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Oregon Electric Railway Museum

Coordinates: 45°03′06″N 122°58′47″W / 45.051677°N 122.979589°W / 45.051677; -122.979589
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Oregon Electric Railway Museum
Sydney car 1187 (built 1912) at the museum
Map
Former name
Glenwood Electric Railway "Trolley Park"
Established1959
LocationBrooks, Oregon, United States
45°03′06″N 122°58′47″W / 45.051677°N 122.979589°W / 45.051677; -122.979589
Websitemuseum.oregontrolley.com

The Oregon Electric Railway Museum is the largest streetcar/trolley museum in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.[1] It is owned and operated by the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society and is located in Brooks, Oregon, on the grounds of Powerland Heritage Park[2] (formerly known as Antique Powerland).

History

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The carbarn at the old site (1959–1995), in Glenwood, known as the Trolley Park

The original museum opened in Glenwood, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Portland, in 1959, with the first operation of streetcars taking place in 1963[3][4] and regular operation in 1966.[5] It was named Glenwood Electric Railway "Trolley Park"[6] or, more commonly, the Trolley Park, but its formal name in later years was the same as that of the present museum. The Glenwood museum was built on the site of a former steam logging railroad,[3][7] and OERHS re-equipped the former sawmill building of the Consolidated Timber Company as a four-track carbarn.[4] The museum property occupied about 26 acres (11 ha),[8] and trolley cars were able to operate on a 1.7-mile (2.7 km) line.[7]

Operation at the Glenwood site ended in autumn 1995.[3]

Current operations

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Carbarn at Brooks (2016)

The current museum opened in Brooks in 1996. The museum consists of about one mile of mainline track with overhead wire. There is a four-track carbarn to store the international collection of streetcars.

The museum is open from May through October with trolley operations on Saturdays. The big event of the year is the annual Steam-Up, held on the last weekend of July and the first weekend of August. Thousands of riders use the trolley during these two weekends.

