The route is divided into the following subdivisions:
· PNWR Astoria District from Willbridge to Astoria
The former NP Astoria branch is now operated by the Portland & Western Railroad (PNWR), in common with a number of other former SP lines in the Portland area. The single-track line is run by Track Warrant Control, with a couple of spots where Yard Limits prevail. The maximum speed limit is 30 mph for passenger trains, 25 mph for freights, with many spots having permanent speed restrictions.
From the wye at Willbridge (MP 4.3), the line continues the northwesterly heading of the main line from Portland, with US 30 along its southwest side, along the west bank of the Willamette River, through W Yard (MP 5.0), Gasco (MP 5.6), Claremont, the Owens-Corning “Trumbull” plant, with rail spurs on the northeast side of the line and a grade crossing into the plant, and Linnton (MP 7.3), with a spur on the northeast side where the RDCs used on the “Lewis and Clark Explorer” and other cars have been kept, and a grade crossing into that yard. There is a grade crossing, a road bridge high overhead, a connection into Morse Brothers (MP 8.0), a 4,945 ft. siding at Harbor Siding (MP 8.9) alongside a tributary waterway as the Willamette has turned away, United Junction (MP 10.0), where the final sets of yard limits end and there was once a connector to the adjacent (to the west) United Railways (an SP&S subsidiary) and more recently Portland & Western line southwest over Cornelius Pass, a location where a United Railways loop line once crossed overhead, and Burlington, where that same loop line trailed in from the northeast. There is a bridge over a road below, a highway (US 30) alongside to the south, wheat fields beyond the highway, a 1,440 ft. siding at Holbrook (MP 12.8), where the line turns north following the west bank of the tributary, which then turns away northeast. The river is separated from the line by fields and trees, even when it runs adjacent to it.
There are four grade crossings, a formerly rail-served industry on the northeast side, a grade crossing at the east end of the 1,653 ft. siding at Scappoose (MP 19.9), a grade crossing within the siding, and a grade crossing at the west end of the siding, a grade crossing, the highway is now on the northeast side of the line, another grade crossing, a cemetery on the northeast side, private grade crossings to houses, a grade crossing, a private grade crossing, a grade crossing, roads along both sides of the line, and the line curves north-northeast through Warren (where another arm of the river appears on the east side).
There is a connection into Columbia Plywood (MP 26.3) on the north side of the line, and not visible from it, a grade crossing, a 2,355 ft. siding at St. Helens (MP 27.6) with extra tracks to the northeast side, roads on both the north and south sides of the line, a bridge overhead, a grade crossing at the north end of the siding, three more grade crossings, a lumber plant on the north side, a road bridge overhead, a grade crossing, the line comes alongside the south bank of the Columbia River with a residential area and trees, a grade crossing, and Stemson Lumber on the north side of the line with the river just beyond it at Columbia City (MP 30.7), where there are extra tracks and a logging railroad once headed west (i.e. on the south side of the line).
After passing through Reichhold, there is a 2,278 ft. siding at Waterview (MP 31.3), as the line turns north-northwest, two grade crossings into industries on the north side, a grade crossing, the river is now somewhere beyond woodland, Deer Island (MP 33.2), where Moore Brothers Deer Island plant is on the north side, followed by four grade crossings with the river just beyond a line of trees, and Charlton. At Goble (MP 39.5), where a logging railroad once headed west (i.e. on the south side of the line), there was once a train ferry across the Columbia, carrying trains to Seattle prior to the building of the Portland-Vancouver railway bridge in 1908.
The line passes through Trojan (MP 40.8), Prescott, the line and river gradually curve northwest with the line right on the riverbank, and there is a 1,175 ft. siding at Rainier (MP 45.5), where there is a harbor area on the river side of the line with grade crossing access over the line in the middle of the street (the road alongside appears to cross sides and goes to a park on the north side of the line, right on the riverbank). There is a lumberyard with large logs on the riverside, with an associated rail spur, and a road bridge passes high overhead with a grade crossing beneath it. The line passes through Avon (MP 46.8), curves north-northwest, there is a USG(ypsum) plant on the riverside with grade crossing access, a grade crossing, and a bridge over a side stream. There is no road on the south side at this point, because there is a rocky “cliff” there.
