrified it in 1914. This led to its peak in passenger travel in 1920, when 64 trains traveled daily between the two cities. By October 5, 1929, passenger service ended, though the line was used for freight until 1983.
In August 1984, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted Southern Pacific permission to abandon the line. This prompted several local governments in the area to establish a not-for-profit corporation to acquire the line and preserve the right-of-way for future mass transit. The line was purchased in 1988. Since 1990, the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society has operated the trolley service.
The effort to preserve the right-of-way for mass transit continues. There are tentative plans to convert the line into an extension of the Portland Streetcar.
As a tourist attraction, the line is most popular on the Fourth of July, when the Oaks Amusement Park fireworks display is viewable along the river, and in mid-December, when the area's Christmas Ship Fleet parade on the Willamette can be viewed.
External links
- Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society's website about the trolley (http://www.trainweb.org/oerhs/wst.htm)
- Lake Oswego's website about the trolley (http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/engineer/trans/trolley.htm)
- Streetcar Lake Oswego Extension (http://www.nwvirtualtransit.com/projects/portland/lakeoswego.html)
- Willamette Shore Line right-of-way (http://www.metro-region.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=9760)