Alberta
Arlington Hts
Beaumont
Bridge Trans.
Broadway
Brooklyn
Burnside
Council Crest
Depot-Morrison
East Ankeny
Eastmoreland
East Side
Errol Hts
Fulton
Glisan
Hawthorne
Irvington
Irvington-Jeff.
Jefferson
Kenton
Kings Hts
Lower Albina
Mississippi Av.
Montavilla
Montgomery
Mount Tabor
Mun. Terminal
Murraymead
N-S Portland
Portland Heights
Richmond
Rose City
Russell-Shaver
Saint Johns 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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This listing is a work-in-progress and will be added to as time allows.  The majority of lines described were created around the turn-of-the-century and lasted into the 1930's.  See the historical chronology page for information about the traction companies mentioned in bold type.

(click on destination sign to view a map of each line)
	The Alberta Line was built by the Portland Railway Company in 1903 using part of the original right-of-way of the Portland & Vancouver R. R. (a steam line built in 1888).  It was converted to bus in 1949.
	The Arlington Heights Line was built in 1913 by Portland Railway Light & Power Company.  Some maps indicate a brief extension further up Fairview, but it does not show up in the early 1930s (Portland Traction Co.).  There is also some evidence that earliest operation may have used narrow Parkside Drive rather than Kingston Street.  It's hard to tell since lines in those days would've been on private rights-of-way or dirt streets.  The line in final form (orange on map) was in use until converted to gas bus in 1940 or '41.
	The Beaumont Line was built in 1911 by Portland Railway, Light & Power Company.  Originally a stub line from Sandy and 42nd, through service to downtown was added in 1914.  The line remained in this form until its last years.   It was converted to gas bus in 1936 when 42nd was widened and poles removed.
	The Bridge Transfer Line was begun by PRL&P in 1915 by merging portions of the old East Side and Russell-Shaver lines.  In 1927 PEPCO discontinued a separate Brooklyn Line, and it was tacked onto the bottom of Bridge Transfer on alternate runs. Portland Traction Company shortened the line during McLoughlin Viaduct construction in 1934.  BT was bussed in 1937 and a portion of its tracks paved over, but in 1941 the rails were chipped back out and trolley service re-established!  The buses returned permanently in 1948.
	The Broadway Line was built in 1903 by the original Portland Railway Co. BW cars initially ran from SE Portland to downtown across the Burnside Bridge.  But, after 1913 they ran from the "Fremont Loop" in NE to downtown across the new Broadway Bridge.  BW was a high profile line, serving the theater and shopping districts, and it received the last new streetcars in town in 1932 (the "Broadways").  It survived until 1948, when Portland Traction converted it to gas bus.
	The Brooklyn Line was opened around 1903 by the City & Suburban Railway Company.  It was merged into the Bridge Transfer Line in 1927 by PEPCO.
No photo has been found of a car on the  Burnside Line.  But,  it appears to have  never had an abbre- viated name and  may have used only  a roll sign on the  roof as route desig- nation.	The Burnside Line was built ca. 1903 by the original Portland Railway Company using part of the right of way of Portland Consolidated St. Ry.'s 1893 trolley line to Vancouver.  PRL&P extended the line from the eastside in 1907.  By 1911 it had been cut in half, running as a stub between 5th and 16th on West Burnside until being dropped in Dec. 1915.
	The Portland Railway Co. opened the Council Crest Line as an extension of the Portland Heights Line in Sept. 1906, a year before the Council Crest Amusement Park was finished.  At first CC may have functioned as a stub line, but by 1908 some cars were running all the way from downtown to the Park, while others turned back at Patton Rd.  The name Council Crest Line finally replaced Portland Heights Line after World War I, but trippers continued to turn back at Patton Rd. throughout the 1920s. The downtown terminus of the line was traded back and forth over the years between Union Depot and a 5th and Yamhill terminus.  In the 1930's the CC line began to use a loop on S.W. Washington and Morrison streets.  Council Crest was one of the last three city streetcar lines to go when it was converted to gas bus in 1950.
	PRL&P created the Depot-Morrison Line in 1907 by adding a Union Depot terminus to the old City & Suburban "M" Line (1892).  Track segments included parts of horsecar (Trans. St. Ry. 1883) and cablecar (Portland Cable Ry. 1890) lines. There is some confusion in early city guides about access to NW Portland.  In 1895 C&S acquired former Metropolitan Ry. routes to Willamette Heights via NW 23rd, and may have added them to its M (Morrison) Line.  But, soon after, C&S was serving the Hts. via 14th & Savier (S Line) and tracks on NW 23rd were used by rival Portland Railway. In 1904 C&S built a new stair-stepped route to the Heights for the Lewis & Clark Fair.  The "M" line had become the "W,"  as shown by PRL&P's use of "Union Depot - W" dash signs on Depot-Morrison cars.  The Depot-Morrison Line was discontinued on October 14, 1923, when a new downtown loop was added to the remaining Depot-Morrison trackage to create the new Willamette Heights Line.