The line passes through 186 ft. tunnel 3 (MP 54.6), over a grade crossing towards a pier on the river, and another grade crossing. There is an extra track on the north side, after which the line turns west at Mayger (MP 56.1), with woods on the north side of the line and the river not visible. There is a spur off to Port Westward at MP 57.8, farms and houses on the north side, the line turns southwest through Lacoda, over two grade crossings, through Quincy, where there is a road alongside to the south, and Inglis, where there is a grade crossing near what appears to be a former siding, that was once the 2,304 ft. siding at Clatskanie (MP 62.2). There is a lumberyard on the north side past the west end of the former siding, and a tributary river crossing at Clatskanie River Draw (MP 62.7) on a through-truss swing bridge with a paid bridge tender—the smallest of the three swing bridges. There is a grade crossing to farm buildings on the north side, as the line turns northwest, past another grade crossing, and fields and woods on both sides of the line, and then west-southwest, past several more grade crossings, one leading to a bridge over an adjacent stream, through Marshland.
There is still a road alongside to the south, and an arm of the Columbia alongside to the north for a short distance, as the line passes another Multnomah Plywood facility, and then Kerry, where the line again turns northwest and a logging railroad once headed south. The evergreen trees alongside are Sitka Spruce, which grow in the coast range only. Following a grade crossing, Westport (MP 71.2) has a 1,426 ft. siding, a grade crossing, a bridge over an inlet, a grade crossing, stands of cottonwood trees being grown for pulp for the paper mill, and the Georgia-Pacific paper mill on the south side with grade crossings to the north side within and on the west end of the paper mill. This is as far west as regular freight service on the line goes in 2005.
Part of the Columbia River is on the north side of the line again, with Puget Island beyond and solar-powered navigation markers in the river, as the line passes Wauna (MP 73.5), Bradwood, Parsons, and the 2,113 ft. siding at Clifton (MP 78.7). The Columbia River is tidal this far east. A grade crossing leads to a covered pier on the river. The line turns southwest, away from the riverbank, across two grade crossings and through Brownsmead, a 1,175 ft. siding and a through truss bridge at Blind Slough DB (MP 84.8), operated by the same bridge tender as the other two drawbridges, a 1,122 ft. siding at Knappa (MP 86.7) that looks to be out of service in 2005 (weeds and bushes are growing in it), where the line briefly turns northwest across a deck bridge over a side inlet before resuming its southwesterly course. A river is alongside to the north, but not the full Columbia, there is a grade crossing to a separate bridge over the river channel, MP 91, Svenson, where the line turns west, right alongside a side channel on the north side again, and then northwest.
There is a side river crossing at John Day River DB (MP 94.6), a deck bridge over a fairly wide river, for a tributary, operated by the bridge tender using a turning wheel set into the bridge deck operated by a large turning lever that the bridge tender must bring with him. There is a grade crossing, a long pier out into the river or inlet and large warehouses between line and river at Tongue Point Naval Station, now a Coast Guard base, and a turn west-southwest at Tongue Point (MP 96.7). There is a road bridge overhead and the line comes alongside the river again. The line curves gently to the west, past a long pier in the river, followed by even larger piers and breakwaters, with a grade crossing leading to them, many rotting pier pilings in the river. The line comes along the south side of the non-electrified Astoria trolley line, and enters Astoria (MP 99.7), where the PNWR line ends. The trolley line continues further west along the former SP&S right-of-way. The SP&S line once continued across a long bridge to a terminus at Hammond (Fort Stevens), out nearer to the mouth of the Columbia.