Oregon Railroad Museums: A Complete Guide

Last revised: October 11, 2026

Oregon’s railroad museums are the three steam locomotives the City of Portland has kept since 1958, a trolley barn at Brooks, and depots the Southern Pacific left behind. The Southern Pacific 4449, the Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700, and Oregon Railroad & Navigation 197 share an enginehouse in Portland that opened in 2012. At Brooks, the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society runs streetcars on the grounds of Powerland Heritage Park. Canby’s 1891 depot is a local museum. Medford’s park has a Willamette logging locomotive. At Chiloquin, Train Mountain is a 7.5-inch-gauge railroad measured in miles.

The coast train in the photograph, the Holiday Express at the heritage center, the Mount Hood Railroad, and the Eagle Cap Excursion Train are on the Oregon scenic-train guide. Confirm the museum doors on each site before you drive.

McCloud River Railroad 2-6-2 No. 25 departing Garibaldi, Oregon, on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad, July 4, 2011

McCloud River Railroad 2-6-2 No. 25 leaves Garibaldi, Oregon, on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad, July 4, 2011. Alco built the engine in September 1925, construction number 66435. Drew Jacksich photograph.

On this page: At a glance · Oregon railroads · Portland · Brooks · Canby · Medford · Chiloquin · The coast train · Related reading

At a glance

Place	Town	What it is known for	Site
Oregon Rail Heritage Center	Portland	Opened September 22, 2012. City locomotives Southern Pacific 4449, Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700, and Oregon Railroad & Navigation 197	orhf.org · 2250 SE Water Avenue · 4449
Oregon Electric Railway Museum	Brooks	Society founded 1957. Museum at Powerland since 1996. TriMet MAX car 101, built 1984	museum.oregontrolley.com
Canby Depot Museum	Canby	Southern Pacific depot of 1891. Museum opened October 6, 1984. A caboose outside	888 NE 4th Avenue · Canby Historical Society
Medford Railroad Park	Medford	City agreement of 1979. Medford Corporation No. 4, a Willamette of 1925	799 Berrydale Avenue
Train Mountain	Chiloquin	7.5-inch gauge, over 32 miles, on 2,200 acres. Institute formed in 2013	trainmountain.org · 36941 South Chiloquin Road
Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad	The coast	McCloud River No. 25, Alco, September 1925. The railroad in the photograph	rides

Oregon railroads

The Oregon & California came up the Willamette Valley and, with the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company along the Columbia, became part of the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific maps. The Spokane, Portland & Seattle was the Hill lines’ road into Portland. Logging railroads, among them the McCloud River across the line in California, fed the mills. Union Pacific and BNSF are the Class I freights now. A fuller map is on the Oregon railroads page.

The Mount Hood Railroad at Hood River and the Eagle Cap Excursion Train at Elgin are rides. Their days are on the scenic guide.

Portland

The Oregon Rail Heritage Center grew out of three steam locomotives the City of Portland has owned since 1958: Southern Pacific 4449, Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700, and Oregon Railroad & Navigation 197, later Union Pacific 3203. For years they stood behind a fence at Oaks Amusement Park. In 1974, No. 4449 was restored and assigned to the American Freedom Train. The three later shared the Brooklyn Roundhouse, the Southern Pacific house in southeast Portland. When Union Pacific’s yard plans required the ground, the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, formed in 2002, built a new enginehouse.

The locomotives left Brooklyn on June 26, 2012. The center opened to the public on September 22, 2012, a building of about 20,000 square feet at 2250 SE Water Avenue, beside the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The Brooklyn Roundhouse came down that September. Its turntable was saved and later set in the entrance plaza. Nos. 4449 and 700 are the operating steam locomotives. No. 197 is the restoration, out where the work can be watched. The specification for the Daylight 4-8-4 is on the 4449 page. The Holiday Express and any other trip the center posts are on the scenic guide. The center posts its days.

Brooks

The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society was founded in 1957, named for the electric interurban that once ran the length of the Willamette Valley. Its first museum was the Trolley Park at Glenwood, opened in 1959 on a former logging-railroad site, with streetcars running by the mid-1960s. The Glenwood operation ended in 1995. In 1996 the society opened the Oregon Electric Railway Museum at Powerland Heritage Park in Brooks, north of Salem. Electrified operation there began in 1999. The carbarn holds streetcars from the Northwest and from overseas, and a trolley runs the loop on the days the museum posts.

In 2025 the museum took in TriMet MAX Type 1 car No. 101, built in 1984. The society marks September 5, 1986, as the day that car opened Portland’s light-rail line. The Brooks Depot, a local station the Brooks Historical Society moved to the park in 1989 and dedicated on July 14, 1990, stands on the same grounds. The society also operates the Willamette Shore Trolley between Lake Oswego and Portland. Powerland’s own calendar, including the Great Oregon Steam-Up, is on the park’s site.