	The East Ankeny Line was built by the City & Suburban Railway in 1892.  The Portland & Fairview Ry.'s line to Mount Tabor Villa was built at the same time, and used the East Ankeny route to gain access to downtown.  Soon alternate cars were running to Mount Tabor Villa and East Ankeny. By May of 1913 EA had been discontinued as a separate Line and combined with the Montavilla Line (the new name was a contraction of Mount Tabor Villa).
	The original  East Side Line was a horsecar route along Grand Ave. opened by Willamette Bridge Ry in 1888.  An 1890 carbarn fire hastened conversion to electric operation and by 1892 C&S had extended the line westward to connect with Albina cars.  In 1909 PRL&P merged this route into the Russell-Shaver Line. In 1914 a different East Side Line began running from the new Broadway Bridge, but a year later the East Side name vanished for good with a merger into the Bridge Transfer Line.
	The Ladd Estate Company built the Eastmoreland  Line in 1910 during the construction of Reed College on pasturage of Ladd's Crystal Springs Farm.  Passenger and boxcars were leased from PRL&P.  The first passenger run came the next year for the laying of the Elliot Hall cornerstone.  In 1912 new tracks were built down 32nd to the new Eastmoreland real estate development and tracks to the campus were removed.  That March the line was donated to PRL&P.  The route was merged with the Errol Heights Line in the 1920's.  Most of the original line was converted to gas bus in 1926.  In 1936 a trolley bus service was begun using the same name, but with a very different route (including parts of the Richmond and Waverly-Wood lines) which merely terminated in Eastmoreland.
No photo has been found of an Errol Hts dash or roll sign.	The Errol Heights Line was opened in 1913 by PRL&P.  It may have originally been underwritten by real estate developers, since it was described, for a time, as the world's only free trolley line.  It functioned as an extension of the Eastmoreland Line.  In fact, cars may have sometimes run from SW 13th in Sellwood via the EM Line, since historian Randall Mills claimed that Errol Heights trolleys met Sellwood cars.  The EH Line was discontinued in 1929.
	Metropolitan Railway's historic Fulton Line was the first electric line on the West Side, opening on New Year's Day 1890 (two months after the Albina trolley).  It was intended to run south to West Linn, but the owners began building an interurban on the other side of the river instead.  When the Fulton run reached Riverview Cemetery in 1891 it (briefly) become the longest electric railway in the state at six miles.  Access to downtown was secured by converting the old Portland Traction Company horsecar line on 2nd Avenue to standard gauge electric operation.  Yet, in 1897 City & Suburban Ry. began changing the whole line to narrow gauge, necessitating a transfer to standard gauge cars in South Portland for several years.  When the regauging was finished in 1900 the original private right-of-way to Riverview Cemetery was abandoned.  After 1923 the Fulton designation survived as a tripper on the south end of PRL&P's North & South Portland Line.  The Fulton and North and South Lines were converted to gas bus in 1937.
No photo has been found  of a Glisan Street Line  dash or roll sign.	The Glisan Street Line ("G" Line) began in 1883 as the first Transcontinental St. Ry. horsecar line.  City & Suburban ry. electrified the G Line in 1892.  By 1900 it had been combined with the Montgomery St. Line to form the M-G Line.  PRL&P merged part of this route with the S (Savier) Line, (which itself would soon become the North and South Portland Line) and  the remaining portion had been tacked onto the Mount Tabor Line by 1908.  Thus this former horsecar line didn't survive long into the PRL&P era.
	The Hawthorne Line started as the Mt. Tabor Railroad, a steam dummy service built by Mt. Tabor Street Railroad Co. in 1889.  It initially ran from Grand Ave. to 54th.  The line was purchased by the East Side Railway in 1891 which connected it to downtown via the old Madison St. Bridge and electrified it in sections during 1892-93.  Extensions were made southeastward during the next few years.  In 1907 PRL&P added the dual gauge Alder St. Loop as downtown terminus. Although it remained standard gauge until the end, Hawthorne became part of the city (as opposed to interurban) division  by 1914.  Portland Traction changed HA to trolley bus in 1936, and then gas bus about 1949.
