page_title: Oahu Railway and Land Company
section_title: OR&L to World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Oahu Railway and Land Company / OR&L to World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: OR&amp;L diesel 19, a 47 tonner GE locomotive sits on the turntable in Honolulu. This narrow gauge turn table was the only one of its kind in the USA, being electrically operated. Photograph colored by Anthony Williams
context_page_description: The Oahu Railway and Land Company, or OR&L, was a 3 ft narrow gauge common carrier railway that served much of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and was the largest narrow gauge class one common carrier in the U.S, until its dissolution in 1947.
context_section_description: The OR&L was not only a sugarcane railroad. While it served several sugar mills and plantations, it also hauled end products, equipment and workers. The sugarcane plantations sometimes had their own lines. As a common carrier, the OR&L carried freight, passengers, mail and parcels. For instance, besides sugar and pineapples, the railroad hauled garbage from Honolulu to a dump on the Waiʻanae Coast, sand from Waiʻanae to Honolulu during the development of Waikiki, and served the major military bases: Pearl Harbor, Hickam Field, Barber's Point Naval Air Station, Schofield Barracks, and Wheeler Army Airfield.
  In 1926, Dillingham built a new passenger terminal designed by Bertram Goodhue, one of the most famous architects in the country, who had also designed the Honolulu Museum of Art and the C. Brewer Building in a Spanish Mission Revival style that matched that of many other public buildings erected during that era. The OR&L train station was converted to a Honolulu Rapid Transit bus terminal after 1947 (later discontinued), and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
  The railroad was profitable, even during the Great Depression, and was a significant mode of communications and transportation until the 1930s. As with railroads in the mainland, private automobiles and public roads led to a decline in traffic, especially passengers. Leading up to World War II the OR&L had all but abandoned its passenger operations, focusing on its profitable freight operations.
caption: OR&L #19, a 47 tonner GE diesel electric locomotive sits on the Iwilei Turntable in Honolulu. This turntable was electrically operated.
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