Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Portland and Western’s Toledo Branch weaves through America’s premier timber producing lands in western Oregon. This backwoods railroad serves a Georgia Pacific paper mill in the small town of Toledo. Five days a week, trains make the seventy-five mile journey over the branch line between its namesake town and Albany in the lush Willamette Valley.

Part 2 of this series will focus on the east end of this former Southern Pacific branch line with an insightful combination of historic images and modern-day operations. We begin at the remote community of Summit and follow the weaving course of the Mary’s River down the east side of the heavily forested Coast Range. Aerial photography provides an amazing perspective of the more isolated portions of the branch.

EMD GP39-2’s and GP40P slug sets power trains of containerboard, wood chips, and lumber through the rugged coastal mountains. The railroad crosses numerous secluded trestles and passes graveyards of old mills with a history as rich as the beautiful scenery that surrounds it. Leaving the woods, the line traverses busy city streets and races through open farm land before meeting the Willamette River and the Union Pacific main line at Albany.

2 Hours 9 Minutes