| Willamette Shore Trolley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Car 513 passing the new Sellwood Bridge in 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | Willamette Shore Railway (1987–90) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Operating | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Clackamas / Multnomah counties, Oregon, USA, in Portland metropolitan area | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini |
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| Website | http://wst.oregontrolley.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | Heritage streetcar, seasonal operation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) |
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| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1987 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 5.51 miles (9 km) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrification | None; electricity supplied by portable diesel generator | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating speed | 15 mph (24 km/h) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Willamette Shore Trolley is a heritage railroad or heritage streetcar that operates along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in the U.S. state of Oregon. The right-of-way is owned by a group of local-area governments who purchased it in 1988 in order to preserve it for potential future rail transit.[1] Streetcar excursion service began operating on a trial basis in 1987, lasting about three months, and regular operation on a long-term basis began in 1990. The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society has been the line's operator since 1995.
The railroad offers passenger excursions using a historic or replica-historic trolley on a former Southern Pacific line previously known as the Jefferson Street branch. The line runs for 5.5 miles (9 km), including a passage through the 0.25-mile-long (0.4 km) Elk Rock Tunnel. The Lake Oswego terminal is downtown, alongside State Street (Oregon Route 43) just south of A Avenue. The location of the Portland terminal has varied over the years, but since fall 2003 it has been at SW Bancroft Street and Moody Avenue in the new high-density South Waterfront neighborhood under construction, a location that was only one block south of the Portland Streetcar terminus at SW Lowell Street and Moody Avenue after the latter's extension in 2007. However, all service on the Willamette Shore line was suspended in July 2010, when the line's only streetcar broke down.[2] In early 2013, a lease was secured on a replacement streetcar, a Gomaco-built faux-Vintage Trolley, to enable a resumption of service on the southernmost portion of the line,[3] and that section of the line reopened in August 2014.[4] Service over the northern half of the line, to Bancroft Street in Portland, was restored on July 21, 2017,[5] but has been suspended again since the end of 2019, awaiting trestle repair work, leaving only the line's southernmost section in operation for the time being.
- ^ Oliver, Gordon (October 27, 1988). "Purchase of Jefferson rail line approved". The Oregonian.
- ^ Tramways & Urban Transit magazine, April 2011, p. 153.
- ^ Hansen Murphey, Kara (March 28, 2013). "New trolley almost ready to roll in Lake Oswego". Lake Oswego Review. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
trib-2014aug6was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Willamette Shore Trolley (Facebook page)". Facebook. July 20, 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-02-26. Retrieved 2017-08-21.