Oregon Rail Heritage Center

Real-life trains roll by on the tracks just outside, making for an immersive tour, guided or self-paced.

Oregon Rail Heritage Center (Courtesy of Oregon Rail Heritage Center)
By Lin Lin Hutchinson

2250 SE Water Ave., 503-233-1156, orhf.org. 1–5 pm Thursday–Sunday. Free.

Whether you are a die-hard train enthusiast or just looking for a quirky Portland adventure, the Oregon Rail Heritage Center is worth your time. It’s a clean, well-lighted place, with red-vested docents dispensing rail lore beside the retired Southern Pacific 4449 locomotive, stationed parallel along the east wall of the center. Real-life trains roll by on the tracks just outside, making for an immersive tour, guided or self-paced. SP 4449 is the big draw here. The 1941 engine pulled SP Daylight coaches until 1955, led the 1976 American Freedom Train, and embarked on the longest steam excursion ever in the U.S., to the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans. This 81-year-old engine is accompanied by two other magnificent, donated machines: the Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700 and the Oregon Railway and Navigation 197, both rich in history.

Don’t miss: Take some time along the west walls of the center to see what makes ORHC a working facility. On your next visit, a crew may be in action to restore the locomotives on the historic Brooklyn Turntable just outside the center’s entrance.

Will kids like it? If they liked Thomas the Tank Engine, they’ll probably like this.

See the rest of Oregon’s Museum Trail here!

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