Sumpter Valley Railway

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Sumpter Valley Railway
File:Sumpter Valley Railway logo.jpg
Locale Sumpter, Oregon
Terminus McEwen, Oregon
Commercial operations
Name Sumpter Valley Railway
Original gauge 3 ft (914 mm)
Preserved operations
Operated by Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration Inc.
Stations 2
Length 5.1 miles (8.2 km)
Preserved gauge 3 ft (914 mm)
Commercial history
Opened 1890
Sumpter Valley Railway Historic District
Nearest city Bates, Oregon
Area 1,223.8 acres (495.3 ha)
Built 1890 (1890)
NRHP Reference # 87001065[1]
Added to NRHP August 3, 1987

The Sumpter Valley Railway, or Sumpter Valley Railroad, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge heritage railroad located in Baker County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. Built on a right-of-way used by the original railway of the same name, it carries excursion trains on a roughly 5-mile (8.0 km) route between McEwen and Sumpter.[2] The railroad has two steam locomotives and several other pieces of rolling stock.[3] Passenger excursion trains operate on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through the end of September.[3]

History

Incorporated in 1890, the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railway's initial purpose was to haul logs to a sawmill in South Baker City. The builders of the railway owned the Grande Ronde Lumber Company in Perry, Oregon, and the railway was financed by Mormons in Utah.[4]

By 1891, the line had reached McEwen, 22 miles (35 km) west of Baker City, and the railroad began offering passenger and freight service. To reach uncut forests further west, the company extended the line in stages. It reached Sumpter in 1896 and continued southwestward to Whitney, Tipton, Austin and Bates. By 1910, it arrived in Prairie City, a ranching and mining community along the John Day River in Grant County.[5]

Ten years later, the railway began losing business to automobiles and trucks, and in 1933 the 20 miles (32 km) of track between Prairie City and Bates were abandoned. Scheduled passenger service on the remaining line ended in 1937. In 1947, the railroad ceased all operations except for 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of track in the Oregon Lumber Company yard in South Baker City. This last section was abandoned and removed in 1961.[5]

Heritage operation

In 1971, a group of volunteers set out to rebuild the Sumpter Valley Railway. Locomotive No. 3, a 1915 Heisler-type steam locomotive, was restored to operation in 1976, and the new railway opened for business on July 4, 1976, over a track of less than 1 mile (1.6 km).[2] The Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration Inc. was created and 6 miles of track were reinstalled by hand over the next 15 years, to connect the McEwen, Oregon station with Sumpter, Oregon. SVR No. 19, a type 2-8-2 steam locomotive built in 1920, was restored to operating condition in 1996.[6]

In 2007, the railway opened its reproduction of the original Sumpter Depot, within sight of the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area operated by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The railway operates a number of historic Sumpter Valley Railroad and adjoining 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge logging railroad steam locomotives and equipment on the line every summer.[2]

In Prairie City at the western end of the original line, the Sumpter Valley Depot Restoration Committee renovated the Sumpter Valley Railway Passenger Station in the 1970s. The City of Prairie City has used it to house the DeWitt Museum since 1984. Its collections include lanterns, lights, and other railway artifacts, and photographs of train wrecks and of life along the rail line.[7]

Gallery

  • Sumpter Valley Railroad Train (Baker County, Oregon scenic images) (bakDA0073a).jpg

    Excursion train on the line in 2010

  • Sumpter Valley Railway railcar - Sumpter Oregon.jpg

    Railcar of the Sumpter Valley Line

  • DeWittMuseum.jpg

    DeWitt Museum in Prairie City, Oregon, a former SVR passenger station

  • Sumpter Valley Railroad 1913.JPG

    Scene near Baker City, Oregon in 1913.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Brown, Greg (July 1996). "Excursion, Rail Festival Mark Portland's Union Station Centennial". RailNews, p. 10.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

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