Welcome to the first of a series of weekly blogs (I hope) in which I choose a random (or not so random) railway station from anywhere in North America and write a short piece on it. The station does not have to still exist, or it may be a brand new station. It could be the most ordinary station on the Amtrak system or a historic piece of architecture. The possibilities are only limited by the history I can dig up on it before posting time.
I would love feedback from any and all readers, including suggestions for how to improve this blog (a unique style will be coming soon!) and I'll take station suggestions as well.
THIS WEEK: ALBANY, OREGON (OREGON ELECTRIC)
The Oregon Electric Railway was established in 1908 as a way to serve Willamette Valley rail passengers without the smoke and cinders that were commonplace on the nearby Southern Pacific mainline. In fact, OE advertising literature used the phrase "No soot - no cinders!" to promote the clean service available, which was a real selling point considering that a lot of SP cars did have open windows. The OE was designed to go from Portland to Eugene using as much tangent track as possible and, of course, use electric power.
The OE reached Albany on July 4, 1912, two years after being purchased by Spokane Portland & Seattle. The new station was still under construction when the rails were laid down the middle of 5th Avenue. Located at 5th and Lyon in Albany, the station was of a standard design with distinctive OE architecture, specifically the very large arched windows in the front of the building. There was also an OER herald in the dormer above the windows.
The station served passengers and mail on the OE as well as a streetcar line on Lyon Street. Passenger traffic was moderate; the timetable from September 21, 1925, shows five passenger trains each way daily. Four of these round-trips served Eugene; the other served Corvallis although it is unclear in the timetable whether this service was provided by a connecting car from Gray or by the trains (7 and 20) themselves.
Sadly, passenger traffic declined with the rise of the automobile and by 1932 the OE was down to just one train each way, nos. 9 and 12, between Eugene and Portland. The last run was in 1933.
I would love feedback from any and all readers, including suggestions for how to improve this blog (a unique style will be coming soon!) and I'll take station suggestions as well.
THIS WEEK: ALBANY, OREGON (OREGON ELECTRIC)
The Oregon Electric Railway was established in 1908 as a way to serve Willamette Valley rail passengers without the smoke and cinders that were commonplace on the nearby Southern Pacific mainline. In fact, OE advertising literature used the phrase "No soot - no cinders!" to promote the clean service available, which was a real selling point considering that a lot of SP cars did have open windows. The OE was designed to go from Portland to Eugene using as much tangent track as possible and, of course, use electric power.
The OE reached Albany on July 4, 1912, two years after being purchased by Spokane Portland & Seattle. The new station was still under construction when the rails were laid down the middle of 5th Avenue. Located at 5th and Lyon in Albany, the station was of a standard design with distinctive OE architecture, specifically the very large arched windows in the front of the building. There was also an OER herald in the dormer above the windows.
The station served passengers and mail on the OE as well as a streetcar line on Lyon Street. Passenger traffic was moderate; the timetable from September 21, 1925, shows five passenger trains each way daily. Four of these round-trips served Eugene; the other served Corvallis although it is unclear in the timetable whether this service was provided by a connecting car from Gray or by the trains (7 and 20) themselves.
Sadly, passenger traffic declined with the rise of the automobile and by 1932 the OE was down to just one train each way, nos. 9 and 12, between Eugene and Portland. The last run was in 1933.
Fortunately, the Albany station found new life, first under the American Legion as a lodge, then as a pizza restaurant. Today, Ciddici's Pizza (http://www.ciddicipizza.com/, includes a couple of historic photos) serves some of the best pizza in Albany and has maintained the appearance of the building nicely. The only architectural drawback is an addition that was built in 2006 to house a new banquet room and looks jarringly out of place.
Traces of the OE still exist. Besides the OER herald on the building, the track is actually still in 5th Avenue. One has to look hard for it, but standing on the sidewalk and looking west, you can see a line in the pavement that curves from the curb to the middle of the street. That is a rail in the old station siding. A piece of this rail is also exposed, along with the original brick pavement, next to the curb where the asphalt has chipped away.
The Oregon Electric station in Albany is not the only one to be converted into a restaurant; similar treatments have been done to the OE stations in Eugene and Junction City. The preservation effort put forth by Ciddici's Pizza is remarkable and while it is fun to order a pizza and sit down in a classic station to eat it, it's very unfortunate that it's impossible to also buy a train ticket there.
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