Despite legal challenges from Harriman, within a year the line had been built as far as Pasco along the Columbia River, where it connected with NP. The first section to open was from Pasco west to Cliffs (near Maryhill), a length of 112 miles (180km), on December 15, 1907.[6] Operation was extended west to Lyle, 33 miles (53km) further west, on January 15, 1908, as construction continued on the 221-mile (356km) section from Pasco to Vancouver.[6]
In January 1908 "Spokane" was added to the railroad's name, making it the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway.[7][8] A "golden spike" ceremony was held on March 11, 1908 at Sheridan's Point to commerate the completion of the railroad along the Columbia. SP&S freight and passenger service (from Pasco) to Portland was inaugurated in November 1908. (First & Second Subdivisions) [9] By 1909 the railroad had completed construction of its line up to Spokane along the Snake River (Third Subdivision).
In 1910 the SP&S gained control of the Oregon Electric interurban railway, which James J. Hill and the Great Northern had acquired two years before. Under the control of the SP&S (Ninth, Tenth, & Eleventh Subdivision) , the railroad was extended southward to Eugene by 1912.[10] The line was extended from Albany into Lebanon, Oregon and Sweet Home, Oregon in 1931. The Dollar branch was completed from Sweet Home to Dollar, Oregon later that same year.[11]
SP&S also operated a second subsidiary railroad, which James J. Hill purchased in 1907 for 5 million dollars, in northwestern Oregon. This was previously the Astoria and Columbia River Railroad, which created a route in 1898 along the south bank of the Columbia River,[12] from Portland through to Astoria and Seaside.[3] This portion of the SP&S (Sixth & Seventh Subdivision) was known as the "Astoria" or "A" line.[13]
A third route on which the SP&S operated extended southward from Wishram, Washington, to Bend, Oregon, was the Oregon Trunk Railway Company (Fifth Subdivision). Edward Harriman's Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company also was building a railroad south from the Columbia River to Bend resulting in a "railroad war" across opposite sides of the Deschutes River in which each railroad attempted to sabotage the other. In the end, the railroad opened using mostly the track of the Oregon Trunk, with a short portion of the Oregon & Washington Railway & Navigation Company track, and both railroads used the route (an arrangement that still exists with BNSF owning the majority of the line and UP having trackage rights).[4] Building this railroad included construction in 1912 of another railroad bridge across the Columbia River, the Oregon Trunk Rail Bridge, at Wishram, Washington.[14]
The 41 mile branch to Goldendale (Fourth Subdivision), the only branch line in Washington State, began at Lyle Washington.[15] This railroad was originally completed in 1903 as the Columbia River & Northern Railway and was quickly acquired by the SP&S after the 1908 completion along the north bank of the Columbia River.[16] This branch was shut down in 1992.
United Railways later became a branch line of the SP&S (Eighth Subdivision). The finished United Railways line went north from Wilkesboro through Banks, Manning, Buxton and Vernonia, Oregon. At this location, the line turned west, eventually reaching the town of Keasey, and continued on to the county line between Clatsop and Columbia Counties. Several logging companies started operation in the area, and used the United Railways to some extent. However, Oregon American traffic continued to be the largest user of the line. In 1944, the United Railways was dissolved and taken over completely by the Spokane Portland & Seattle Railway. In 1953, the line was sold to Long-Bell Lumber Company and in 1956 Long-Bell was sold to International Paper. International Paper had different plans for the region, and by September 1957 the rail traffic was gone. The line from Vernonia westward was abandoned in 1958.[17]
During World War II the SP&S carried war materials to the Pacific Theatre; new industries located along the Columbia River, taking advantage of cheap electricity from hydroelectric dams on the river, including the Bonneville Dam, The Dalles Dam, and the McNary Dam . New industries served by the SP&S included aluminum plants, sawmills, chemical factories and grain elevators.[18]
In 1954, a SP&S train derailed after hitting a rockslide on the route to Bend, Oregon, killing all crew members. Part of the train landed in the Deschutes River, including a boxcar, which landed in a rapid that was later named "Boxcar Rapids" after the incident.[19]
The history of the railroad is chronicled and preserved by the SP&S Historical Society.[20]
Passenger trains
Dining car of the North Bank Limited
The SP&S's passenger operations mostly involved hosting connections with parents' trains, such as the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited, which were combined to form the Streamliner (No. 1/No. 2). Oriental Limited, Mainstreeter, and Western Star connected with (No. 3/No. 4).[21] However, some of these SP&S trains were named. The Inland Empire Express (daytime) and North Bank Limited (overnight) provided daily, through service between Portland and Spokane.[22] The Columbia River Express (No. 5/No. 6) operated between Portland and Pasco, connecting at Pasco with Northern Pacific No. 5/No. 6 for service to/from Spokane.[23] From 1908 until the 1920s, the SP&S used the North Bank Depot as its Portland Terminus. After the 1920s, it used Portland (Union Station) for their passenger station arrivals and departures.
