Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company (1888-1907)
Ilwaco Railroad (1907-1910)
This page was last updated on June 27, 2010.
Overview
The following comes from Ehernberger and Gschwind's Union Pacific Steam, Northwestern District
ILWACO BRANCH
Megler, Washington to Nahcotta, Washington
One of the most colorful railroads of yesteryear in the Pacific Northwest was the tiny, now almost-forgotten Ilwaco Railroad, once said to be the westernmost railroad in the continental United States. Although it had no physical connection with any other railroad, the 29-mile, three-foot-gauge Ilwaco Branch was once a part of the vast Union Pacific system. Located in the North Beach Peninsula of southwestern Washington, across the mouth of the Columbia River from the northwestern tip of Oregon, the infinitesimal line began construction in March of 1888, as the Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company. During that same year it completed 4.1 miles of line between Ilwaco and Long Beach and by the end of the year had gone through a reorganization and changed its name to the Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company. During 1889 the line was extended an additional 11.9 miles northward up the peninsula to Nahcotta. The first rolling stock, as well as the first locomotive, a Baldwin 2-6-0, were acquired second hand from the Utah & Northern Railway. In 1900 the railroad came under the control of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company through stock purchase. In 1906, construction was begun on a 13.39-mile extension eastward along the Columbia River from Ilwaco Junction, a little over a mile north of Ilwaco, to Megler, by the Columbia Valley Railroad, a subsidiary of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. In 1907, a second reorganization took place when the Ilwaco Railroad was formed to take over the Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company and the Columbia Valley Railroad. The new corporation completed the extension to Megler in 1908. After all U. P. subsidiaries in Oregon, Washington, and a part of Idaho were merged with the O. R. R. & N. to form the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company on November 23, 1910, the Ilwaco Railroad became the Ilwaco Division of the O. W. R. R. & N. and ultimately became known simply as the Ilwaco Branch.
While the line was originally constructed for the prime purpose of transporting mail, as part of a route between Astoria, Oregon and Olympia, Washington it later realized considerable revenue from transporting passengers to the resort areas on the peninsula. A large part of the freight revenue came from the shipments of oysters, clams and native cranberries.
Locomotive facilities included a three-stall engine house at Nahcotta, a one-stall structure at Megler, and 53-foot hand-operated turntables at both points. Highway transportation took its inevitable toll and the line was abandoned in 1930 with the last train operating on September 9th of that year.
Timeline
Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company
February 23, 1875:
Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company was incorporated to operate steam ships between Ilwaco, Washington and Astoria, Oregon (15.68 miles).
November 22, 1886:
Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company purchased the interests of the Ilwaco Wharf Company.
July 12, 1888:
Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company completed 4.1 miles of narrow gauge line connecting Ilwaco, Washington with Long Beach, Washington.
Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company
August 6, 1888:
Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company changed it name to Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company.
May 29, 1889:
Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company completed its narrow gauge line between Long Beach, Washington and Nahcotta, Washington (11.9 miles)
Nahcotta was a port on Willapa Bay, which became the largest producer of oysters on the West Coast. The railroad's major business consisted of oysters in bags, along with clams, crabs, and fish. The majority of this seafood was shipped by coastal steamers to markets in California.
April 1890:
Ilwaco Railway & Navigation received its second locomotive, numbered as IRy&N number 2, delivered new from locomotive builder H. K. Porter Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
August 1900:
Oregon Railway & Navigation Company purchased controlling interest in Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company. The traffic being carried was expanded to include logs and sawn lumber.
At this same time, ORy&N moved a three-feet gauge locomotive (Porter-Bell 2-4-0, construction number 289) from the Mill Creek Flume & Manufacturing Company, which had been sold to ORy&N in 1887; it became ORy&N 286 in 1889; then ORy&N number 2 in 1894; numbered as Ilwaco Railway & Navigation number 3 (1st) upon its arrival in 1900.
Ilwaco Railroad
May 6, 1907:
Ilwaco Railroad was incorporated to purchase the interests of the Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company.
June 12, 1907:
Ilwaco Railroad purchased the interests of IRy&N (15.26 miles).
