The Mount Hood Railroad is a

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

and shortline

freight railroad Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons ( International Union of Railways) haule ...

located in

Hood River, Oregon The city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 8,313. It is the only city in Oregon whe ...

, east of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The majority of the railroad's revenue is generated from passenger excursions although a few small freight shippers remain that generate several carloads of traffic per week.

MHRR trackage

The northern terminus of the Mount Hood Railroad is at Hood River,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, where the line interchanges with the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

Railroad. The line starts out parallel to the Hood River for the first until it reaches a switchback. Switchbacks used to be common, but this is now only one of five remaining railroad switchbacks in use in the United States. After the trains reverse direction at the switchback, the line continues south through the communities of Pine Grove, Odell, and Dee before reaching the southern end of the line at Parkdale. The total length of the line is approximately 22 miles.

Locomotive roster

The Mount Hood Railroad currently has two locomotives on its roster: *MHRR 02 -

EMD GP38-2 The EMD GP38-2 is an American four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors, Electro-Motive Division. Part of the EMD Dash 2 line, the GP38-2 was an upgraded version of the earlier GP38. Power is provided by an EMD 645E 16-cyl ...

(ex-CR/PC 7796, ex-PCN 16) Main Locomotive *MHRR 88 -

EMD GP9 The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen-cylind ...

(ex-SP 3885) Backup Locomotive

Formerly Rostered Locomotives

*MHRR 89 -

(built 9/59, ex-MILW 306, ex-MNVA 306) Sold to SLRG in 2019 *MHRR 18 -

Alco The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

2-8-0

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

(built 1910, ex-

Lake Superior & Ishpeming The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad , is a U.S. railroad offering service from Marquette, Michigan, to nearby locations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It began operations in 1896. The LS&I continues to operate as an independent railroad f ...

11, renumbered 18, ex-Ishpeming Steel Co, ex-Lake States Steam Association, ex-

Grand Canyon Railway The Grand Canyon Railway is a heritage railroad which carries passengers between Williams, Arizona, and the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. The railroad, built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, was completed on September 1 ...

, then

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad The Rio Grande Scenic Railroad of Colorado was a heritage railway that operated from 2006 to 2019 in and around the San Luis Valley as a subsidiary of the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad. The heritage railroad ceased operating excursions followi ...

18, now Colebrookdale). Shipped from Grand Canyon to Mt Hood only to be sent to Rio Grande Scenic six months later.

History

The line south out of Hood River was first built in 1906, extending as far as Dee. In 1909 the line was extended to the present-day end of track at Parkdale. The Union Pacific acquired the line in 1968 and operated it with the primary customers being fruit shippers and the lumber operation at Dee. As local industries switched to truck-based transportation for their goods, carloads on the line dwindled and the Union Pacific proposed abandoning the line. In 1987 a group of local investors purchased the railroad from Union Pacific and began to offer passenger excursions to augment the freight business. Brian Fleming sold the line again in 2008 to

Permian Basin Railways The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

, a subsidiary of Chicago-based

Iowa Pacific Holdings Iowa Pacific Holdings was a holding company that owned railroad properties across North America and the United Kingdom, as well as providing services such as railcar repairs, leasing, management and consulting services to other operators. The comp ...

. Today the railroad offers four-hour scenic tours through the Hood River Valley and narrated historic excursion train tours, as well as special events. There are views of

Mount Hood Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...

and Mount Adams along with the surrounding orchards and farmland of the Hood River Valley.

Accidents and incidents

*On December 2, 2017, a passenger train derailed from Hood River. There were no injuries amongst the 214 people on board the train. The line was closed until December 8.

References

External links

Mount Hood Railroad
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Hood Railroad Oregon railroads Heritage railroads in Oregon Spin-offs of the Union Pacific Railroad Hood River, Oregon Transportation in Hood River County, Oregon Tourist attractions in Hood River County, Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Hood River County, Oregon 1906 establishments in Oregon Rail infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Railways with Zig Zags