The shell of the Pirtle substation in 2021. Photo by Mark Kavanaugh.

An electrical substation built by the Oregon Electric railway as part of their southern extension to Eugene in 1912. Though the transforming equipment the substation once held is long gone, the imposing concrete shell remains, now covered by graffiti.

Some strange misinformation exists about this substation. First is the name that often gets applied to it, the “Pirtle Transfer Station,” which makes no sense. Passengers transferred from the main line to the Corvallis branch one station further south at Gray, not here. And power gets transformed, not transferred, so that’s not it either. Second is the idea that the station contained some sort of steam-powered electricity generation plant, which it did not. Where would the water that such a plant would require come from? This substation, like all the others on the line, simply stepped down (or “transformed”) the 60,000-volt AC current that came into the station on high-tension power lines to the 1,200-volt DC current required to power the trains.

The Pirtle substation under construction. This looks like the north-facing wall as the doorway and windows are taller than on the south face (see photo below).

The Pirtle substation with a northbound Oregon Electric train passing by. (Note: This photo is very similar to another that is identified as the Orville substation in the January 1916 edition of Brill Magazine.)