Collection

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Rolling stock at the Oregon Electric Railway Museum
No. Image Type Mfr. Built Service Acquired Notes Refs.
503 Streetcar (Council Crest) Brill 1904 Portland Railway, Light and Power Company One of the two Portland "Council Crest" Brill cars, No. 503, was loaned to San Francisco in 1983,[9] and again in 1985, for operation in the San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival, predecessor of the F Market & Wharves heritage streetcar line.[10] In the late 1980s, Portland's transit agency, Tri-Met, used cars 503 and 506 as the models for new replica-vintage streetcars it was planning to purchase for use on the then-planned Portland Vintage Trolley service.[11] Four faux-vintage Council Crest cars were eventually built by the Gomaco Trolley Company.[11] [12][13][14]: 34 & 110 
506 1975
813 Streetcar ("Master Unit") 1932 Renumbered to 4012 after regauging from narrow to standard gauge for Portland-Oregon City interurban line in 1949–50. [1][15]
1067 Interurban Milwaukie Shops 1907 1981 One of two donated to museum in 1981; the other (#1065) was scrapped. Both had been stripped for use as cabins at Cannon Beach since 1946. [16]
48 Double-decker tram Blackpool Tramway 1928 Blackpool Tramway 1964 Double-decker 48 ran on the Willamette Shore Trolley line in Portland before it was retired in 2004 and moved to the museum in 2006. Returned to service in 2017. [4][17]
1187 O-class tram Meadowbank Manufacturing Company 1912 Sydney Tramways 1959 Provides most of current revenue operations. [1][18]
210 Streetcar CCFP Company Shops 1940 Companhia Carris de Ferro do Porto (CCFP) 2006 Single-truck car; renumbered to 201 in 1994, at time of retirement from service.[1] [19]
74 Streetcar (Birney) American Car Company 1919 Fresno Traction Company [20]
326 Tacoma Railway and Power Company [20]
1318 Streetcar St. Louis Car Company 1923 Los Angeles Railway [21]
1118 Streetcar (PCC) St. Louis Car Company 1946 San Francisco Muni [20]
1159 Originally built for St. Louis Public Service as car #1726. [22]
1213 US SLRV Boeing-Vertol 1977 2000 Originally numbered 1221, one of two prototypes to operate with a trolley pole; later fitted with a pantograph and renumbered to 1213. [1][23]
12 Double-decker tram Hong Kong Tramways 1952 Hong Kong Tramways 1999 Retired in 1985 and exhibited at Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC. [24]
1455 Snow sweeper McGuire 1899 Portland Railway, Light and Power Company Originally built for East Side Railway; transferred to Oregon Water Power and Railway in 1902, and renumbered to 102 at that time, then to 1455 by PRL&P in 1906. Retired in 1954. [14]: 97  [25]
21 Steeple-cab locomotive General Electric 1912 Oregon Electric Railway 2017 [26]
254 1916 Great Falls Reduction Department Last used by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company [27]
351 1903 Missoula Street Railway [28]
401 Baldwin-Westinghouse 1912 Timber Butte Milling Company [29]
604 Trolleybus Twin Coach 1940 Seattle Metro c. 1970s [30][31]
648 Pullman-Standard 1944 2000 Removed from collection in 2018.[31] [32]
2411 CCF-Brill 1954 British Columbia Electric Railway 2002 [33][31]
19 Streetcar (work cars) Les Tramways Bruxellois [fr] 1934 Brussels, Belgium 2015 Moved to the museum from storage in Port Mellon, British Columbia in 2015. Originally built as passenger cars and converted to work service in the 1970s. [34][35]
25 [36]
26 [37]
31 [38]
34 [39]
1247 1937 [40]
1048 Streetcar (passenger) 1937 Moved to the museum from storage in Port Mellon, British Columbia in 2015. Originally built as #1608. Retired in 1975, it was sold in 1984 to the Grand Cypress Resort, a then-new 930-acre (380 ha) resort near Orlando, Florida, where a streetcar line opened in 1985 to carry guests around the vast property. The 3.5-mile (5.6 km)[41] streetcar line closed in the mid-1990s,[34] and two of its cars were eventually moved to B.C. after being acquired by the owner of the other ex-Brussels streetcars now at OERM. [42]
2190 Trailer (passenger) 1931 Moved to the museum from storage in Port Mellon, British Columbia in 2015. History similar to # 1048. [43]
7020 Streetcar (PCC) La Brugeoise 1952 Retired in the 2000s. [1][44]
96 Interurban 1930 Milan, Italy 2016 Acquired from Issaquah Valley Trolley [45]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Russell, Mike (June 2018). "Tram Diversity in Oregon". Tramways & Urban Transit. No. 966. UK: Mainspring Enterprises Ltd. pp. 236–237. ISSN 1460-8324.
  2. ^ "Oregon Electric Railway Museum". OERHS. Retrieved 2017-08-12.
  3. ^ a b c Young, Andrew D. (1997). Veteran & Vintage Transit, p. 90. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. ISBN 0-9647279-2-7.
  4. ^ a b c Price, J. H. (August 1978). "Museum News", five-page article about OERHS and its museum in Glenwood. Modern Tramway, pp. 270–273, 276. UK: Ian Allan Publishing.
  5. ^ "Trolley Park Opens Soon". The Oregonian. June 26, 1966, p. 35.
  6. ^ The Western Railroader For the Western Railfan 1970-08: Vol 33 Iss 8. Western Railroader. August 1970. p. 33.
  7. ^ a b Marsh, Willard W. (March 29, 1983). "Trolley Museum: Head for Glenwood if a trip aboard a vintage streetcar is your desire". The Seattle Times, p. C4.
  8. ^ Pierce, J. Kingston (September 7, 1982). "The Land of Lost Trolleys: These old streetcars from days gone by have found a home at the Trolley Park". The Valley Times (Beaverton, Oregon), pp. C1–C2.
  9. ^ Jung, Carolyn (July 15, 1983). "Historic Portland trolley car travels south". The Oregonian (Portland).
  10. ^ Ehrlich, Peter (2012). "Chapter 3: The Trolley Festivals". San Francisco's F-Line. Trafford Publishing. pp. 47, 55, 160. ISBN 978-1-4669-3739-0.
  11. ^ a b Morgan, Steve (Spring 1992). "Portland's New/Old Trolleys". The New Electric Railway Journal. Free Congress Foundation. ISSN 1048-3845. Retrieved 2017-08-12.
  12. ^ "Portland Council Crest Car 503". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  13. ^ "Portland Council Crest Car 506". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  14. ^ a b Thompson, Richard (2006). Portland's Streetcars. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3115-4.
  15. ^ "Portland Broadway Car #813". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  16. ^ "Portland Interurban 1067". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  17. ^ "Blackpool Tram #48". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  18. ^ "Sydney Australia Tram #1187". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  19. ^ "Porto Car #210". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  20. ^ a b c "The Collection". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  21. ^ "Los Angeles Yellow Car # 1318". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  22. ^ "San Francisco Muni PCC #1159". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  23. ^ "Muni LRV 1213". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  24. ^ "Hong Kong Tram # 12". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  25. ^ "Portland Sweeper 1455". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  26. ^ "Oregon Electric Locomotive #21". OERHS. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  27. ^ "Freight Motor 254". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  28. ^ "Freight Motor 351". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  29. ^ "Freight Motor 401". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  30. ^ "Trolley Bus 604". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  31. ^ a b c "Preservation Update". Trolleybus Magazine. Vol. 56, no. 350. UK: National Trolleybus Association. March–April 2020. p. 65. ISSN 0266-7452. OCLC 62554332.
  32. ^ "Trolley Bus 648". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  33. ^ "Trolley Bus 2411". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  34. ^ a b "Museum News". Tramways & Urban Transit. No. 934. UK: LRTA Publishing. October 2015. p. 417. ISSN 1460-8324.
  35. ^ "Brussels Sweeper Car #19". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  36. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 25". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  37. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 26". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  38. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 31". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  39. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 34". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  40. ^ "Brussels Tram # 1247". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  41. ^ Phraner, S. David (1992). "Vintage Trolleys: A National Overview" (PDF). Transportation Research Board. p. 324.
  42. ^ "Brussels # 1048". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  43. ^ "Brussels Trailer # 2190". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  44. ^ "Brussels PCC 7020". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  45. ^ "Milan Interurban #96". OERHS. Retrieved 2017-08-12.
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