The Sumpter Valley Railway, or Sumpter Valley Railroad, is a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...

heritage railroad located in Baker County, in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

. Built on a right-of-way used by the original railway of the same name, it carries excursion trains on a roughly route between McEwen and Sumpter. The railroad has two

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s and several other pieces of rolling stock. Passenger excursion trains operate on weekends and holidays from

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through the end of September.

History

The railway was incorporated in 1890 by David Eccles. The narrow gauge railway's purpose was to haul logs to the Oregon Lumber Company sawmill in South Baker City. The sawmill and railroad remained separate corporations of the same owners for the life of the railroad. The builders of the railway also owned the

Grande Ronde Lumber Company Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places *Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroio ...

Perry, Oregon Perry is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Union County, Oregon, Union County, Oregon, United States. It is located five miles west of La Grande on the Grande Ronde River and Interstate 84 (west), Interstate 84. The town was or ...

, and the railway was financed by

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. The line was built over terrain originally considered as part of a railway from

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to the Pacific coast; but the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

opted for a different route to avoid bypassing growing communities which might provide an attractive opportunity for competition by the rapidly growing Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. Much of the original equipment came from the Utah & Northern Railway in Idaho and Montana. The

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

owned the line and began converting it to standard gauge around 1887. Eccles owned a significant amount of Union Pacific stock, exerting enough influence to acquire the now-unneeded narrow gauge equipment. The first locomotive to arrive was a small numbered 285; the Sumpter Valley also purchased a number of the U&N's Brooks locomotives, along with a large number of boxcars and flatcars. In 1906, the railroad also acquired four locomotives from the Tonopah Railway (later the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad). By 1891, the line had reached McEwen, 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

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in Grant County. The railroad continued to use wood fuel for their locomotives until converting to oil fuel in June, 1940. Diamond-shaped smokestacks were replaced by cabbage-shaped Rushton stacks after 1916. Ten years later, the railway began losing business to automobiles and trucks, and in 1933 the of track between Prairie City and Bates were abandoned. Scheduled passenger service on the remaining line ended in 1937. Freight service remained, however, and in 1939 the railway purchased two

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locomotives from the Uintah Railway in Colorado. These engines were converted from coal to oil burners and given tenders from two locomotives. As traffic declined, the railway sold off the other, unneeded locomotives. In 1947, the railroad ceased all operations except for of track in the Oregon Lumber Company yard in South Baker City. This last section was abandoned and removed in 1961.

Heritage operation

In 1971, a group of volunteers set out to rebuild the Sumpter Valley Railway. Locomotive No. 3, a 1915 Heisler

, was restored to operation in 1976, and the new railway opened for business on July 4, 1976, over a track of less than . 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 steam locomotive built in 1920, was restored to operating condition in 1996.Brown, Greg (July 1996)
"Excursion, Rail Festival Mark Portland's Union Station Centennial"
'' Pacific RailNews'', p. 10. Sister locomotive 20 is also located at the railroad. In 2018, #720 was added to the railroad operating fleet after an overhaul. It previously was used by the

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company. 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 narrow gauge logging railroad steam locomotives and equipment on the line every summer. 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.

Gallery

File:Sumpter Valley Railroad Train (Baker County, Oregon scenic images) (bakDA0073a).jpg, Excursion train on the line in 2010 File:Sumpter Valley Railway railcar - Sumpter Oregon.jpg, Railcar of the Sumpter Valley Line File:DeWittMuseum.jpg, DeWitt Museum in Prairie City, Oregon, a former SVR passenger station File:Sumpter Valley Railroad 1913.JPG, Scene near Baker City, Oregon in 1913. File:720 at station.jpg, 720 at station. File:SVRR 20 in back shop.jpg, SVRR 20 in back shop.

Locomotives

References

External links