Brief Biography
Charles Eugene Hayden (Chuck) was born in Portland May 23rd, 1928 and died in January of 1998.
He loved trains, trolleys, boats, singing and traveling from an early age.
He told stories of riding the streetcars all night when he was 11 or 12, and the operators eventually took pity and taught him how to operate them.
His father, Gilbert Eugene Hayden, was a boat pilot and fireboat pilot on the Willamette. His mother Catherine was a Christian Science practitioner and stayed home with Chuck and his brother Jim.
He attended Jefferson High School, and through choral music, got a full ride scholarship to Gonzaga University for singing in a quartet with 3 other Jefferson grads, who might not have gone to college, save for this opportunity.
Through singing, he met Shirley Freeman at Chapman, and they married in the 40s. Their 1st daughter Mary arrived, while Chuck had a short job as a motorman in 1952, operating an interurban car on the Oregon City and Belrose lines. A dream job for him.
2 more daughters, Cindy and Melissa arrived. Chuck worked for the Union Pacific for 8 years in the traffic department, arranging excursions of up to 1000 people to Madras, to Seaside, and other destinations. Eventually he left the railroad, to start
Sunset Tours, with offices in Beaverton on Broadway, and in Portland on Broadway. Travel and singing moved Chuck around the world, and he was always on the lookout for trains and trolleys, wherever he landed. In fact, likely the itineraries were determined to go by a train destination or trolley somewhere. In Portland, he met a longtime friend , Ed Immel, when they and others were riding the final run of the Willamette Heights street car on February 25th 1950. The run started at 5:30 AM.
Chuck served as president the Vernonia and South Park steam tourist railway for 10 years, on the abandoned logging line between Banks and Vernonia, now the Banks-Vernonia Linear Trail.
He was among the first members of the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society, located for a longtime at Gales Creek, Oregon, and was president, superintendent, and in charge of training of motormen, because of his deep knowledge of the trolley car systems.
He met Susan Brown in 1977 and they married in 1979. Both loved trolleys, travel singing and each other.
The Southern Pacific Railroad was abandoning it’s right of way from Portland to Lake Oswego, and a number of people, including Chuck Hayden, worked to acquire the right of way and trackage to preserve it for future possibilities. A new entity of the OERHS called the Willamette Shore Trolly some of the same trained motormen Among other things, it was necessary to clear off the concrete that some residents and businesses had paved over the tracks, including a court battle with the Reverand Cummings in Dunthorpe. The happy opening day came on May 4, 1993 with Earl Blumenauer at the controller, and Chuck, assisting beside him.
Hal Rosene, a new arrival to the trolleys wanted to achieve his dream of being a trolley motorman, and he and Chuck became colleagues. Hal was such a good study, that he became superintendent when it was not possible for Chuck in the late 1990s.
When Chuck died in 1998, his memorial service was a heart lifting gathering attended by hundreds of friends, motorman friends and family. It closed with the ringing of a trolley bell to send him off.
From one of the ‘remembering’ papers at the service
‘Chuck was a very cultured, interesting man, and expressed care and concern for all he loved and cared about. I met him on the Willamette Shore Trolley in 1996 and for the six years following, he expressed his zest and passion for electric trolley equipment at each meeting of motormen (All were volunteers). I will always remember as a very content man, a thinking individual, and a very personable and pleasant person. I will be indepted to him for ever, for sharing his enthusiasm and love for perople and rail equipment with me” Don Amato