The Willamette Valley Southern Railway was a railroad in Oregon that ran from

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, where it connected to the trolley line, through

Molalla, Oregon Molalla is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon. The population was 8,108 at the time of the 2010 census. History Molalla was named after the Molalla River, which in turn was named for the Molala, a Native American tribe that inhabited the area. ...

, where it connected to the Eastern & Western Logging Railroad as well as

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 ...

, to Mt. Angel, Oregon. The line was reorganized from the Clackamas Southern after facing financial troubles in 1915 and closed in 1933. Like many short lines of Oregon at the time, it ran off electricity from hydroelectric dams. For the last three years the line stopped just outside of Molalla. Only 400 feet of the railroad remains intact, nudged over a few feet from its original position of the Oregon Pacific Railroad. WVS40

The Railroad used

ALCo The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

freight motors, as well as electric passenger cars similar to today's lightrail train cars. No original depots remain except a replica shelter north of Molalla. The railroad was sustained by logging operations in Molalla and when those ended in 1933 the railroad went bankrupt. Evidence of the former route is most prevalent in and south of Molalla List of stops on the line, north to south: Golf Junction, Hendee, Milwaukie, Lakewood, Oak Grove, Naef, Ashdale, Meldrum, Gladstone,

Oregon City ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

Robbins, Beaver Creek, Ingram, Spangler, Buckner Creek, Mulino, Liberal (connection with Southern Pacific, only remaining portion of the line now a spur) (Depot closed in the 1920s), Molalla (connection with Eastern & Western Logging Line), Kaylor. *(Past this point closed in 1930) Yoder, Monitor, Mt. Angel (terminus with loop track, also connection to Southern Pacific).

References

* *{{cite book , last= Chapman , first= Judith Sanders , date= 2008 , title= Molalla , url= , location= , publisher= Arcadia Publishing , page= , isbn= 0-7385-5613-0 , author-link= 1915 establishments in Oregon 1933 disestablishments in Oregon Defunct Oregon railroads Electric railways in Oregon History of transportation in Oregon Passenger rail transportation in Oregon