Along with sister car “Sacajawea,” this car was the pride of the Oregon Electric’s fleet when introduced to the Portland–Salem run on September 12, 1910. For an extra fare, passengers could luxuriate in the opulent carriage – with individual chairs instead of seats – and be served a buffet meal prepared in the car’s own kitchen. “Sacajawea” was destroyed by fire on July 18, 1924, but “Champoeg” operated until the end of passenger service in 1933.

The “Champoeg” repainted and renamed as the PGE’s “Bridge River.” Photo: Don Ross Collection.

“Champoeg” was sold to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in British Columbia, Canada on March 3, 1934 along with other Oregon Electric coaches. It was stripped of its motors and electrical equipment to run behind engines, serving as business car no. 650, “Bridge River.” Most accounts indicate that the car was disposed of by the PGE in 1956, although a newspaper article from May 7, 1959 shows that the Willamette Valley Electric Railway Association only took possession of it then. Perhaps it was sold to a private party in 1956, who then donated it to WVERA in 1959?

After an initial burst of activity, where “Champoeg” and other Oregon Electric cars owned by WVERA (No.’s 65 and 133) were given a fresh coat of paint at the Guilds Lake rail yard in June 1960, very little else happened to the venerable car under WVERA’s stewardship. Initially earmarked for a display at Sellwood-Oaks Pioneer Park which never eventuated, it was moved up to the Trolley Park at Glenwood in 1961.

The dilapidated car as it appeared when sold to the Western Railway Museum in 1974.

There it sat — unprotected and deteriorating — until mid-1974 when it was sold to the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, California. There, the exterior has been restored to its original dark green Oregon Electric livery and number 1001, though it still has no electrical equipment and the interior needs much work to bring it back to its original opulence.

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