Riverson Wrote:
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> Did the SP&S (et.al.) have a connecting line to the Southern Pacific Westside line in or near
> Forest Grove, OR?

According to my SP&S Track Chart there was no such connection at Forest Grove, there was an interchange track at Hillsboro which is the current connection between the Forest Grove District (of the Portland & Western) and the outside world. The St. Marys Spur wasn't constructed until the early 1980s when the City of Beaverton paid to relocate the BN out of downtown Beaverton.

"The Northwest's Own Railway, Volume 2" by Walter Grande indicates no such interchange between the SP&S and the SP in Forest Grove. Nor does "The Southern Pacific in Oregon" by Ed Austin and Tom Dill.

Operationally such an interchange would make little to no sense; each railroad was quite possessive of its carloads. Maybe there was an industry that happened to share a common track so that it could ship on both roads? Only in later years (the BN) would there be any semblence of cooperation between the two systems, and of course when the Portland & Western would end up operating both systems.