The Oregon Electric sleeping cars at Eugene, c. 1913. “Santiam” is in the foreground, with “Calapooia” behind.

One of a pair of sleeping cars ordered by the Oregon Electric Railway in May 1912 [Authorization for Expense E-0106] from the Barney & Smith Car Company, the other being No. 1011, “Calapooia.” The cars were named after tributary rivers to the Willamette. The cars arrived in Portland on October 7, 1912, just in time for the opening of the main line all the way down to Eugene. Sleeper “owl” service was inaugurated with the last train of the day on October 17, 1912, though I do not know which of the two cars was used for the trip.

Sleeper service on the Oregon Electric only lasted about six years, with the last service running on October 30, 1918. The United States Railroad Administration was administering the railway at the time as part of their effort to nationalize America’s railroads during the First World War, and costly, employee-heavy sleeper services were being strongly discouraged. The service was not reinstated after the war, although the Oregon Electric retained the sleeper cars until mid-1924, when they were both sold to the Pacific Great Northern Railway in British Columbia.

The “Santiam” was repainted and renamed as the “Quesnel” by the PGE, but I know little of its history and disposition after this. It would seem to have been eventually retired and broken up, as it is not in the hands of any railroad preservation society today.

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