Oregon Electric Railway Museum

Museum in Brooks, Oregon, United States

Oregon Electric Railway Museum

Sydney car 1187 (built 1912) at the museum

Former name

| Glenwood Electric Railway "Trolley Park"
Established| 1959
Location| Brooks, Oregon, United States
45°03′06″N 122°58′47″W﻿ / ﻿45.051677°N 122.979589°W﻿ / 45.051677; -122.979589
Website| museum.oregontrolley.com

The Oregon Electric Railway Museum is the largest streetcar/trolley museum in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.[citation needed] 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[1] (formerly known as Antique Powerland).

## History[edit]

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[2][3] and regular operation in 1966.[4] It was named Glenwood Electric Railway "Trolley Park"[5] 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,[2][6] and OERHS re-equipped the former sawmill building of the Consolidated Timber Company as a four-track carbarn.[3] The museum property occupied about 26 acres (11 ha),[7] and trolley cars were able to operate on a 1.7-mile (2.7 km) line.[6]

Operation at the Glenwood site ended in autumn 1995.[2]

### Current operations[edit]

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[edit]

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,[8] and again in 1985, for operation in the San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival, predecessor of the F Market & Wharves heritage streetcar line.[9] 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.[10] Four faux-vintage Council Crest cars were eventually built by the Gomaco Trolley Company.[10] | [11][12][13]: 34 & 110
506  |  | 1975
813  |  | Streetcar ("Master Unit")  | 1932  |  | Renumbered to 4012 after regauging for Portland-Oregon City interurban line in 1949–50.  | [14]
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.  | [15]
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.  | [3][16]
1187  |  | O-class tram  | Meadowbank Manufacturing Company | 1912  | Sydney Tramways | 1959  | Provides most of current revenue operations.  | [17]
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.  | [18]
74  |  | Streetcar (Birney)  | American Car Company | 1919  | Fresno Traction Company |  |  | [19]
326  |  |  |  | Tacoma Railway and Power Company |  |  | [19]
1318  |  | Streetcar  | St. Louis Car Company | 1923  | Los Angeles Railway |  |  | [20]
1118  |  | Streetcar (PCC)  | St. Louis Car Company | 1946  | San Francisco Muni |  |  | [19]
1159  |  | Originally built for St. Louis Public Service as car #1726.  | [21]
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.  | [22]
12  |  | Double-decker tram | Hong Kong Tramways | 1952  | Hong Kong Tramways | 1999  | Retired in 1985 and exhibited at Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC.  | [23]
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.  | [13]: 97 [24]
21  |  | Steeple-cab locomotive  | General Electric | 1912  | Oregon Electric Railway | 2017  |  | [25]
254  |  | 1916  | Great Falls Reduction Department  |  | Last used by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company | [26]
351  |  | 1903  | Missoula Street Railway  |  | [27]
401  |  | Baldwin-Westinghouse | 1912  | Timber Butte Milling Company  |  | [28]
604  |  | Trolleybus | Twin Coach | 1940  | Seattle Metro | c. 1970s  |  | [29][30]
648  |  | Pullman-Standard | 1944  | 2000  | Removed from collection in 2018.[30] | [31]
2411  |  | CCF-Brill | 1954  | British Columbia Electric Railway | 2002  |  | [32][30]
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.  | [33][34]
25  |  | [35]
26  |  | [36]
31  |  | [37]
34  |  | [38]
1247  |  | 1937  | [39]
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)[40] streetcar line closed in the mid-1990s,[33] 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.  | [41]
2190  |  | Trailer (passenger)  |  | 1931  | Moved to the museum from storage in Port Mellon, British Columbia in 2015. History similar to # 1048.  | [42]
7020  |  | Streetcar (PCC)  | La Brugeoise | 1952  | Retired in the 2000s.  | [43]
96  |  | Interurban |  | 1930  | Milan, Italy  | 2016  | Acquired from Issaquah Valley Trolley | [44]