	The historic Irvington Line was one of the first half dozen trolley routes in town.  It began life as Willamette Bridge Railway's Holladay Addition Line in 1890.  But, within months City & Suburban Railway had changed the name to Irvington.  During the period 1910-13 PRL&P extended the line.  In 1914 it was merged with the Jefferson Line to become Irvington & Jefferson (IJ) and dual terminuses, on Stout and Mill, replaced the old 3rd/2nd loop (the Mill portion was discontinued in 1928). The line became just Irvington again in 1933 when Portland Traction Company removed Jefferson St. from the route and replaced it with a 5th/Broadway loop. Irvington was converted to gas bus around 1938.
	PRL&P created the Irvington & Jefferson Line in 1914 when it merged the old Jefferson Line with Irvington.  Alternating West Side terminuses, on Stout and Mill, replaced the Irvington Line's 3rd/2nd loop.  The Mill Street terminus, where passengers had changed to cable cars prior to 1904, was not dropped until 1928.  In 1933 Portland Traction Company discontinued streetcar service on the Jefferson St. portion of the Irvington route and it became just IV again.
	The Jefferson Line utilized parts of the old Portland Heights (1890) and City Park Lines (1892) built by Portland Cable Railway and electrified by (the 2nd) Portland Traction Company in 1896.  Cable service continued from the foot of the incline on Mill up to the Heights until 1904. PRL&P cut both City Park and Union Depot terminuses in 1910. But, in 1913, an extension was made up Glisan to the Oregon Electric's North Bank Depot. The Jefferson Line was merged onto Irvington in 1914 to become Irvington-Jefferson.  In 1933 the Jefferson portion of IJ was discontinued.
	Swift Packing Company built the Kenton Line in 1909.  It was an extension of the Mississippi Avenue line, running between the company town of Kenton in North Portland and Swift's Packing Plant and the union stockyards.  Kenton Traction Company leased equipment (mainly old C&S Ry. cars) from PRL&P for a stub line operation, which began September 15, 1909. The Kenton Line was combined with the Mississippi Avenue Line in 1912 and discontinued separately. Service to Kenton was dropped at the end of 1928.
	Like other heights lines, Kings Heights was built by a real estate company and turned over to PRL&P for operation. The Kings Heights and Mt. Calvary Line  opened in 1911 as a stub service from NW 23rd Street.  Much of the route was over curved trestles and steep grades on private rights-of-way.  Most of the portion at the end of the line, from Valle Vista to the cemetery, had originally been part of, or at least surveyed for, the long defunct Barnes Park Heights and Cornell Mountain Railway (1893).  In 1927 PRL&P dropped the cemetery portion of the line, which was taken over as a separate service by United Railways Co.  Portland Traction Co. converted Kings Heights to gas bus in the late 1930's.
	The Lower Albina Line was part of the first electric streetcar route in the state. Willamette Bridge Railway opened the Albina Line in Nov. 1889. Successor City & Suburban Ry. split the two halves of the Albina loop into the Upper Albina and Lower Albina Lines and began extending the Lower Albina portion northward.  It reached Beech St. in 1901. By 1905 Portland Consolidate Ry. had pushed the "L" Line to a junction with the Russell-Shaver Line at Shaver St.  After PRL&P took over in 1907 the line was extended to meet the old St. Johns Steam Motor Line (electrified since 1903) at Killingsworth.  PRL&P also rerouted the downtown portion of Lower Albina to use the Burnside, rather than Steel, Bridge.  During the PRL&P years Lower Albina evolved into what became known as the Mississippi Avenue Line. In 1907 it was listed as "L Mississippi Avenue," and in 1912"L Mississippi and Kenton" (after the Kenton Line was added to it). The line finally became just Mississippi Avenue or "MA" after it was rerouted over the Broadway Bridge in 1916.
	The oldest portion of the Mississippi Avenue Line began as part of the first trolley line; Willamette Bridge Railway's Albina Line (Nov. 1889). By 1901 City & Suburban Ry. had split the route into the Upper Albina and Lower Albina Lines.  PRL&P merged the Kenton Line with Lower Albina to form the "L" Mississippi and Kenton Line in 1912.  The line was further lengthened after the Broadway Bridge route to downtown was added in 1916.  The old Lower Albina identity had now faded and the line was known as just Mississippi Avenue from the non.  About 1936 MA was extended for the last time. The northern terminus was moved three blocks using part of the old Kenton Traction route. The line was soon to be converted to trolley bus (some say in the late 1930's others say it was not until the 1940's). It became a gas bus line in 1958.
