One century-old rail of the Oregon Electric Railway on Fifth Avenue looked like this in December 2024.
If Fifth Avenue east of Lyon Street is ever going to be repaved, what happens to the 114-year-old railroad track under the crumbling asphalt? The Albany Landmarks Commission would like the track preserved.
The track was laid in 1912 just before the Oregon Electric Railway opened its Albany passenger depot. Now the depot has been been remodeled as the Sybaris Bistro, 133 Fifth Ave. SE.
Part of the track and the original brick around it can be seen in front of the former station, in the block between Lyon and Baker streets. (I wrote about this in 2018 and again in 2024.)
Also still visible, peeking through the pavement, is part of the OER’s wye, a short section of Y-shaped track in the block of Baker Street south of Fifth. The wye allowed trains to turn around.
Last week, the Albany Landmarks Commission voted to ask the city staff to preserve the rails as a protected historic resource and not to let them be removed as part of any future street maintenance project. Planning manager David Martineau said the recommendation to preserve what’s left of the track would be passed on to Public Works.
The commission acted in response to a request by Liz Moore Rapp, an Albany historian.
She also asked that the city explore the feasibility of grant funding to clear away the failing pavement over the rest of the old tracks, stabilize the surrounding brick borders, and preserve the tracks as a visible reminder of Albany’s history as a railroad hub.
Rapp said that on Fifth Avenue, preserving the rails would still allow the street in front of the old depot to serve as parallel-parking space.
In the past few years, construction on Water Avenue destroyed what remained of two unused sidings that served industries along the riverfront in Albany’s early days.
It would be nice if that didn’t happen to the rails on Fifth Avenue and Baker Street. (hh)
Joke #39
I thought it was #23.
Well, SOME folks just can’t tell a joke.
How about the Landmarks Commission be required to submit a financial impact statement to ANY of their decisions? Sometimes, one wonders if they even live on this planet.
lol I wonder how many streets could be fixed for the price of preserving something from less than 200 years ago that people think is “historic”
Let’s derail this plan.
180 years is about the extent of Albany’s history. This is not Europe with 1000 year old artifacts. So if people are interested in preserving what made Albany the city it is, preservation of some artifacts is worthwhile. This does not sound like a very expensive project.
Let’s hope are city council doesn’t get involved are it could add more to are water bill .LOL They need another project to try and rob us of or hard earn money o wait we still haven’t seen what they are going charge us for repairs to are streets yet .Please quit giving the city council ideas to save historic things
Sybaris will need another $ 250,000 to add outside seating….Dine along the tracks
What a coincidence that this would facilitate parking for Sybaris! Can we just be done with giving special favors to the downtown at the taxpayers expense?
Preserving the rails would not do anything to “facilitate parking for Sybaris.” The street parking would remain unchanged. And nobody said anything about taxpayer expense.
After all the great things the owners of Sybaris have done for Albany, the City ought to build the restaurant its own parking ramp.
Preserving the old rails in front of the former railroad depot does not seem like a bad idea to me. It should not be very costly to not tear out the rails.
It’s just some freaking old tracks buried in the street. Get rid of them. No one is walking by there giving their kids a history lesson on them. Even if they were, the kids would be yawning.
There are many great historic things to preserve. This, is not one of them.