Portland and Western Railroad - Trackage

Trackage

In Rainier, Hillsboro, Salem, Albany, Harrisburg, Junction City and Independence the line has street running through the town. Corvallis had significant street running in the past but the majority of the street, 6th Avenue, has been curb-separated from the railroad tracks.

Although a young railroad, the Portland & Western operates over some of the oldest trackage in Oregon. Segments of PNWR include portions of railroads of the following heritages:

• The Oregon Central Railroad, one of the first bids for a railroad to California, begun in 1867
• The narrow gauge granger railroads Dayton, Sheridan and Grand Ronde Railroad and Portland and Willamette Valley Railway, dating from the 1880s
• The original 1880s Northern Pacific Railroad transcontinental mainline
• The original Oregon Pacific Railroad, a failed transcontinental attempt to link Yaquina to the Midwest
• The Oregon Electric Railway, an extensive electric interurban railway that linked Portland and Eugene
• The Southern Pacific's "Red Electric" interurban