	The Montavilla Line's downtown loop utilized a portion of two Transcontinental St. Ry. horsecar lines (1883).  The route across the Morrison Bridge was also originally a horsecar run, Willamette Bridge Ry.'s pioneering East SideLine. The portion of MV to 28th opened in 1892 as City & Suburban's East Ankeny trolley.  The remaining portion of the line, to North Mount Tabor, was built for the Portland & Fairview Ry. During the 1890's cars alternated between East Ankeny and Montavilla destinations.  By 1899, when C&S acquired ownership of the both lines, the community of Mount Tabor Villa, and the line it served, had adopted the name "Mountavilla," a contraction that had first appeared on roll signs.  An addition was added in 1911 to the Mt. Hood Ry. station at 91st off Glisan.  In 1913 East Ankeny was discontinued as a separate line.  MV was converted to gas bus in 1948.
	The Montgomery St. Line began in 1886 as a Transcontinental St. Ry. horsecar line.  The northern portion was electrified in 1891 as City & Suburban's G (Glisan St.) Line. The southern portion was electrified within a year as the M Line.  By 1900 a combined service was known as the M-G Line.  PRL&P merged the Montgomery St. Line with the Mount Tabor Line around 1906 and it ceased to exist separately.  MT first added the G Street portion in 1905, and then traded that for the M Street part in 1908 (when much of the G Street route went to the N & S Portland Line).
	The Mount Tabor. Line , opened by Willamette Bridge Ry.  in 1888, was the area's first steam dummy line.  It first ran from East Portland to Sunnyside, but was extended to Mt. Tabor the next year.  In 1892 a short-lived steam line, the Portland, Mt. Tabor & Eastern, began running from the Mount Tabor terminus to 102nd & Stark.  C & S electrified Mt. Tabor in 1892 and extended it into downtown.  Several changes were made to MT Line terminuses over the years, particularly on the West side.  Service to the Lewis & Clark Exposition grounds in N.W. Portland was added run for a couple of years starting in 1905, and then the west side terminus was cut back to SW Yamhill in downtown.  A year later the Montgomery St. Line was attached to MT.  After 1909 Sunnyside was  operated as a separate line with its own terminuses (see SS Line page), and MT began running from SW 13th & Hall to SE 69th. By 1913 MT ran from SW 11th & Yamhill to SE 88th St. in Montavilla. Around 1933 the downtown terminus became a loop running from 13th & Hall returning via 11th.  MT trolleys were replaced by gasoline buses in 1948.
No photo has been found of a  Municipal Terminal (M-T) sign	The Commission of Public Docks built the Municipal Terminal Line to provide access to their remote new Terminal Number 4 north of St. Johns in 1920.  PRL&P, and then PEPCO, operated a car over this line until October 1929 when a bus took over.  The 1.5 mile stub ran from the end of the SJ Line to the Administration Building.
	PRL&P created the  Murraymead Line in 1913 as a standard gauge stub to the Hawthorne Line.  Portland Traction discontinued MM in 1936, although the approximate area served would become the 52nd Av. bus line.  For most of its life the MM Line was served by the little four wheel Safety Birney cars.
	The North & South Portland Line used parts of two older franchises.  The northern portion used the Transcontinental St. Railway's  S (Savier) St. Line, which had been electrified in 1891.  The southern portion was added about 1900 when the City & Suburban Ry. extended the S Line further into South Portland using rebuilt former Metropolitan Ry. rights-of-way.  C&S called the resulting line "S - North & South Portland," but during the PRL&P years the line became just "North & South Portland".  A new northern terminus was tried for 5 years, after which the line stayed essentially the same until the Fulton Line was merged with NS in 1923.  NS was converted to trolley coach May 23, 1937 and became the "3rd Avenue" gas bus August 10, 1953.  Today this route is served by two different bus lines.
	The Portland Heights Line was begun by the Portland Cable Ry. Co. in 1890, even as the first electric streetcars appeared in town. In 1896 new owner Portland Traction Co. converted cable trackage to electric operation, leaving cable cars only on the hill running up to Spring St.  By 1902 the trolleys (some of which had been converted from cable cars and had both grips and trolley poles!) were described as serving the "5th Street Line, Union Depot and Portland Heights," although passengers bound for the Heights had to transfer to cable cars at the base of the trestle on 18th (Chapman) Street. The last cable cars were not retired until 1904 when the Portland Heights Line was re-routed to use the new Vista Avenue Bridge. An extension to Council Crest was added in 1906, and by 1918 the name Portland Heights gave way to Council Crest in timetables and guidebooks (see CC Line above for remaining history of this route).
