Willamette Shore Trolley

Willamette Shore Trolley
Car 514 approaching Lake Oswego in 2014
Overview
Type	Heritage streetcar, seasonal operation
Status	Operating
Locale	Clackamas / Multnomah counties, Oregon, USA, in Portland metropolitan area
Termini	Lake Oswego (State St. near A Ave.) Portland (Moody & Bancroft); service temporarily cut back from Portland to Powers Marine Park (no boarding at this location)
Website	http://wst.oregontrolley.com
Operation
Opened	1987
Operator(s)	Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

The Willamette Shore Trolley is a heritage railroad or heritage streetcar that operates along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in the U.S. state of Oregon. The right-of-way is owned by group of local-area governments who purchased it in 1988 in order to preserve it intact for possible rail transit use in the future. Streetcar excursion service began operating on a trial basis in 1987, lasting about three months, and regular operation on a long-term basis began in 1990. The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society has been the line's operator since 1995.

The railroad offers passenger excursions using a historic or replica-historic trolley on a line previously known as the Jefferson Street Branch Line. The line runs for about 6 miles (9.7 km), including a passage through the 0.25-mile (0.4 km)-long Elk Rock Tunnel. The Lake Oswego terminal is downtown, alongside State Street (Oregon Route 43) just south of A Avenue. The location of the Portland terminal has varied over the years, but since 2003 it has been at SW Bancroft St. (& Moody Ave.) in the new high-density South Waterfront neighborhood under construction, a location that was only one block south of the Portland Streetcar terminus at SW Lowell St. (& Moody Ave.) after the latter's extension in 2007. However, all service on the Willamette Shore line was suspended in July 2010, when the line's only streetcar broke down. In early 2013, a lease was secured on a replacement streetcar, a Gomaco-built faux-Vintage Trolley, to enable a resumption of service on the southernmost portion of the line. The line reopened on August 16, 2014.

The right-of-way now used by the Willamette Shore Trolley's was established in the mid-1880s by the Portland and Willamette Valley Railway, which began passenger service with steam trains on July 4, 1887. It provided Oswego (as Lake Oswego was known then) with a direct link to Portland. Prior to this, access to Oswego was limited to primitive roads and river boats.