Overview | |
---|---|
Locale | Oregon and California |
Dates of operation | 1906–1912 |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Oregon Eastern Railway was a predecessor of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company that acquired or built most of the Natron Cutoff (a.k.a. Cascade Line) in northern California and southern Oregon, United States. It also made surveys and acquired right-of-way in eastern Oregon, which were subsequently sold to Union Pacific Railroad subsidiary Oregon–Washington Railroad and Navigation Company.
The Natron Cutoff is on the National Register of Historic Places, considered significant to the period 1905 to 1945. [1] The eastern line is now the similarly named Oregon Eastern Railroad
Starting in 1903, the Weed Lumber Company built a private railroad from the main line of the Southern Pacific Company (SP), formerly the Oregon and California Railroad, in Weed to Grass Lake, California. On July 6, 1905, the California Northeastern Railway was incorporated to operate the line as a common carrier. The new company bought the line on July 29, and an SP-funded reconstruction was completed on September 1, 1906, when the line was opened to the public as a leased branch line of the SP. [2] Extensions were completed to Bray on September 6, 1907, Dorris on May 1, 1908, the Oregon state line on August 25, 1908, Worden on November 25, 1908, Ady on January 1, 1909, and finally the whole 86.15 miles (138.64 km) to Klamath Falls, Oregon on May 20, 1909. [3]
On August 21, 1905, the Oregon Eastern Railway was incorporated in the interest of the SP and Union Pacific Railroad (UP), [4] then both controlled by E. H. Harriman. This company surveyed a route from a line of SP lessor Oregon and California Railroad at Natron, near Springfield, over the Cascades in the direction of the UP near Ontario, Oregon. It also planned to build branches south to Klamath Falls and Lakeview, the former connecting with the California Northeastern. This company began construction in November 1909 on the line north from Klamath Falls, soon reaching Chiloquin under lease to the SP. The Oregon Eastern acquired the property of the California Northeastern on December 18, 1911, and on February 12, 1912, the property of the Oregon Eastern was sold to SP lessor Central Pacific Railway, which owned the main line through Weed. [5] The Central Pacific completed two segments on which the Oregon Eastern had begun work: Natron to Oakridge and Chiloquin to Kirk, in May and September 1912 respectively. [3] However, work was then placed on hold while the federal government decided whether the SP's lease of the CP violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. (It had already broken up the SP-UP combination in 1913. [6] )
The Transportation Act of 1920 gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to approve combinations that would serve the public interest, and on February 10, 1923, the ICC approved the SP's continued control of the Central Pacific, which was backed by the Justice Department on June 11. [2] Construction resumed in October, and on September 1, 1926 the Natron Cutoff was completed. [3] Finally, On April 17, 1927, a new line opened between Black Butte (south of Weed) and Grass Lake, replacing the cheaply built former logging line, and allowing the SP to inaugurate the all-Pullman Cascade between San Francisco and Portland over this route. [2] [7]
As for the line into eastern Oregon, the Oregon Eastern sold its surveys and right-of-way to new UP subsidiary Oregon–Washington Railroad and Navigation Company (OWR&N) on December 23, 1910. Some of this property was acquired from the Boise and Western Railway, which had been incorporated on September 13, 1909 in the interest of Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway subsidiary Oregon Trunk Railway to build in the same area. [8] The OWR&N subsequently built the Ontario–Burns Branch on this alignment, branching from the former Malheur Valley Railway at Vale and eventually reaching Burns, which it leased to UP subsidiary Oregon Short Line Railroad for operation. [4]
All of the Cascade Line remains in service as part of the Union Pacific Railroad's I-5 corridor also served by Amtrak's Coast Starlight . The Ontario–Burns Branch in eastern Oregon was sold on November 6, 1989 to shortline Wyoming Colorado Railroad, but the 120 mile majority of the line was abandoned eastward from Burns to Celatom in June 1992. [9] The remainder is still operated by the Wyoming Colorado Railroad as the Oregon Eastern Railroad. [10]
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 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 Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad is a Class II railroad operating between Northern California and Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was previously a mainline owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) between Eugene and Weed, California via Medford, Oregon. SP sold the route on December 31, 1994, in favor of using its route to Eugene via Klamath Falls, Oregon and Cascade Summit.
The Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. state of Kansas. Originally planned as a line from Atchison west into Colorado, and given federal land grants by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 as one of the branches of the Union Pacific Railroad, it was left with a hanging end at Waterville, Kansas, when the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, with which it was to connect, changed its route. The line was acquired by the Union Pacific through a stock purchase by Jay Gould and leased to the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1880. In 1909 the Central Branch was merged into the Missouri Pacific; the latter company came back into the Union Pacific system in 1982. In 1991 the remaining trackage west of Frankfort was leased to the Kyle Railroad.
