The Astoria Riverfront Trolley with the Astoria-Megler Bridge behind it

The volunteer-run trolley that still rattles along Astoria’s waterfront

ByMegan Harlow

Photo: Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The streetcar that runs along Astoria’s waterfront is known locally as Old 300. It was built in 1913 and spent its working life in San Antonio, Texas, before passing through other owners and arriving in Astoria at the end of the 1990s.

It runs on a line of former Burlington Northern railroad track that follows the Columbia River for roughly three miles, between the Port of Astoria docks on the west end and the East End Mooring Basin. The same corridor carries the Astoria Riverwalk, the paved path that has become one of the most used public spaces in the city.

Who runs it

The trolley is operated by a nonprofit association, and the motormen and conductors are mostly volunteers, many of them retirees who narrate the history of the canneries, docks and old buildings as the car passes. Fares are low, and service is seasonal, with most runs in the warmer months and on weekends.

Moving people past the shops

For waterfront businesses, the trolley functions as a slow shuttle. Cruise ship passengers coming off the Port of Astoria docks can ride it toward downtown and the maritime museum, and visitors staying at the Cannery Pier Hotel or the inns at the east end use it to reach restaurants without moving their cars. Parking downtown on a summer day is limited, so anything that gets people out of their cars helps.

The bigger cost is the track. The rail line and its trestles over the water need constant maintenance, and that responsibility falls largely to the city. Keeping the line usable for the trolley and safe for the Riverwalk is a recurring item in Astoria’s budget debates.

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