As noted above, the outermost 20+ miles have been abandoned and salvaged. The line now ends about 1/4 mile south of Adrian OR. Within the last couple of months, the rails have been lifted from a private crossing at the north end of town, isolating the last 1/2 mile and the Adrian "yard".
This line has the dubious distinction of being the last Union Pacific-operated branch in the Treasure Valley,(although it is now officially reduced to the status of "industrial lead") all others have been abandoned or spun off to shortline operators. UP has wanted to be shut of it for years - they raised prices and cut service to the point that shippers were literally driven off. The abandonment and removal of the Idaho portion probably rendered it non-viable as a stand-alone shortline. The Oregon portion remains intact largely due to efforts by the state and Malheur County who are opposed to any loss of rail mileage.
Until last year, two shippers remained in the Adrian area - Valley Packers (onion packing shed) and Evans Grain which ran an outdoor recieving station at the old Overstreet beet dump north of town. Recently traffic has been all of about 20 carloads per year.
Last Fall, an Idaho Northern & Pacific train was reported on the line raising hopes that an 11th hour deal had been made for a spinoff. However, this appears to have been a one-time move; loading out onion storage bins on flat cars at Valley Packers, apparently for some sort of short-haul shuttle to sheds in Nyssa or Ontario - the only time I've seen this done.
At this writing, the 3 or 4 miles from the Owyhee River crossing to Adrian is slated for abandonment. The Malheur County Court is actively attempting to have portion from Nyssa to Owyhee Crossing railbanked for purposes of future economic developement (read "wishful thinking" and "ethanol plant").
A couple of historical tidbits: The homedale branch was originally built ca. 1912 as part of Oregon Short Line's "South Side Line" conceived as an alternative Idaho Division mainline from Minadoka to Nyssa down the south bank of the Snake River. It also provided the outside connection (at Dunaway) for the little-known government-owned Owyhee Damm Railroad.
For those interested in Model Railroading, The late W.A.Wilt, well-known Northwest modleler built the proposed South Side Line in HO scale as a heavy-haul interurban - one of the most interesting concept layouts I've ever seen.
Jeff Acock
Adrian OR