The cars were in keeping with the Oregon Electric's plush image. The January 18, 1913 edition of the Electric Railway Journal described the cars in this way: "The sleeping cars for the Oregon Electric Railway are finished inside in handsomely figured mahogany with inlaid lines and marquetry figures in neat design. Floor covering in the main compartment is Wilton carpet. The seats are upholstered in figure frieze plush and the trimmings through the cars are statutory bronze. The ceilings are decorated in green and gold.

The railroad cars had buffet service run by a single porter, individual parlor seats, toilets and drinking fountains. All cars, with the exception of trail cars, had deep tone air chimes that were capable of playing octaves. These chimes were located in the roofs of the cars - in the center of the head (front) end in combination cars and in the middle of the motorized baggage and standard passenger coaches.

Even as the Oregon Electric Station was developing its cultural identity in the Mid-Willamette Valley, the great train empires were beginning to crumble. They were badly overextended; high costs, disintegrating profits, and the emergence of a new transportation force call "automobiles" took their toll. The Station suffered with them.

The Oregon Electric Railway heyday years ran between 1905 and 1925, when the electric railroad field was at its peak. In fact, the industry (which included street railroads and interurbans) was the 6th largest in America in terms of dollars invested. Much of this investment was made in the years 1903-15, when most of the nation's 49,000 miles of electric track were laid.

 

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