Astoria streetcar system

The Astoria Street Railway Company began horsecar operations on May 9, 1888. Five cars provided service over three miles of track along Commercial Street. By 1892, the threat of competition from proposed electric lines, a steam motor line, and a cable-car system had inspired the railway to convert to an electric operation. Four horsecars were rebuilt with two fifteen horsepower motors.

The cable railway idea was never realized; but on June 23, 1890, Judge Frank Taylor’s Bay Railway Company began operating a steam dummy line around Smith’s Point. The line ran from the western boundary of town, near present-day Washington and Astor Streets, to new tracts along Young’s Bay, some three miles distant.

The Bay Railway hoped to electrify and build eastward through Astoria. Instead, on April 22, 1895, it was acquired by the Astoria & Columbia River Railroad, which desired its right-of-way for branches running across Young’s Bay to Fort Stevens and Seaside.

The Astoria Street Railway went bankrupt in 1899 and was reorganized on March 2, 1900, by the General Electric Company as the Astoria Electric Railway. GE parent, Thomson-Houston Electric, was creditor for equipment used to electrify the line in 1892. Astoria Electric bought seven new trolleys, including Brill semi-convertibles in which the upper and lower window sash could be raised into pockets in the roof and stored there during warm weather. Such cars were intended to supplant separate fleets of open or closed trolleys that had to be swapped when the weather changed. According to a trade journal the Astoria Electric Railway was the last road to receive semi-convertible streetcars.

In 1910, the Astoria Electric Railway became part of the Pacific Power & Light Company (PP&L), which expanded the system to 5.7 miles and added six new streetcars. In 1913, PP&L realigned tracks to the eastern terminus in Alderwoood to reach Bond Street at Forty-fifth Avenue. A final extension was added at the opposite end of town in 1915, with a line that ran up the hill to Alameda Avenue and Bristol Street.

Unfortunately, the Great Fire of 1922 destroyed the plank streets carrying tracks through the business district, splitting the system. PP&L determined that it would not be cost effective to rebuild tracks through ten downtown blocks, so operations limped along over the two separated track sections until Astoria Transit Company buses took over on June 30, 1924.

Astoria streetcar, colored postcard, 1910s.

Colored postcard showing trolley on Commercial St., Astoria. Courtesy Mark Moore
Astoria streetcar, Astoria St Ry no 1, 1901.

Astoria Street Railway No. 1, East Astoria, 1901. Courtesy Richard Thompson
Astoria streetcar map.

Astoria streetcar map. Courtesy Richard Thompson
Astoria streetcar, horsecar 3.

Astoria Street Railway horsecar No. 3 passing Clatsop Mill, at what is now 24th and Exchange Sts. Courtesy Ed Culp
Astoria streetcar, at brewery, late 1890s.

Astoria Street Railway No 8, on what is now Marine Dr. in front of Northern Pacific Brewery, late 1890s. Courtesy Ed Culp
Astoria streetcar, Bay Railway Timecard, 1890.

Facsimile of Bay Railway timecard, Sep. 12, 1890. Daily Astorian newspaper, courtesy Richard Thompson
Astoria streetcar, at Clatsop Courthouse.

Astoria Electric Railway cars 6 and 7 at Clatsop County Courthouse, Commercial St. Courtesy Bob Wenzel
Astoria streetcar, in river, Jul 1901.

Astoria Street Railway trolley No. 3 plunged into the river July 18, 1901. Courtesy Walt Grande
Astoria streetcar, 14th and Commercial, ca 1905.

Astoria Street Railway No. 5 at 14th and Commercial Sts., about 1905. Courtesy Richard Thompson
Astoria streetcar, trolley 12 on Alameda line, late 1910s.

Astoria Electric Railway trolley No. 12 on the Alameda line, late 1910s. Courtesy Mitch Mitchum
Astoria streetcar, PPL 14 next to sawmill.

Pacific Power and Light Co. No. 14, with motorman Eli McConkey (r), after 1914. Courtesy Bob Wenzel
Astoria streetcar, Bay Railway dummy 1, neg 13254.

Bay Railway steam dummy No. 1 with Pullman built coaches 1 and 2. Oreg. Hist. Soc. Research Lib., neg 13254
Astoria streetcar, PPL car 7, Feb 1921.

Pacific Power and Light Co. car No. 7, Feb 1921. Courtesy Bob Wenzel
Astoria Streectar, PPL trolleys after Dec 1922 fire.

Pacific Power and Light Co. trolleys 15, 7, 8, and 5 lined up outside carbarn after Dec. 8, 1922 fire. Courtesy Richard Thompson