The Oregon Eastern Railroad (OERR) is a railroad going from Ontario to EP Mineral's Celetom plant (Halfway between Vale and Harper). The railroad is all that is left of the Wyoming Colorado Railroad which started out as the Malheur Valley Railway. The railroad promotes itself as a "safe, reliable and economical method of transportation" and is proud of the

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...

of railroads.

History

Malheur Valley Railway

Malheur Valley Railway built a

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

of the

Oregon Short Line Railroad The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon in the United States. The line was organized as the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railway. The Union Pacific int ...

(OSL), beginning at that company's main line south of

Ontario, Oregon Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 11,645 at the 2020 censusThe city is the largest community in the region of far ea ...

, U.S., and extending west through the valley of the

Malheur River The Malheur River ( ) is a tributary of the Snake River in eastern Oregon in the United States. It drains a high desert area, between the Harney Basin, the Blue Mountains and the Snake. In the past Malheur Lake (located in the enclosed Harn ...

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municip ...

, then northwest to

Brogan Brogan or O'Brogan, is a surname originating in Ireland, anglicized from the original Ó Brógáin. The form McBrogan, is also present sharing the meaning of O'Brogan, essentially "son of Brogan." The name is an anglicized form of Irish Ó Br� ...

. The company was incorporated on January 26, 1906, and opened its first section of road on January 15, 1907, under lease to the OSL, then an

operating subsidiary An operating subsidiary is a subsidiary of a corporation through which the parent company (which may or may not be a holding company) indirectly conducts some portion of its business. Usually, an operating subsidiary can be distinguished in that ...

of 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 ...

. Construction between Vale and Brogan was aided by the Willow River Land and Irrigation Company. On December 23, 1910, new UP subsidiary

Oregon–Washington Railroad and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a Rail transport company, rail and Steamboats of the Columbia River, steamboat transport company that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United ...

(OWR&N) acquired the property of the Malheur Valley Railway, but the line continued to be operated under lease by the OSL. The OWR&N subsequently built a line west from Vale, eventually reaching

Burns Burns may refer to: Astronomy * 2708 Burns, an asteroid * Burns (crater), on Mercury People * Burns (surname), list of people and characters named Burns ** Burns (musician), Scottish record producer Places in the United States * Burns, ...

, and also leased this Ontario–Burns Branch to the OSL. (This became moot in 1936, when the UP leased the OSL and OWR&N.) The line eventually expanded north from Burns into what is now the

Malheur National Forest The Malheur National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. It contains more than in the Blue Mountains (Pacific Northwest), Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. The forest consists of Great Basi ...

, where it split up into several branches.

WYCO

In November 1989, the Wyoming Colorado Railroad bought the entire Ontario–Burns Branch, including the old Malheur Valley Railway east of Vale, and abandoned the portion east of Celatom in June 1992. In spring 1993 WYCO started removing the line and UP filed a lawsuit against them. The settlement allowed UP to salvage the line after milepost 78.

Current ownership

On November 1, 2020, the OERR was sold by The Western Group to Jaguar Transport Holdings of

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malheur Valley Railway Predecessors of the Union Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1906 Railway companies disestablished in 1910 Vale, Oregon Transportation in Malheur County, Oregon 1906 establishments in Oregon

History

Malheur Valley Railway

WYCO

Current ownership

See also

References