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The Salem, Falls City and Western Railway (SFC&W) was an American railroad based in Polk County, Oregon that ran between Salem and Black Rock via Dallas and Falls City.
In October, 1901, Louis Gerlinger, Sr. and Charles K. Spaulding announced plans to build a railroad from the Willamette River at Salem to the mouth of the Siletz River on the Oregon Coast, a distance of 65 miles (105 km). The railroad was used for transporting timber. On May 29, 1903, the first train departed from Dallas for Falls City. At the end of June, passenger trains began regularly scheduled trips. At the time, the cost of a one way trip of 9 miles (14 km), with a duration of approximately 40 minutes, was 35 cents.
By 1905, the line was extended further west to Black Rock, where it branched into several lines further out into the timber farms. In 1907, the Southern Pacific (SP) railroad company assumed operation of the Dallas—Black Rock portion of the line. The line reached its original intended terminus, near the banks of the Willamette River, in 1909. SP owned railroad tracks on the other side of the river, and used ferries to transport passengers and goods across the river to its Salem Branch.
SP gained full control of the Salem, Falls City and Western in 1912. SP built what was then known as the Salem, Falls City & Western Railway Bridge or Union Street Railroad Bridge to connect the line to the Valley Main Line in 1913 at Lemrock. SP purchased the railway officially in 1915, and designated it Falls City Branch.
SP provided kerosene-powered rail cars known as McKeen cars. The rail cars were nicknamed "The Skunk" because of the smell from the exhaust fumes; these cars were discontinued by 1930.
Its initial purpose and primary revenue source was logging. Logs from Black Rock were dumped into the Willamette River at varying points, including Winona and Holman. By 1949, a log dump had been installed. At Eola, gravel was dredged from the river and loaded into gondola cars for railroad use. Logging declined following World War II, and what demand remained was converted to truck transport.
The line between Falls City and Black Rock was abandoned in 1960 and removed two years later. By the mid-1960s, trips to Falls City were infrequent. Between West Salem and Gerlinger, the line was rarely used after 1964 and was essentially abandoned in the 1970s. In 1965, the section between Dallas and Falls City was cut back to Buman, where a 3-mile spur led to a lime quarry. Despite the infrequent use of the line for shipping, SP was not allowed to abandon this portion of the branch until 1968. In the early 1970s, the line was further reduced to a point about 1.5 miles west of Dallas.
In Salem, the section of track along Union Street between Lemrock and Willamette River bridge was removed in 1964. SP continued to access the bridge and industries in West Salem via Front and Trade streets until 1980 when these tracks were also removed. At this time, Burlington Northern took over the switching operations in West Salem. Rail service into West Salem was discontinued in the early 1990s.
A 5-mile segment between the former SP Westside line between Gerlinger and Dallas is all that remains of the Falls City branch. The line is owned by Union Pacific and leased and operated by the Portland & Western Railroad as the Dallas District.
Dallas is a city and the county seat of Polk County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,854 at the 2020 census.
The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland to Eugene.
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. 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 Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank of the Columbia River. The railroad later built or acquired other routes in Oregon. The SP&S was merged into the Burlington Northern in March, 1970. Remnants of the line are currently operated by BNSF Railway and the Portland and Western 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.
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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 Albany and Eastern Railroad is a short line railroad in the Willamette Valley of Oregon that was created when the BNSF Railway spun off its Sweet Home Branch Line in May 1998. It operates about 64 miles (103 km) of track and is based in Lebanon, Oregon. The main line runs from Albany to Lebanon, with two branch lines at Lebanon going to Sweet Home and Mill City. At the Albany end of the main line it connects to Union Pacific and BNSF lines.
The Willamette Valley Railway is a short-line railroad that operates in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. It leased a line from Woodburn to Stayton from the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in February 1993, as well as a branch from Geer west to Salem, and purchased the property in 1996. The company also leased a line between Albany and Mill City in 1993, but transferred the lease to the Albany and Eastern Railroad in October 2000.
Louis Gerlinger Sr. was a businessperson in the railroad and timber industries in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century.
Carl Gerlinger, Sr. was an American businessperson in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century.
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 Union Street Railroad Bridge is a vertical lift, Pratt through truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Salem, Oregon, United States, built in 1912–13. It was last used by trains in the early 1990s and was sold for one dollar in 2003 to the City of Salem, which converted it to bicycle and pedestrian use in 2008–2009. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
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 Simpson Investment Company is a privately held holding company based in Seattle, Washington in the US Pacific Northwest that specializes in manufacture of forest products. Founded as a logging company in 1890 by Sol Simpson, the company is now owned by the Reed family.
The Christmas flood of 1964 was a major flood in the United States' Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California between December 18, 1964, and January 7, 1965, spanning the Christmas holiday.
The Southern Pacific Red Electric Lines, also known simply as the Red Electric, was a network of interurban passenger train services operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad in the Willamette Valley of the U.S. state of Oregon from 1914 to 1929. The service got its name from the bright red color of its cars. Despite its short history, among West Coast interurbans it was unique, and it was considered the finest such system in the Pacific Northwest. It was the only major electric interurban railroad converted from steam to electric passenger use. It was also one of few systems using all-steel equipment, and one of the largest 1500-volt systems in the country.
Black Rock is an unincorporated community and former logging camp in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It is located about three miles west of Falls City, in the Central Oregon Coast Range on the Little Luckiamute River.