	The Richmond Line is one of the oldest in town.  The tracks it shared along 5th Avenue (now Grand) and across the Morrison Bridge were laid in 1888 as part of the Willamette Bridge Ry. Co.'s "Portland-East Portland" horsecar line.  Electrification began in 1890, following a carbarn fire, and was completed the next year by the City & Suburban Ry. Co. The "Waverly-Woodstock Motor Line" split  into two branches at S.E. 26th & Brooklyn, with some cars serving the neighborhood of Richmond and others continuing on south to Woodstock. Early cars on this line sported clerestory signs for "Waverly & Richmond." From the turn of the century these two lines were sometimes listed as "Woodstock" (WS) or "Richmond" (RM), while at other times they were given longer "Waverly-Woodstock" (W-W) or Waverly-Richmond" (W-R) names. Although originally narrow gauge lines, PRL&P regauged them to standard gauge in 1908, after which they were served by streetcars from the Sellwood, instead of the Ankeny, Carbarn.  The Richmond Line was discontinued September 27, 1936 (Woodstock continued as a gas bus line).
	Rose City Park Line service was inaugurated by Portland Railway, Light & Power Co. in 1907 as an addition to the East Ankeny Line.  The new right-of-way was built and owned by Hartman & Thompson Realtors.  Original service was via the old Morrison Bridge, but was changed to the Burnside Bridge in the 1910's.  The line's downtown loop was via 2nd, Washington, Burnside and 5th until 1914, when 1st Ave. replaced 2nd.  The East Side terminus was 67th and Sandy until 1912, when the RC car was extended to the city limits at 82nd and Sandy.  A spur line served the Portland Country Club, which began as a horse racetrack in 1908, became an auto speedway in 1926, and is now a city park and golf course.  The Rose City Line became the Sandy Blvd. trolley coach line on Nov. 30, 1936.  It was converted to gas bus June 12, 1955.
	The Russell-Shaver Line began in 1903 as a Portland Ry. Co. stub line running between Russell and Shaver Streets in North Portland. Successor Portland Consolidated Ry. extended their Lower Albina Line to a junction with R-S at Shaver and Mississippi in 1905 giving R-S riders an additional place where they could transfer to a downtown line.  R-S briefly gained a direct connection to town in 1907, when Portland Railway, Light and Power Co. routed R-S cars over the Burnside Bridge.  But, this was dropped within a year. The next route change came in 1909, when the the old Willamette Bridge Ry.'s East Side Line (Grand Avenue) was appended to the Russell-Shaver run.  That alignment was taken away too, when Grand Avenue trackage became part of the new Bridge Transfer Line in 1915. Some directories indicate that a northern terminus change, or perhaps a real estate stub addition, was made around 1911 on Maryland St.  However, by the PEPCO years (1920's) the R-S route looked much as it had at the beginning. The Russell-Shaver Line seems to have been abandoned in the 1930's, perhaps as part of the new franchise agreement in 1936.
	The St. Johns Line is an old one, having started as Willamette Bridge Ry. Co.'s "St. Johns Steam Motor Line."  The steam short line opened to the outskirts of the town of St. Johns in the late fall of 1888.  By May 12th, 1889 the northern terminus had been extended to Burlington St. in St. Johns, via a partial loop running from Wall to Jersey Streets. The entire loop wasn't completed until 1911.  The line's southern terminus, at Stanton and Commercial Streets in Albina made connection with the state's first trolley, the "Albina Electric Line," which was also owned by WB Ry.  Successor City & Suburban Ry. converted the St. Johns Line to electric operation in 1903 and began running St. J cars into downtown over the old Steel Bridge (as with the Albina lines). The "legs" at the bottom of this line (the route through Albina) was changed from the stub line terminus at Commercial St., to Williams Ave., then Union Ave, and eventually Greeley.  The line changed bridges several times as well, moving over to the Burnside Bridge around 1911, and then the Broadway Bridge, after it was completed, in 1913.  Each of these bridges had its specific "loop" through the downtown area, with Burnside using 5th, Washington and 2nd, and Broadway using 5th, Washington and Broadway. Portland Electric Power Co.(PEPCO) made the final change to the St. J. Line about 1918, utilizing the new Greeley Cutoff into North Portland.  The line was converted to trolley bus April 11, 1937 and to diesel bus in 1958.

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