Authorization for Expenditure (AFE) E-0256, dated July 31, 1913, authorizes the conversion of the section house at Waconda into a substation operator’s cottage.
A bunk house at Waconda was destroyed by fire on May 1, 1918, and a warehouse was similarly destroyed on August 1, 1918.
A January 1936 inventory of the line notes:
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Waconda – M.P. 41.1
Concrete sub-station. Fair condition. Operator’s cottage. Poor condition. Not used. Small freight shed. Poor condition. Two construction car bunk house. Dilapidated condition. Tool house. Poor condition. Not used. Passing track. length 842 ft. 70#, 60#, 56#.
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AFE E-2295, dated February 14, 1936, authorized the retirement of the operator’s cottage.
AFE E-2892, dated December 5, 1944, authorized the retirement of all eight substations on the Oregon Electric network — including Waconda — in preparation for the total abandonment of electric traction on July 10, 1945.
The Waconda substation in a photo dated to July 1961, showing a frame annex adjacent to the concrete substation. Photo: Oregon Historical Society.
Only the shell of the substation remains today – see the entry in the “Remnants” section of the site: Waconda Substation (Oregon Electric)