Great Southern Railroad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Great Southern Railroad was a 41-mile short-line that connected with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company in The Dalles, Oregon, United States, and ran south along Fifteen Mile Creek through Boyd to Dufur, and on to small community of Friend. The railroad was formed by John Heimrich, a late 19th Century entrepreneur of German ancestry. Construction of the railroad was started on April 8, 1904, and was completed on July 1, 1913 with the establisment of regular train service from The Dalles to Friend. The Great Southern served agricultural and timber interests on the Columbia Plateau south of the The Dalles and eastern slopes of Mount Hood.

The Great Southern's revenues reached a peak in 1910, but leveled off into the early 1920s. With the introduction of regular bus service, and an increase in automobile and truck traffic between The Dalles and Dufur, revenues began to decline after 1921. Regular train service came to an end on January 5, 1928 with the closing of the depots at Dufur and Friend. Attempts to resurrect the line as the The Dalles and Southern failed in 1933. The line was officially abandoned on September 30, 1935. Very little of the Great Southern remains to this day. The Dalles depot, which was moved from its original location to its current site at the base of Brewery Grade, is the most visible relic of this short-lived Oregon railroad.

1 Great Southern motive power
2 The Dalles and Southern motive power
3 Station stops
4 Bibliography

[edit] Great Southern motive power

#1 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-6-0 (ex Richmond, Fredricksburg and Patomic)
#2 1893 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0 (ex Western New York and Pennsylvania)

#4 1930 Plymouth Locomotive Works two-axle diesel switcher [1]

[edit] The Dalles and Southern motive power

#2 1908 Lima Locomotive Works 2-8-0 (ex P.R. Lewis Construction Co.)

[edit] Station stops

The Dalles, Seufert, Petersburg, Fairbanks, Fulton, Brookhouse, Freebridge, Neabeck, Emerson, Wrentham, Rice, Boyd, Dufur, Annalore, Three Spring, Friend

[edit] Bibliography

Due, John F. and French, Giles. Rails to the Mid-Columbia Wheatlands: The Columbia Southern and Great Southern Railroads and the Development of Sherman and Wasco Counties, Oregon. Washington D.C.: University Press of America, Inc., 1979.