The Oregon Trunk Line is a railway line in Oregon and Washington operated by the BNSF Railway. It is a remnant of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway, running from Wishram, Washington in the north to a connection with the Union Pacific at Chemult at its south end.[1] Connections to the Gateway Subdivision are facilitated by trackage rights over the Union Pacific Cascade Subdivision to Klamath Falls.
The Oregon Trunk Line railroad surveyed the route in 1906,[2] with the golden spike driven at Bend on October 5, 1911.[3] It was built with competition from the Deschutes Railroad Company, which laid their tracks on the eastern bank of the Deschutes River. The competing companies' workers became embroiled in a Railroad War during construction, involving attacks involving dynamite, guns, and general brawls. A truce was called in 1909 to allow the two to build a joint track through the narrow Deschutes River Valley. Northern Pacific Railway and Great Northern Railway agreed to extend the line south of Bend to Klamath Falls in 1927.[4] [5] The order was finalized the following year with Great Northern additionally acquiring trackage rights on the Southern Pacific line between Chemult and Klamath Falls.[6]
Passenger services along the line ended in 1971 with the formation of Amtrak.