Oregon Electric Railway Depot - Sweet Home, Oregon - Train Stations/Depots on Waymarking.com

The station is located behind the McDonald's at 2000 Main Street (US 20, SR 16 Santiam Highway). There is an excellent article on the station and the associated railroad at the web site of Brian McCamish, ‘In Search of History Expeditions’ (see link below) and an excerpt appears here:

The Oregon Electric Railway built its new line to Sweet Home from Albany in 1931. That same year they continued on to the site of Dollar in the mountains southeast of Sweet Home, which was a logging interchange point for the Dollar Portland Lumber Company. The depot, which was built in 1931, saw its first train on April 1, 1932. The Oregon Electric up to this point used mostly electric trains powered by overhead wires. But since this branch was isolated from the rest of the OE lines via a section of Southern Pacific Railroad track, the OE used steam and later diesel power throughout the history of this branch. (In 1945, all of the OE converted to diesel power, except for the Dollar Branch.) The Oregon Electric was allowed to run on Southern Pacific track between Lebanon and it's mainline at Albany with trackage rights. The OE discontinued most passenger service on its lines by 1932, so the Sweet Home depot saw little use as a passenger depot. It served mostly as a daily train order station from the 1930s through at least the mid-1960s after the Holley Branch closed down. Apparently the depot was used as an antique shop for a short period around 1990. The depot was also moved from its original location sometime after the Holley branch track was removed; the prime location next to Highway 20 was used as the site for a new McDonald’s restaurant. The depot was moved back several 100 feet to its current location. It appears to have been essentially abandoned since 1990.

Is the station/depot currently used for railroad purposes?: No Is the station/depot open to the public?: No If the station/depot is not being used for railroad purposes, what is it currently used for?: Vacant What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: The Oregon Electric Railway Station/Depot Web Site: [Web Link]

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