Title: Oregon Central Railroad records

Dates: 1867-1870

Collection Number: MS 136

Creator/Collector: Oregon Central Railroad

Extent: 1 half-box

Repository: California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Abstract: Financial records and bridge alignment notes from the construction of the Oregon Central Railroad.

Language of Material: English

This collection is open for research at our off-site storage facility with one week's notice. Contact Library & Archives staff to arrange for access.

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Capital District Collections Manager. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Oregon Central Railroad records. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Gift of Southern Pacific Railroad, New York Collection.

• 1. The Oregon Central Railroad (East Side) 20.08 miles from east Portland south to New Era, Oregon, was incorporated April 22, 1867, built during 1868 and 1869, and reached New Era December 24, 1869, although it was not opened to traffic until after sold to the O&C on March 29, 1870. •2. The Oregon Central Railroad (West Side) 46.80 miles from Portland via Gaston to St. Joseph was incorporated November 17, 1866, and constructed between April 15, 1868, and November 3, 1872. Despite the similarity of names, this was a rival of the east side company. It was operated by its own organization from the time the first section was put in operation - December 1871 - to September 1, 1879, although it had come under control of the O&C on July 2, 1870, and from that date until October 6, 1880, by the Western Oregon Railroad as lessee. It was sold to the O&C October 6, 1880. This section of track later formed a part of the Southern Pacific's electric interurban service in Oregon which started in 1912 and 1913. The section between Bertha (near Portland) and Beaverton, 5.92 miles, was abandoned in 1932. [Guy Dunscomb, A CENTURY OF SOUTHERN PACIFIC STEAM LOCOMOTIVES, 1862-1962 (Modesto, California: 1967), p. 395]

Miscellaneous volumes include bridge alignment notes, a journal of minutes, and a volume of subscriptions to the Portland Subsidy Fund to raise money for construction of the Oregon Central Railroad between 1867 and 1870.