June 1, 1908:
IRy&N completed its narrow gauge line from Ilwaco, Washington to the ferry terminal at Megler, Washington (13.39 miles), across the Columbia River from Astoria, Oregon. Built to standard gauge clearances, this new line allowed access to the river and steamboat traffic that was being blocked by the buildup of silt in the bay where Ilwaco was situated.
December 23, 1910:
Ilwaco Railroad was included in the consolidation, along with 15 other railroads in Oregon, Washington and Idaho to form the Oregon Washington Railroad & Navigation Company. At that time, total Ilwaco Railroad trackage amounted to 28.65 miles.
October 8, 1929:
OWRR&N applied to the federal ICC to abandon the former Ilwaco Railroad due to severe declines in both freight and passenger traffic, blamed on parallel highways. Permission was granted on July 12, 1930.
By this time, the majority of traffic was passenger excursion trains to Washington's Long Beach summer resorts.
September 9, 1930:
Last train was operated by OWRR&N on its narrow gauge Ilwaco Branch.
Locomotives
There were three separate eras for locomotive numbering on the Ilwaco:
- 1888-1910 — Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company/Ilwaco Railroad (Numbers 1 through 6)
- 1910-1920 — OWRR&N (Numbers N-1 through N-4)
- 1920-1930 — OWRR&N (Numbers 1 through 4, as shown in OWRR&N folio diagram book)
All trackage and rolling stock, including the four remaining locomotives (numbers 2, 4, 5, and 7) were sold in September 1930 to Union Steel & Rail Company of Portland, Oregon; trackage removed between June and mid September 1931. The four locomotives were moved to Portland where they were scrapped.
Ilwaco 2-6-0 — 1 locomotive (ex Utah & Northern)
| Ilwaco Number |
First Number |
Second Number |
Date To Ilwaco |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
Date Vacated |
Notes |
| Ilwaco 1 | U&N 15 | U&N 19 | Jun 1888 | Baldwin | 4564 | Mar 1879 | 1911 | 1 |
Description:
| Drive Wheel Diameter: 40 inches (later 42 inches) |
| Cylinders: 12x18 inches |
Notes:
Ilwaco 2-6-0 — 1 locomotive
| Ilwaco Number |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
Date Vacated |
Notes |
| Ilwaco 2 | Porter | 1155 | Apr 1890 | 1908 | 1 |
Description:
| Drive Wheel Diameter: |
| Cylinders: 12x18 inches |
Notes:
| 1. | Ilwaco number 2 was built in 1890, purchased new by Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company; vacated and scrapped in 1908 |
Ilwaco 2-4-0 — 1 locomotive
| Ilwaco Number |
First Number |
Second Number |
Third Number |
Fourth Number |
Date To Ilwaco |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
Date Vacated |
Notes |
| Ilwaco 3 (1st) | WW&CR 5 | MCF&MCo 5 | ORy&N 286 | ORy&N 2 | Feb 1900 | Porter-Bell | 289 | Feb 1878 | Jul 1906 | 1 |
Description:
| Drive Wheel Diameter: 42 inches |
| Cylinders: 10x16 inches |
General Notes:
| a. | Ilwaco number 3 (1st) was built in 1878 as Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad number 6, named "Mountain Queen". (click here for more WW&CR information) |
Notes:
| 1. | Ilwaco number 3 (1st) was built in 1878 as Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad number 6, named "Mountain Queen", WW&CR converted to standard gauge in May 1881; to Mill Creek Flume & Manufacturing Company number 5 in June 1881, Mill Creek company was sold to ORy&N in 1887; to ORy&N 286 in 1889; to ORy&N number 2 in 1894; to IRy&N number 3 (1st) in February 1900; vacated in 1906; sold to A. J. McCabe Lumber Company in July 1906. (click here for more WW&CR/Mill Creek Flume information) |
Ilwaco 4-4-0 — 1 locomotive (ex South Pacific Coast)
| Ilwaco Number |
First Number |
Second Number |
Date To Ilwaco |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
1915 OWRR&N Number |
1920 OWRR&N Number |