Canby

The Oregon & California reached Canby in 1870 and put up a small depot. A windstorm in the fall of 1891 knocked that building down, and the Southern Pacific, which then owned the line, built the station that still stands. The city dates it to 1891. It remained the town’s depot until the Southern Pacific closed it in 1978. The Canby Historical Society, incorporated on May 15, 1968, raised the money to move it beside the fairgrounds. The city deeded the building to the society in 1984, and the Canby Depot Museum opened on October 6, 1984, at 888 NE 4th Avenue. The rooms are the town’s history. A caboose the society acquired in August 1989 stands outside. The society posts its days.

Medford

Medford Railroad Park is the old sewer-plant ground at 799 Berrydale Avenue. In 1979 the city agreed with the Southern Oregon chapter of the National Railway Historical Society to turn the developed acres into a railroad park. The chapter, now the Southern Oregon Railway Historical Society, shares the grounds with the Southern Oregon Live Steamers, a model club, a garden-railway group, and a Morse telegraph club. Visitors ride a 7.5-inch-gauge loop, walk an HO layout, and send a telegram on the days the clubs post.

The full-size locomotive is Medford Corporation No. 4, a Willamette geared engine built in 1925 and later assigned to the corporation’s logging railroad out of Butte Falls. The city once had it in a park as a play locomotive. The society has it at Railroad Park and has been restoring it. It is the piece the park is known for. The society’s longer hope, a rebuilt piece of that logging railroad, is a project. The train a visitor rides today is the miniature.

Chiloquin

Train Mountain sits at 36941 South Chiloquin Road, on about 2,200 acres between Klamath Falls and Crater Lake. Ed St. John had already built a backyard railroad there, the Over-the-Hill Live Steamers, with help from Medford volunteers. In 1992 he and Quentin Breen connected that loop to the railroad Breen was building on the next ground. Breen later bought St. John’s property. In 2013 the railroad passed to the Train Mountain Institute. The gauge is 7.5 inches, the usual size for a person riding astride a one-eighth-scale train. The institute reports over 32 miles of track and cites the Guinness record for the longest rideable miniature hobby railway.

The Klamath & Western, the renamed Over-the-Hill loop, is a separate group that posts public rides on a short piece of the same ground. Central station, the museum rooms, and the full-size cabooses at the gate are the public stop. Members bring their own locomotives on the meet days. The institute posts its days. Admission is free.

The coast train

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad is the train in the photograph. McCloud River No. 25, the Alco 2-6-2 of September 1925, construction number 66435, came to that railroad on February 8, 2011. The picture was made at Garibaldi on July 4 of that year. Where the train boards, and which days it runs, are on the scenic guide. The railroad is an operating museum of logging-country steam as much as it is a ride.

Sources

Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, orhf.org. Three City of Portland locomotives, donated in 1958: Southern Pacific 4449, Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700, and Union Pacific 3203, which is Oregon Railroad & Navigation 197. Foundation formed in 2002. Enginehouse of about 20,000 square feet opened in 2012. Address 2250 SE Water Avenue. Nos. 4449 and 700 are the operating steam locomotives. No. 197 is under restoration. The move from the Brooklyn Roundhouse was June 26, 2012. Public opening September 22, 2012. The 4449 specification stays on its own page. Ride dates stay on the scenic-train guide.
Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. Founded 1957. Trolley Park at Glenwood, 1959–1995. Oregon Electric Railway Museum at Powerland Heritage Park, Brooks, from 1996. Electrified operation from 1999. TriMet MAX Type 1 car No. 101, built 1984, welcomed in 2025. The society’s date for that car opening MAX is September 5, 1986. Brooks Depot dedicated July 14, 1990, after the 1989 move. Willamette Shore Trolley, Lake Oswego–Portland, operated by the same society.
City of Canby landmark record and the Canby depot narrative. Oregon & California arrival, 1870. Windstorm, fall 1891. Southern Pacific depot dated 1891. Depot closed 1978. Canby Historical Society incorporated May 15, 1968. Museum opened October 6, 1984, at 888 NE 4th Avenue. Caboose acquired August 1989.
City of Medford, Railroad Park. Agreement of 1979. Address 799 Berrydale Avenue. Medford Corporation No. 4, a Willamette geared locomotive of 1925, later on the Butte Falls logging railroad. Southern Oregon Railway Historical Society, with the live-steam, model, garden, and telegraph clubs.
Train Mountain Institute, trainmountain.org. Over 32 miles of 7.5-inch-gauge track on about 2,200 acres at 36941 South Chiloquin Road. Ed St. John’s Over-the-Hill Live Steamers connected with Quentin Breen’s railroad in 1992. Institute formed in 2013. The institute cites Guinness for the longest rideable miniature hobby railway. Klamath & Western posts rides on the older loop.
McCloud River No. 25. Alco, September 1925, construction number 66435. Sold to the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad on February 8, 2011. Photograph at Garibaldi, July 4, 2011, Drew Jacksich. The scenic-train guide has the current boarding town and the calendar.

Confirm hours and which locomotive is on the property before you travel.

Facebook X Pinterest Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp Messenger