The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon in the United States. The line was organized as the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railway. The Union Pacific intended the line to be the shortest route from Wyoming to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Construction was begun in 1881 at Granger, Wyoming, and completed in 1884 at Huntington, Oregon. In 1889 the line merged with the Utah & Northern Railway and a handful of smaller railroads to become the Oregon Short Line and Utah Northern Railway. Following the bankruptcy of Union Pacific in 1897, the line was taken into receivership and reorganized as the Oregon Short Line Railroad ("OSL"). The OSL became a part of the Union Pacific System in the Harriman reorganization of 1898.
Black Butte is a cluster of overlapping dacite lava domes in a butte, a satellite cone of Mount Shasta. It is located directly adjacent to the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 at milepost 742 between the cities of Mount Shasta and Weed, California. The I-5 freeway crosses a 3,912 ft (1,192 m) pass, Black Butte Summit, at the western base of the lava domes. The lava domes were extruded at the foot of the cone of Shastina following the period of its major eruptions about 9,000–10,000 years ago.
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 Nevada–California–Oregon Railway was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad originally planned to connect Reno, Nevada, to the Columbia River. However, only 238 mi (383 km) of track were laid so service never extended beyond Lakeview, Oregon. Because of the company’s reputation for mismanagement, it was often called the "Narrow, Crooked & Ornery" railroad.
The Cascade was a passenger train of the Southern Pacific on its route between Oakland, California, and Portland, Oregon, with a sleeping car to Seattle, Washington. The Southern Pacific started the train on April 17, 1927, soon after the opening of its Cascade Line between Black Butte, California, and Springfield, Oregon.
The Oregon Central Rail Road was the name of two railroad companies in the U.S. state of Oregon, each of which claimed federal land grants that had been assigned to the state in 1866 to assist in building a line from Portland south into California. The "East Side Company" of Salem, supported by businessman Ben Holladay, eventually received the grant for its line east of the Willamette River, and was reorganized in 1870 as the Oregon and California Railroad (O&C), which completed the line in 1887. Portland supported the competing "West Side Company", which only built to McMinnville, and was sold to the O&C in 1880. The O&C was later acquired by the Southern Pacific Company, and mostly remains as part of the Union Pacific Railroad's I-5 Corridor; the West Side line is now operated by the Portland and Western Railroad between Beaverton and Forest Grove.
The Southern Transcon is a main line of the BNSF Railway comprising 11 subdivisions between Southern California and Chicago, Illinois. Completed in its current alignment in 1908 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, when it opened the Belen Cutoff in New Mexico and bypassed the steep grades of Raton Pass, it now serves as a mostly double-tracked intermodal corridor.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The Oregon Eastern Railroad (OERR) is a railroad going from Ontario to Celetom Oregon. The railroad is all that is left of the Wyoming Colorado Railroad which started out as the Malheur Valley Railway. The railroad promotes itself as a "safe, reliable and economical method of transportation" and is proud of the fuel efficiency of railroads.
The Puget Sound Shore Railroad and successor Northern Pacific and Puget Sound Shore Railroad built a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad between Puyallup and Seattle, Washington, U.S., and partially constructed a line around the east side of Lake Washington to Woodinville.
The Pengra Pass rail route, also known as the Natron Cutoff, the Cascade Subdivision, or the Cascade Line, is a Union Pacific Railroad line connecting Eugene, Oregon, with Klamath Falls, Oregon. Construction of the line began in 1905 and was completed in the mid-1920s. Its name denotes a mountain pass on the Lane County–Klamath County boundary in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Willamette Pass. The line heads southeast from Eugene, up the Cascades and over Pengra Pass, then southward beside U.S. Route 97 to Klamath Falls, where it splits in two, each track continuing into California. The route has at least 22 tunnels, several snow sheds and multiple bridges across canyons. BNSF has trackage rights between Klamath Falls and Chemult.
Train Mountain Railroad is the world's largest miniature hobbyist railroad near Chiloquin, Oregon, in Klamath County, which is in the south central region of Oregon. It is situated between Klamath Falls, Oregon, approximately 26 miles (42 km) to the south, and Crater Lake National Park to the north. Physical Location: 36941 South Chiloquin Road, Chiloquin, OR 97624, USA.
Ady is an unincorporated historic locale in Klamath County, Oregon, United States.
The history of the Southern Pacific ("SP") stretched from 1865 to 1998.