UP-OSL

[upjake]

Hello I am trying to brush up on my early Union Pacific history in the northwest. What year did the UP finally make it to Seattle and Portland through Oregon Short Line and OWRN? As I understand it both of these lines were run as subsidiaries of U.P. Also did OSL and OWRN have their own fleet of locos and freight cars with their own markings or were they listed as initials on UP equipment? Thanks.

[Railway Man]

Edited for clarity and fact:

The OSL and Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. (OR&N) met at Huntington, Oregon, in November 1884 to form a new transcontinental railroad.  The OR&N was then an entirely separate company from UP or OSL. The connection at Huntington was established by agreement of OSL and OR&N in February 1883.

OSL History, briefly:  Oregon Short Line Railway was incorporated by UP directors in 1881 to build a new transcontinental line junctioning from the UP at Granger, Wyoming, and running northwestward toward Portland, Oregon.  OSL was consolidated with six other Utah and Idaho railroads also controlled by UP through capital stock ownership as Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway in 1889.  OSL&UN entered bankruptcy in 1893, at which point the UP stock ownership was wiped out, and emerged as Oregon Short Line Railroad in 1897 under independent ownership and management.  UP under Harriman regained control of the OSL in late 1899 through stock purchase.

O-WR&N history, briefly:  Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. incorporated in 1879 to build eastward from Portland, Oregon, along the south bank of the Columbia River to Wallula, Washington, to meet the Northern Pacific building west.  OR&N reached Wallula in 1880. NP completed its line from St. Paul to Wallula in 1883, forming the first northern transcontinental route, which ran from St. Paul to Portland.  In 1882-84 OR&N built a new line from its main line at Umatilla (present day Hinkle), Oregon to Huntington to meet the OSL building west.  When opened on December 1, 1884, this formed the second northern transcontinental route.  OSL leased OR&N in 1887, and purchased 50% (controlling) capital stock ownership in 1889. OR&N was operated as the Pacific Division of the UP from 1889 to 1893.  OR&N entered bankruptcy in 1893 and emerged in 1896 as the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Co., which was controlled jointly by NP, GN, and UP, and operated in concert with the interests of Hill and Harriman.  In 1889 as part of broad and complex agreements between Hill and Harriman, Hill sold his stock in the OR&N to Harriman's UP; actual stock ownership was vested in OSL.  In 1910 the OR&N was consolidated with 14 other railroad companies it controlled as the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. (O-WR&N).

SPLA&SL:  San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake: Incorporated 1901 by Butte, Montana, copper magnate William A. Clarke as a vanity project to connect Los Angeles Harbor (San Pedro) to Salt Lake City.  The name was simplified to LA&SL in 1916.  In 1903 Harriman and Clarke agreed to 50-50 ownership to avoid head-to-head competition in the LA&SL's bleak territory; UP's ownership was vested in OSL.  In April 1921 Clarke sold his 50% share to UP, which placed 100% ownership of the capital stock into OSL.

UP/OSL/O-WR&N/LA&SL post 1899:   UP under Harriman regained control of the OSL in late 1899, and the OSL in turn regained control of the OR&N shortly afterward.  UP controlled the OSL through majority capital stock ownership, and OSL in turn controlled the O-WR&N through its majority capital stock ownership.  After 1921's purchase of the Clarke half of the LA&SL, UP controlled its pre-regulation system (which included the St. Joseph & Grand Island, a moderate-sized granger line) up to 1958, when it purchased the Spokane International.

In 1936, UP received ICC approval to lease the OSL, O-WR&N, LA&SL and StJ&GJ in order to simplify and reduce the expense of  its accounting and management costs in the depths of the depression; this eliminated it having to operate three parallel management, accounting, and clerical structures that had to do things like settle interline accounts between each other for car hire, etc.  O-WR&N was merged into OSL on December 29, 1987, and OSL was merged into UP on December 30, 1987.

OSL and OWR&N from 1900 to 1936 as well as LA&SL (after 1921) had separate equipment fleets -- they were separate companies! -- and their own employees, accounting, etc., though the equipment was lettered "Union Pacific System."  After the lease took effect, the fleets were merged and the requirement for the lettering ceased, though some equipment continued to bear the OSL, LA&SL, and O-WR&N sublettering for some time afterward.

RWM

[erikem]

Railway Man

The OSL and Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. (OR&N) met at Huntington, Oregon, in November 1984 to form a new transcontinental railroad.

 

Um - 1884?

Otherwise an interesting and informative post - thanks.

- Erik 

[Railway Man]

 I thought I'd fixed all the typos made while trying to type with one hand and hold the book with the other, but no.

[Deggesty]

Railway Man

 I thought I'd fixed all the typos made while trying to type with one hand and hold the book with the other, but no.

Good job, Railway Man! I can make typos even when using both hands on the Keyboard--and I miss some when I am proofing what I have written.

It was a nice concise history of the UP's line into Portland.

Johnny

[jawbonejon]

Excellent! How about Seattle, though? Ultimately the UP system came to include its own line between Portland and Seattle, didn't it? Sharing Seattle's Union Station with the Milwaukee Route? Was that UP line originally part of the OR&N?

 -JMS