The only surviving SP&S Business car, the (second) No. 99 or "The Ruth M." (as nicknamed by a later private owner) is in operating condition and being further restored. It was built in 1915 by Barney and Smith and reconfigured by the railroad in 1927, 1948, and lastly in 1959. It resides at the Chehalis–Centralia Railroad since 2017.[when?] The car will be used as "premier seating", and during dinner trains can host a private party of up to eight in its lounge and dining room. As of 2023, the car has been repainted, and is in need of further cosmetic and mechanical repairs. The SP&S Historical Society is assisting with the efforts.
Two surviving SP&S Sleeper/Lounge cars are housed at museums, located at both ends of the reach of the railroad. These were built by the Pullman Standard Manufacturing Co. of Chicago and delivered to the railroad in 1950 at a cost of about $250,000. These cars ran in the Empire Builder service (Trains No. 1/No. 2) between Portland and Spokane. Weighing 131,000 pounds and seating up to 37 (with seating for 22 in the lounge),[24] these lounge cars allowed passengers to buy food and drinks to enjoy with comfortable seating. The Mt. St. Helens No. 601 is at the Inland NW Rail Museum near Spokane.[25] The Mt. Hood No. 600 is owned by the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society [26] and is housed at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland. These cars had a full-length antenna on the car roof. Of special note in the lounge was the push-button Farnsworth AM radio. The cars contained six single-person roomettes and three large 2-person compartments, two of them can be opened to provide a 4-person room.
Four passenger coaches, a baggage-coach, an observation car, a mail storage car, and a Pullman 6-5-2 sleeper car are preserved at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington. Wood coaches 213 and 218 (Barney & Smith 1912) were restored to running order between 2007 and 2019 on the museum's interpretive railway. Steel coaches 275 and 276 are also Barney & Smith products, built in 1915. Coach 275 is in storage awaiting restoration, and 276 is in running order on the museum's interpretive railway. Baggage-coach 272 (Barney & Smith 1915) was built as a coach but later modified to include a baggage section. Wood observation car 556 (Barney & Smith 1912) and steel mail storage car 52 (Barney & Smith 1915) are both in storage awaiting restoration. Mail storage car 52 was originally mail and express car 40. Restoration of the steel Pullman sleeper 701 "Wapinitia Pass" (1950) began in 2023. All of these units were acquired by the Northwest Railway Museum between the early 1970s and early 1980s. [27]
Spokane, Portland and Seattle 804 - A 1953-built EMD F7A, now preserved and to be moved to and restored at the Inland NW Rail Museum in Reardan, Washington.[28] As of 2023, a fund-raising effort is underway to complete the restoration.
Preserved wrecking cranes:
Spokane, Portland and Seattle X-5 - A 1908 Industrial Works (Bay City, Michigan) 75-ton capacity steam wrecking crane, construction number 1825. Donated to the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington in 1972. As of 2023, in storage awaiting restoration. [29]
Spokane, Portland and Seattle X-116 - Originally Great Northern Railway boxcar 4722, built by Haskell & Barker Car Company (Michigan City, Indiana), converted in 1910 to serve as a boom tender to X-5. Acquired by the Northwest Railway Museum in 1975. As of 2023, in storage awaiting restoration. [30]
Wishram is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Klickitat County, Washington, United States. The population was 342 at the 2010 census, up from 213 at the 2000 census. The site of the historic Celilo Falls is nearby.
The Great Northern Railway was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill and was developed from the Saint Paul & Pacific Railroad. The Great Northern's route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the U.S.
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, 33,400 miles (53,800 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.
The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995.
The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland to Eugene.
The BNSF Railway Bridge 5.1, also known as the St. Johns Railroad Bridge or the Willamette River Railroad Bridge, is a through truss railway bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was originally a swing-span bridge, and its swing-span section was the longest in the world at the time. However, 81 years later the main span was converted from a swing-type to a vertical-lift type, in order to widen the navigation channel. The lift span is one of the highest and longest in the world. The bridge consists of five sections, with the two sections closest to the bank on each side fixed.
Portland Union Station is a train station in Portland, Oregon, United States, situated near the western shore of the Willamette River in Old Town Chinatown. It serves as an intermediate stop for Amtrak's Cascades and Coast Starlight routes and, along with King Street Station in Seattle, is one of two western termini of the Empire Builder. The station is a major transport hub for the Portland metropolitan area with connections to MAX Light Rail, the Portland Streetcar, and local and intercity bus services. The station building contains Wilf's Restaurant & Bar on the ground level and offices on the upper floors. It also has Amtrak's first Metropolitan Lounge on the West Coast, which is reserved for first-class sleeping car and business-class passengers.
The North Coast Limited was a named passenger train operated by the Northern Pacific Railway between Chicago and Seattle via Bismarck, North Dakota. It started on April 29, 1900, and continued as a Burlington Northern Railroad train after the merger on March 2, 1970 with Great Northern Railway and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The next year, it ceased operations after the trains which left their originating stations on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak began service, arrived at their destinations.