## See also[edit]

* Heritage streetcar
* Streetcars in North America

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Oregon Electric Railway Museum". OERHS. Retrieved 2017-08-12.
2. ^ a b c Young, Andrew D. (1997). Veteran & Vintage Transit, p. 90. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. ISBN 0-9647279-2-7.
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ "Trolley Park Opens Soon". The Oregonian. June 26, 1966, p. 35.
5. ^ The Western Railroader For the Western Railfan 1970-08: Vol 33 Iss 8. Internet Archive. Western Railroader. August 1970. p. 33.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: others (link)
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ Jung, Carolyn (July 15, 1983). "Historic Portland trolley car travels south". The Oregonian (Portland).
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ "Portland Council Crest Car 503". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
12. ^ "Portland Council Crest Car 506". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
13. ^ a b Thompson, Richard (2006). Portland's Streetcars. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3115-4.
14. ^ "Portland Broadway Car #813". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
15. ^ "Portland Interurban 1067". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
16. ^ "Blackpool Tram #48". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
17. ^ "Sydney Australia Tram #1187". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
18. ^ "Porto Car #210". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
19. ^ a b c "The Collection". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
20. ^ "Los Angeles Yellow Car # 1318". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
21. ^ "San Francisco Muni PCC #1159". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
22. ^ "Muni LRV 1213". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
23. ^ "Hong Kong Tram # 12". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
24. ^ "Portland Sweeper 1455". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
25. ^ "Oregon Electric Locomotive #21". OERHS. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
26. ^ "Freight Motor 254". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
27. ^ "Freight Motor 351". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
28. ^ "Freight Motor 401". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
29. ^ "Trolley Bus 604". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
30. ^ 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.
31. ^ "Trolley Bus 648". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
32. ^ "Trolley Bus 2411". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
33. ^ a b "Museum News". Tramways & Urban Transit. No. 934\. UK: LRTA Publishing. October 2015. p. 417\. ISSN 1460-8324.
34. ^ "Brussels Sweeper Car #19". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
35. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 25". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
36. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 26". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
37. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 31". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
38. ^ "Brussels Work Tram # 34". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
39. ^ "Brussels Tram # 1247". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
40. ^ Phraner, S. David (1992). "Vintage Trolleys: A National Overview" (PDF). Transportation Research Board. p. 324.
41. ^ "Brussels # 1048". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
42. ^ "Brussels Trailer # 2190". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
43. ^ "Brussels PCC 7020". Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
44. ^ "Milan Interurban #96". OERHS. Retrieved 2017-08-12.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oregon Electric Railway Museum.

* Oregon Electric Railway Museum \- official site
* Five videos on Youtube by subwaymark shows footage of the museum and cars in operation. Also details the move to the new location.
* Video on history of OERHS by "Powerland Heritage Park". Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/AntiquePowerland

* v
* t
* e

Streetcar museums in North America

* Baltimore, MD
* Brooks, OR
* Chattanooga, TN
* Chippewa Lake, OH
* Colesville, MD
* East Haven, CT
* East Troy, WI
* East Windsor, CT
* Edmonton, AB
* Fort Smith, AR
* Fort Worth, TX
* Hesston, IN
* Issaquah, WA
* Kennebunkport, ME
* Kingston, NY
* Lowell, MA
* Minneapolis, MN
* Mt. Pleasant, IA
* Pensacola, FL
* Perris, CA
* Phoenix, AZ
* Rockhill, PA
* Rockwood, ON
* Rush, NY
* Saint-Constant, QC
* St. Louis, MO
* San Francisco, CA (cable cars and railways)
* San Jose, CA
* Savannah, GA
* Scranton, PA
* Shelburne Falls, MA
* South Elgin, IL
* Suisun, CA
* Tucson, AZ
* Union, IL
* Yakima, WA
* Washington, PA

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

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