Samtrak was a heritage railroad that operated in Oregon from 1993 to 2001. [1] [2]
A heritage railway is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period in the history of rail transport.
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West Coast of the United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The parallel 42° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. Oregon is one of only four states of the continental United States to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean.
Samtrak was a passenger train operated by the Oregon Pacific Railroad, and named after the owner of the railroad, Dick Samuels. The trains ran a 3.8 mile route from OMSI to the foot of S.E. 11th Avenue, with a stop at Oaks Amusement Park. At the 11th Avenue end of the route, the railroad owned a building used by the former Portland Traction Company railroad and began a small railroad museum with a variety of historic diesel locomotives. While the museum was not built and the building sold, the locomotives are still owned by the Oregon Pacific Railroad; Samuels remains committed to a railroad museum in Portland and has a proposal for such a museum to be located near Oaks Park (itself intended to have been a railroad museum, featuring the three steam locomotives donated to the City of Portland: the Southern Pacific 4449, the Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700, and the Union Pacific 3203).
Oregon Pacific Railroad is a short-line railroad operating two disconnected routes: one in southeast Portland, Oregon, and the former Southern Pacific Molalla Branch between Canby and Liberal, Oregon.
Oaks Park is a small amusement park located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The park opened in May 1905 and is one of the oldest continually operating amusement parks in the country.
Southern Pacific 4449, also known as the Daylight, is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's GS-4 class of steam locomotives. There is one other GS-class locomotive surviving, but it is a GS-6. The locomotive is a streamlined 4-8-4 (Northern) type steam locomotive. GS is abbreviated from "Golden State", a nickname for California, or "General Service". The locomotive was built by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, for SP in May 1941; it received the red-and-orange "Daylight" paint scheme for the passenger trains of the same name which it hauled for most of its service career. No. 4449 was retired from revenue service in 1956 and put into storage. In 1958 it was donated, by the railroad, to the City of Portland, who then put it on static display in Oaks Amusement Park, where it remained until 1974. It was restored to operation for use in the American Freedom Train, which toured the 48 contiguous United States for the American Bicentennial celebrations. Since then, 4449 has been operated in excursion service throughout the continental US; its operations are based at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center in Portland, where it is maintained by a group of dedicated volunteers called Friends of SP 4449. In 1983, a poll of Trains magazine readers chose the 4449 as the most popular locomotive in the nation.
The original cost to ride Samtrak was $3. In 1995, the cost was increased to $4. [3]
Samtrak ran Tuesday through Sunday during the summer and for special events and holidays, such as Memorial Day and Holiday Junction at OMSI. [4]
The passenger excursion train originally consisted of a 25-ton General Electric diesel locomotive, but was later upgraded to a 45-ton GE locomotive, and an open-air passenger car. In June 1994, the railway purchased an antique 1926 caboose from the Northern Pacific Railway and added it to the train. Riding in the cupola of the caboose cost an extra dollar. [5]
The GE 45-ton switcher is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by GE between 1940 and 1956.
A passenger car is a piece of railway rolling stock that is designed to carry passengers. The term passenger car can also be associated with a sleeping car, baggage, dining, railway post office and prisoner transport cars.
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly forty million acres of land grants, which it used to raise money in Europe for construction.
After Samtrak stopped running, the original 25-ton diesel locomotive and the open passenger car were stored by the Oregon Pacific Railroad until donated to the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society in May 2005. [6] The open-air passenger car however was returned to the Oregon Pacific Railroad. Although the SamTrak trains no longer run, the Oregon Pacific Railroad has hosted excursions using the Southern Pacific 4449 and Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700 steam locomotives, notably during the "Holiday Express" excursions for two weekends each December (beginning in 2004), and a weekend of excursions with the SP&S 700 steam locomotive in June. The Oregon Pacific has been a proud sponsor and participant of these public excursion trains and has made significant improvements to its track to accommodate these heavy steam engines.
The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society (OERHS) is a non-profit organization in the U.S. state of Oregon, founded in 1957. It owns and operates a railroad museum for electric streetcar and railway enthusiasts, and also operates a separate heritage streetcar line, the Willamette Shore Trolley.
Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700 is the oldest and only surviving example of the E-1 class 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotive. Nearly identical to the A-3 class Northerns built for Northern Pacific Railway, it burns oil instead of coal.
The 45-ton locomotive was sold in 2009 to the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad to assist in rebuilding their railroad; however the POTB later chose to abandon that effort and their railroad is now inactive. The locomotive was sold again.
It is now possible to charter the former Samtrak train (with one of Oregon Pacific's regular diesel locomotives) for birthday parties or other gatherings.
