Willamette Shore Trolley

The Willamette Shore Trolley is a heritage railroad or heritage streetcar that operates along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in the U.S. state of Oregon. The right-of-way is owned by a group of local-area governments who purchased it in 1988 in order to preserve it for potential future rail transit. Streetcar excursion service began operating on a trial basis in 1987, lasting about three months, and regular operation on a long-term basis began in 1990. The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society has been the line's operator since 1995. The trolley service normally runs on weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day and with a few special runs during the Christmas season each year.

The railroad offers passenger excursions using a historic or replica-historic trolley on a former Southern Pacific line previously known as the Jefferson Street branch. The line runs for 5.5 miles (9 km), including a passage through the 0.25-mile-long (0.4 km) Elk Rock Tunnel. The Lake Oswego terminal is downtown, alongside State Street (Oregon Route 43) just south of A Avenue. The location of the Portland terminal has varied over the years, but since fall 2003 it has been at SW Bancroft Street and Moody Avenue in the new high-density South Waterfront neighborhood under construction, a location that was only one block south of the Portland Streetcar terminus at SW Lowell Street and Moody Avenue after the latter's extension in 2007. However, all service on the Willamette Shore line was suspended in July 2010, when the line's only streetcar broke down. In early 2013, a lease was secured on a replacement streetcar, a Gomaco-built faux-Vintage Trolley, to enable a resumption of service on the southernmost portion of the line, and that section of the line reopened in August 2014. Service over the northern half of the line, to Bancroft Street in Portland, was restored on July 21, 2017, but was suspended again at the end of 2019, awaiting trestle repair work, leaving only the line's southernmost section in operation. Most of the line's northern half reopened again in fall 2024, after the end of the regular season but in time to allow the annual Christmastime runs to cover almost the full line, as far north as Boundary Street.

One of the two Gomaco-built "Vintage Trolleys" in the current fleet, No. 514, was taken out of service in early 2019 for work to convert it to battery propulsion, during which car 513 provided all service. The conversion work was completed in February 2024 and, after testing and small adjustments, car 514 made its first passenger trip as a battery-powered trolley in November 2024 (on a charter trip). After the annual Christmas runs, car 513 was taken out of service for the start of work to convert it to battery power.