The streetcars that plied Oregon's small-town streets were every bit as
diverse as those in Portland and their history even more fascinating.
Learn of the devastating 1922 fire that scorched Astoria's plank road
railways and put a halt to its once-thriving streetcar network. Muse
over the tale of a beloved white horse named Old Charlie that proved
more efficient at powering Albany's streetcars than the alternative
steam locomotive. Laugh at the spectacle of university students being
carted back to their dormitories on the Eleventh Street Line's special
midnight drunk express trains. Take pride in the tiny town of Cherry
Grove, which became the first in the West to embrace new battery
technology. Local historian Richard Thompson celebrates the lost trolley
lines that transported Oregon's people across the state for decades.