The Holcomb Creek Trestle, also known as the Dick Road Trestle, is a wooden railroad

trestle bridge A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a stool or a pair of isosceles trian ...

Washington County, Oregon Washington County is one of 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon and part of the Portland metropolitan area. The 2020 census recorded the population as 600,372, making it the second most populous county in the state and most populous "Wash ...

, United States, on Dick Road near the unincorporated community of

Helvetia Helvetia () is the female national personification of Switzerland, officially ''Confoederatio Helvetica,'' the Swiss Confederation. The allegory is typically pictured in a flowing gown, with a spear and a shield emblazoned with the Swiss fla ...

. Spanning , it is thought to be the longest wooden railroad trestle still in use in the United States, as well as the largest trestle in Oregon. The trestle was completed in around 1911 for the United Railways, a now-defunct railway which ran from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

to Wilkesboro. It was rebuilt in 1947. A connection to the

Oregon Electric Railway The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland to Eugene. Service from Portland to Salem began in January 1908. The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway purchased the system in ...

was later added. It was used by

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the e ...

(which merged into

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

in 1995) until the mid-1990s, and was known by that company as "Bridge 16.7". The Holcomb Creek Trestle is currently operated by

Portland and Western Railroad The Portland and Western Railroad is a Class II railroad serving the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of shortline and regional railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The PNWR includes a subsidiary, the Willamette ...

. The trestle is the subject of several local

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

s and is rumored to be haunted. According to one account, it is haunted by the ghost of a man who killed himself and his family in a murder-suicide in the 1960s. It is also said to be the site of several suicides by hanging which took place in the early 20th century.

References

External links

Website (archived)
Bridges completed in 1911 Railroad bridges in Oregon Bridges in Washington County, Oregon Wooden bridges in Oregon Tourist attractions in Washington County, Oregon Trestle bridges in the United States Reportedly haunted locations in Oregon {{Oregon-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References

External links