Sunday, January 23, 2011

Rex Hill

Trestle on Rex Hill near Newberg, Oregon.

This impressive pile of timbers is one of many large wooden railroad trestles in western Oregon. This one stands on a Portland & Western line near Newberg, on a grade called Rex Hill. Currently, the line is only used for storing freight cars and sees no regular traffic. Once part of Southern Pacific's empire, in the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s it hosted the SP's "Red Electrics" -- interurban electric passenger trains that provided frequent service between Portland and several communities in the Willamette Valley, extending as far as Corvallis.

1 comment:

LouT1501 said...

I believe this is the Hell's Canyon bridge. When I worked this line in 1997, an old gentleman lived in the house east (and right below) the bridge. He'd come out and wave nearly every day. So much has changed!

Thanks for posting your image, Scott!