Lost Oregon Streetcars by Thompson Richard;

Author:Thompson, Richard;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2017-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Eugene’s rolling stock is well represented in this view taken at the carbarn on East Thirteenth Street around 1910. Carmen and passengers are posing inside streetcars Nos. 2 and 3 on the Fairmount Loop line, while No. 1 sits in front of a line repair car on the ladder tracks and open car No. 4 rests in Bay 2. Courtesy Lane County Historical Museum.

The Eugene Street Railway headquarters, and its first powerhouse, were at East Sixth Avenue and Willamette Street downtown; however, the trolleys were kept in a two-bay carbarn located at East Thirteenth and Beech Streets near the University of Oregon campus. At its peak, a crew of twenty-seven conductors, motormen and shop workers worked here, keeping a fleet of as many as nine streetcars running from 6:00 a.m. until midnight each day. Twenty-minute headways were maintained during peak hours.

The city fare was originally five cents, as in most Oregon cities. The ride to Springfield was ten cents. By the 1920s, the city fare had been raised to ten cents for adults and five cents for youths. An earlier attempt to increase fares was defeated, but the following newspaper account sheds light on how rates differed beyond city limits (much like modern zone fares). Notice also that the proposed standards were based on fares in Portland:

Proposed advanced tariffs on Salem, Eugene and West Linn streetcar lines, to become effective July 1 unless suspended by an order of the Oregon public service commission, were filed here today.

City fares on the three lines involved were increased from 5 to 8 cents. while commutation tickets of 50 rides were advanced in price from $2.50 to $3.65. A feature not heretofore enjoyed by patrons of the lines is the proposed sale under the new tariff of script entitling the purchaser to six rides for 45 cents.

Under the proposed tariff the rate from Eugene to Kincaid, a distance of 2.65 miles, will be increased from 5 to 8 cents, while the rates from Eugene to Midway, West Springfield, and Springfield will be advanced from 10 to 16 cents. Proportionate advances in fares were provided for all intermediate points.

The Salem, Eugene and West Linn streetcar companies, which are owned and controlled by the Southern Pacific company, some time ago filed with the public service commission applications for increases in rates. These applications are pending and no date for the hearing has been set.

The new charges proposed by the companies were approximately the same as those now in effect on the traction lines of the Portland Railway, Light & Power company.80

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