The Portland and Western Railroad is a 516-mile (830 km) Class II railroad serving the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of shortline and regional railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The PNWR includes a subsidiary, the Willamette and Pacific Railroad.
The Spokane International Railroad was a short line railroad between Spokane, Washington, and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) at Kingsgate, British Columbia. The line became an important one for the CP with its connections to the Union Pacific Railroad and Portland, Oregon.
Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700 is the oldest and only surviving example of the class "E-1" 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive and the only surviving "original" Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway steam locomotive. It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in May 1938. Nearly identical to the class "A-3" Northerns built for Northern Pacific Railway, it burns oil instead of coal.
The Northern Transcon, a route operated by the BNSF Railway, traverses the most northerly route of any railroad in the western United States. This route was originally part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Northern Pacific Railway, Great Northern Railway and Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway systems, merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad system in 1970.
Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 9.6 or BNSF Railway Bridge 9.6, also known as the Columbia River Railroad Bridge, is through truss railway bridge across the Columbia River, between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, owned and operated by BNSF Railway. Built by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) and completed in 1908, it was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River, preceding the first road bridge, the nearby Interstate Bridge, by a little more than eight years.
The Oregon Trunk Rail Bridge or Celilo Bridge is a single-track railroad bridge opened in 1912 over the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It consists of eight steel truss spans and several deck girder spans, and since 1957 it has included a vertical-lift section. The bridge was designed by engineer Ralph Modjeski and erected by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co., of Leavenworth, Kansas.
Rail transportation is an important element of the transportation network in the U.S. state of Oregon. Rail transportation has existed in Oregon in some form since 1855, and the state was a pioneer in development of electric railway systems. While the automobile has displaced many uses of rail in the state, rail remains a key means of moving passengers and freight, both within the state and to points beyond its borders.
The SP&S Class A-1 steam locomotives were a group of 5 identical locomotives. They were used in the rail yards at Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, from 1907 to 1952. They were replaced with diesel-electric switch locomotives.
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway No. 6 was the only locomotive in Class A-2. Purchased from the Northern Pacific Railway for A. B. Hammond's Astoria and Columbia River Railway, number 6 came to the SP&S secondhand. It was used as a switch locomotive until 1931 when it was sold to the St Helens Terminal and Dock Co. at St. Helens Oregon.
The North Bank Depot Buildings, in central Portland, Oregon, United States, are a pair of buildings formerly used as a freight warehouse and passenger terminal for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S). Formed in 1905, the SP&S was commonly known as the North Bank Road during the period in which these buildings were in use. The Portland buildings' passenger facilities were also used by the Oregon Electric Railway after that railway was acquired by the SP&S. Located in what is now known as the Pearl District, the buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. They were in use by the SP&S and its successor, Burlington Northern Railroad, from 1908 until the 1980s. Only the east building was used as a passenger station, and this usage lasted from 1908 until 1931.
The Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge, also known as the BNSF Railway Bridge 8.8, is a swing-span, through truss bridge in Portland, Oregon, United States. Currently owned and operated by BNSF Railway, it crosses an anabranch of the Columbia River known as North Portland Harbor and historically as the Oregon Slough. The bridge's northern end is on Hayden Island, which, along with Tomahawk Island, forms the north shore of the channel. Completed in 1908, the two-track bridge is one of only two swing bridges surviving in Portland, which once had several bridges of that type, both for road and rail traffic. The only other remaining swing bridge in the Portland area is another rail-only bridge on the same line, BNSF's nearby Bridge 9.6, spanning the Columbia River.
1 2 3 "Greatest Year for Railroad Construction: Building in Territory Tributary to Portland During 1906 Breaks All Records—City Now Strategic Point in Struggle of Giants". (January 1, 1907). The Morning Oregonian (Portland), section 2, p. 20.
↑ "Finish Bridge Over Columbia; Steel Structure of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad [sic] Completed—Last Bolt In Yesterday". (June 26, 1908). The Morning Oregonian (Portland), p. 11.
1 2 "History of North Bank Road". (November 6, 1908). The Morning Oregonian, p. 12.
↑ "Important Articles Filed: North Bank Changes Name [from Portland & Seattle Railway Company to Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway Company], Increases Capital and Will Extend". (January 30, 1908). The Morning Oregonian (Portland), p. 11.
↑ "First Train on Hill Road: Regular Passenger Service Inaugurated From Local Terminus". (November 18, 1908). The Morning Oregonian, p. 11.
↑ Grande, Walt (1997). The Northwest's Own Railway, Volume Two, The Subsidiaries. Grande Press. p.138. ISBN0-9634128-1-7.
↑ Grande, Walt (1997). The Northwest's Own Railway, Volume Two, The Subsidiaries. Grande Press. p.235. ISBN0-9634128-1-7.
Railroads in italics meet the revenue specifications for Class I status, but are not technically Class I railroads due to being passenger-only railroads with no freight component.
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