Sawmills were built along the route as soon as transportation was available for the lumber they would produce, but traffic was seldom sufficient to encourage investment in new equipment.

This "Galloping Goose" began operation on 1 April 1917 and remained the only passenger service until replaced by a thrice weekly mixed train under different ownership in March, 1929.

The Anderson-Middleton Lumber Company purchased OP&E from Chambers in 1924, and built a new sawmill (today's Weyerhauser), south of Cottage Grove.

Locomotive #8 and a trainload of logs fell through Walden bridge into Mosby Creek on 5 September 1924, killing both the engineer, and brakeman.

Local National Guard soldiers were hired to wear Civil War uniforms, and filming battle scenes caused several fires including one that destroyed the Red Bridge Station.

The most exciting fire was the intentional destruction of Texas scene, on a bridge the movie company built over the Row River, filming of which was scheduled on July 4 for the enjoyment of local spectators, and resulted in a rousing success.

The "Texas" Locomotive #5 would remain in the Row River until the Japanese' military preparations in 1941 raised the price of scrap iron just before World War II.

After steam-powered excursion trains were run 18–19 July 1959 to celebrate the Oregon Centennial, Georgia-Pacific purchased Booth-Kelly (including OP&E) in 1959.

[4] During the Summer of 1972, 20th Century Fox's 1973 motion picture Emperor of the North Pole, starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Keith Carradine, (and also including Vic Tayback, Charles Tyner, Simon Oakland, Elisha Cook Jr., Liam Dunn, & Matt Clark) was filmed along the railroad's right-of-way using some of the company's equipment, including Kyle's 1915-built 90 ton Baldwin (serial number 42000) 2-8-2 logging steam locomotive No.