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, 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 ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. 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 Pac ...

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 (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- cylin ...

(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 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wh ...

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 loco ...

(built 1910, ex- Lake Superior & Ishpeming 11, renumbered 18, ex-Ishpeming Steel Co, ex-Lake States Steam Association, ex- Grand Canyon Railway, then Rio Grande Scenic Railroad 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, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings. 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 Portl ...

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