The Tigard branch is a short railway line on the west side of

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, in the United States. It connects the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

West Side branch West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

Newberg branch The Newberg branch is a railway line in the state of Oregon, in the United States. It runs from Portland to a junction with the West Side branch west of Saint Joseph. It was originally built by the Portland and Willamette Valley Railway, a pr ...

. It was originally built in 1910 by the

Beaverton and Willsburg Railroad The Beaverton and Willsburg Railroad was a railway company in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Southern Pacific established the Beaverton and Willsburg Railroad in 1906 to construct a new cutoff in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon, t ...

, a subsidiary of the

Southern Pacific Transportation Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

. The Portland and Western Railroad operates the line, including the

WES Commuter Rail The Westside Express Service (WES) is a commuter rail line serving parts of the Portland metropolitan area's Washington County, Oregon, Washington and Clackamas County, Oregon, Clackamas counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. Owned by TriMet and ...

service.

Route

The Tigard branch begins west of

Lake Oswego Lake Oswego ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, Oregon, Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah County, Oregon, Multnomah and Washington County, Oregon, Washington counties ...

, at "Cook," where it connects with the

. It runs northwest to Beaverton, where it connects with the

. A short spur runs to the Beaverton Transit Center, the northern terminus of the

service.

History

Southern Pacific

The

, a subsidiary of the

, constructed the Tigard branch as part of a new cutoff connecting the Southern Pacific's lines in the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

area. The new line opened on July 17, 1910. The line handled trains to and from

Tillamook, Oregon The city of Tillamook ( ) serves as the county seat of Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on the southeast end of Tillamook Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The population was 5,231 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, and was sometimes, along with the Milwaukie branch and West Side branch, considered part of the Tillamook branch. The

Oregon Electric Railway The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban streetcar, interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland, Oregon, Portland to Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. History Service from Portland to Salem, Oregon, Salem began in ...

began electrified passenger service between Portland and Salem in 1908. The Southern Pacific responded by electrifying some of its existing branch lines in the Portland area, including the Tigard branch. Electrified operation using began in 1914. Services began at

Portland Union Station Portland Union Station is a train station in Portland, Oregon, United States, situated near the western shore of the Willamette River in Old Town Chinatown. It serves as an intermediate stop for Amtrak's '' Cascades'' and ''Coast Starlight'' ...

, then used either the Newberg or West Side branch to reach McMinnville and then Corvallis. Electrified operation ended on October 5, 1929.

Portland and Western

In 1995 the new Portland and Western Railroad leased several branches from the Southern Pacific, including the Milwaukie branch. These leases continued when the Southern Pacific merged with the

. Administratively, the Portland and Western has divided the Tigard branch into two parts: * the OE District between Beaverton and Bonita. The district also includes the former Oregon Electric Railway main line. * the Willsburg District between Bonita and Cook. The district also includes the Milwaukie and Newberg branches.

WES Commuter Rail

Passenger service returned to the Tigard branch in 2009 when the

service began operation. The Portland and Western operates the service under a purchase of service agreement with

TriMet The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) is a Transit district, transit agency that serves most of the Oregon part of the Portland metropolitan area. Created in 1969 by the Oregon Legislative Assembly, Oregon legi ...

. Five new stations were built, three of them on the Tigard branch: the Beaverton Transit Center, Hall/Nimbus station, and the Tigard Transit Center. The latter two stations have

gauntlet track Gauntlet track or interlaced track, also gantlet track () is an arrangement in which Rail tracks, railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced (i.e., overlapped) in such a way that only one pair of rails can be used at any ...

s for safer freight operation. The Beaverton Transit Center is located north of the existing right-of-way and required the construction of a spur.

Notes

References

* * * * {{cite journal , last=Lebenbaum , first=Paul L. , title=Electrification of Southern Pacific Company's Lines out of Portland, Ore. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lsQ9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA271 , journal= Electric Traction , volume=X , issue=5 , date=May 1914 , pages=271–276 Railway lines opened in 1910 Rail lines in Oregon