Date Vacated |
Notes |
| Ilwaco 3 (2nd) | SPC 7 | SPC 26 | Aug 1908 | Baldwin | 4224 | Dec 1877 | OWRR&N N-1 | OWRR&N 1 | 1930 | 1 |
Description:
| Drive Wheel Diameter: 42 inches (later 43 inches) |
| Cylinders: 12x18 inches (later 14x18 inches) |
General Notes:
| a. | Ilwaco purchased South Pacific Coast number 26 on February 2, 1907; delivered in August 1908 |
| b. | Two sources disagree about the history of Ilwaco number 3 (2nd) and Ilwaco number 5; G. M. Best's "UP Notebook" shows South Pacific Coast number 9 as becoming Ilwaco number 3 (2nd) and South Pacific Coast number 7 as becoming Ilwaco number 5; Raymond J. Feagans in his 1972 book The Railroad That Ran By The Tide shows the opposite, and is the version used here. |
Notes:
Ilwaco 2-6-0 — 1 locomotive (ex Utah & Northern)
| Ilwaco Number |
First Number |
Second Number |
Third Number |
Date To Ilwaco |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
1915 OWRR&N Number |
1920 OWRR&N Number |
Date Vacated |
Notes |
| Ilwaco 4 | U&N 19 | U&N 23 | P&WV 1 | 1906 | Baldwin | 5121 | May 1880 | OWRR&N N-2 | OWRR&N 2 | 1930 | 1 |
Description:
| Drive Wheel Diameter: 40 inches (later 43 inches) |
| Cylinders: 12x18 inches |
General Notes:
| a. | OWRR&N number 2 was the last locomotive in service on the Ilwaco Branch in September 1930. |
Notes:
Ilwaco 4-4-0 — 1 locomotive (ex South Pacific Coast)
| Ilwaco Number |
First Number |
Date To Ilwaco |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
1915 OWRR&N Number |
1920 OWRR&N Number |
Date Vacated |
Notes |
| Ilwaco 5 | SPC 9 | Aug 1908 | Baldwin | 4956 | Feb 1880 | OWRR&N N-3 | OWRR&N 3 | 1930 | 1 |
Description:
| Drive Wheel Diameter: 45 inches |
| Cylinders: 14x18 inches |
General Notes:
| a. | Ilwaco purchased South Pacific Coast number 9 on July 18, 1908; delivered in August 1908 |
| b. | Two sources disagree about the history of Ilwaco number 3 (2nd) and Ilwaco number 5; G. M. Best's "UP Notebook" shows South Pacific Coast number 9 as becoming Ilwaco number 3 (2nd) and South Pacific Coast number 7 as becoming Ilwaco number 5; Raymond J. Feagans in his 1972 book The Railroad That Ran By The Tide shows the opposite, and is the version used here. |
Notes:
Ilwaco 4-6-0 — 1 locomotive (ex South Pacific Coast)
| Ilwaco Number |
First Number |
Date To Ilwaco |
Builder | Builder Number |
Builder Date |
1915 OWRR&N Number |
1920 OWRR&N Number |
Date Vacated |
Notes |
| Ilwaco 6 | SPC 23 | Aug 1908 | Baldwin | 11925 | May 1891 | OWRR&N N-4 | OWRR&N 4 | 1930 | 1 |
Description:
| Drive Wheel Diameter: 48 inches (later 50 inches) |
| Cylinders: 16x20 inches (later 16x24 inches) |
General Notes:
| a. | Ilwaco purchased South Pacific Coast number 23 on January 1, 1907; delivered in August 1908 |
Notes:
| 1. | Ilwaco number 6 was built in 1891 as South Pacific Coast 23; to Ilwaco number 6 in 1908; to OWRR&N number N-4 in 1915; to OWRR&N number 4 by 1920; vacated in 1930 following abandonment, sold for scrap to Union Steel & Rail, a Portland salvage company, scrapped in Portland after September 1931 |
Sources:
- Asay, Jeff. Union Pacific Northwest, The Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company (Pacific Fast Mail, 1991)
- Ehernberger, James L. and Francis G. Gschwind. Union Pacific Steam, Northwestern District (E&G Publications, 1975)
- Hilton, George W. American Narrow Gauge Railroads (Stanford University Press, 1990)
- Union Pacific Railroad Company. Corporate History of Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, As of June 30th, 1919
- email from Allen Copeland, dated June 11, 2010
- OWRR&N locomotive folio diagram books updated through 1920 and 1928, both showing OWRR&N numbers 1-4 on identical pages
- Wikipedia page
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