Oregon Coast Historical Railway 111, October 2015

The Longview, Portland and Northern Railway is a historic

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

operation in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

s of

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

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It was founded by

timber baron A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

Robert A. Long, the founder of

Longview, Washington Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longview's population was 37,818 at the time of the 2 ...

. The company was incorporated in 1922.Longview, Portland & Northern Railway
/ref> Beginning in 1954, the "LP&N" operated a three-mile-long (4.8 km)

short-line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

on the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

that connected the

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

plant to the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

interchange just outside

Gardiner, Oregon Gardiner is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Douglas County, Oregon, United States, across the Umpqua River from Reedsport, Oregon, Reedsport. It is located on U.S. Route 101 in Oregon, U.S. Route 10 ...

. The paper plant shut down in 1999 and was razed. All that remains of the plant is the railroad tracks and shop buildings. In 2006, Robert Larson, president of the

Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway The Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway was an Oregon-based short line railroad that began near Eugene as the Oregon and Southeastern Railroad (O&SE) in 1904. O&SE's line ran along the Row River between the towns of Cottage Grove and Dissto ...

(OP&E), filed with the State of Oregon for the LP&N. According to Mr. Larson, the LP&N will be a joint operation with OP&E. The "Blue Goose" logo will now become a part of the LP&N. At least one of the railroad's steam locomotives, 2-8-0 No. 680, is known to survive in active service on the

Virginia & Truckee Railroad The Virginia and Truckee Railroad is a privately owned heritage railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. Its private and publicly owned route is long. When first constructed in the 19th century, it was a commercial freight railroad ...

as V&T No. 29.

References

*OP&E and LP&N, Robert Larson, Oregon State Corporation Division

External links

Longview, Portland and Northern Railway on trainweb.org
Defunct Oregon railroads Defunct Washington (state) railroads {{US-rail-transport-stub