The main route of the Oregon Electric Railway Company, ultimately stretching from Portland all the way down the Willamette Valley to Eugene, a distance of over 120 miles.
Construction began under the Willamette Valley Traction Company from Salem in 1905, building north towards Portland as franchise rights and the route within that city were obtained – a difficult matter, as the United Railways Company sought rights over the same Front Street route. Once construction reached Chemawa, about five miles north of Salem, some level of scheduled local service between those two points was offered by two 25-passenger single-truck electric cars (painted in safety orange!) from September 1906.
Once construction to Portland as completed, all of the franchises were passed from the Willamette Valley Traction Company to its parent company, the Oregon Electric Railway Company, which then operated the road. The line opened in stages: from Portland to Salem in January 1908, to Albany by July 1912, and finally to Eugene in October 1912. There were early plans to extend the line as far south as Roseburg, but these never eventuated.
The long delay in getting the line extended south of Salem was because of exacting franchise demands from the Salem city council, and property owners looking for payments (that the Oregon Electric thought were excessive) for their now-valuable rights of way. The railway company threatened to cancel the whole project more than once because of these barriers to progress. When the extension finally went ahead, a new line was put in along Front Street in Salem for freight traffic in order to keep High Street for passenger cars only.
Between August 1911 and June 1931, the North Bank Depot served as the Portland terminus, trains running up the middle of SW Salmon Street and 10th Avenue from the older Jefferson Street terminus.
By the time the line was abandoned in May 1933, the once frequent service that had traversed the Willamette Valley had been reduced to one local train a day in each direction between Portland and Eugene. At a State Utility Commission hearing on the abandonment of passenger service, only one person appeared to protest its passing.
In August 2025, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services discovered remnants of the Oregon Electric’s Corbett Street trestle while doing exploratory work for their Carolina Trunk Sewer Project, seemingly buried in place in 1913 when the Corbett gulch was filled in as part of the Oregon Electric’s double-tracking and modernization program.
| Important Dates: | December 11, 1905 – Ground broken for construction in Salem September 8, 1906 – Local service between Salem and Chemawa begins January 1, 1908 – First trains run from Fulton Park to Salem on limited schedule January 3, 1908 – Jefferson Street station opens as Portland terminus January 20, 1908 – First regular passenger schedule established February 18, 1908 – Official opening celebration in Salem August 10, 1911 – North Bank Depot becomes the Portland terminus July 4, 1912 – Passenger service to Albany begins October 15, 1912 – Passenger service to Eugene begins June 19, 1931 – Last day of passenger service to North Bank Depot May 17, 1933 – Last day of passenger service on the main line to Eugene | | --- | --- | | Constructing Company: | ‣ | | Operating Company: | ‣ | | Gauge: | Standard (4-feet, 8.5-inches) | | Headboard: | The Oregon Electric used train numbers to identify their cars | | Car Barns: | Oregon Electric Portland Shops (Hood Street) Oregon Electric Salem Car Barn |