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2005 NRHS Convention - Mount Hood Railroad Morning Excursion Train 7/5/2005

Followed By A Driving Trip to the Washington Side of the Columbia River Gorge

by Chris Guenzler



Chris Parker met Bob Riskie and I for a continental breakfast before we left the Days Inn. One reason I choose this hotel was because it was located on Trimet Light Rail, known locally as "MAX". We walked over to the Max 82nd Street station and I purchased ten ride all-zone tickets with each one needing to be validated before use. The three of us went downstairs and after a short wait, a Red Line trolley for Portland Airport arrived. Fifteen minutes later, we were at the airport and found the Hertz rental car office. After some confusion in finding the car, an attendant went and found a Chevrolet Cavalier LS 2005.

From the airport, we drove straight on Interstate 84 to Hood River for our ride on the Mount Hood Railroad. Two buses of NRHS conventioneers would be riding this morning in the open observation car because their excursion on the Lewis and Clark Explorer had been cancelled due a mechanical problem with one of the former British Columbia Railway RDC's. The Mount Hood Railroad was a quickly-devised substitute. At least they were here on the most beautiful day I had ever seen in the Pacific Northwest. Chris and Bob went to get the tickets while I parked.





As I walked to the station, I passed a Thomas the Tank Engine sitting on a flat bed truck.





I found Chris and Bob at the ticket window in the depot and a few minutes later, we walked to the train, whose consist was Mount Hood GP38 02, open air observation car 1056 "Lookout Mountain", coach 1068 "Odell", coach 1067 "Parkdale", lounge car 1080 "Timberline" coach 1070 "Katherine" and caboose 1040. We were assigned to "Parkdale" for our round trip to its namesake city.

Mount Hood Railroad History



The railroad's route map.

In the early to mid 2000's, Mount Hood Railroad was a privately-owned passenger excursion railroad that ran along 22 miles of track between the city of Hood River, Oregon and Parkdale, Oregon. This shortline used to serve several large mills and local industry and interchange with the Union Pacific mainline in Hood River, but that changed when some of the mills closed down and freight service dramatically decreased. This almost 100-year-old railroad, now is used almost exclusively as a passenger tourist line, although it has the capacity to continue to serve as a reliable freight short line to the UP mainline, if any customers so desired.

The history of the Mount Hood Railroad dates as far back as the 1880s. That is when the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company built the mainline from Wallula, Washington, west to Portland, Oregon, passing through Hood River. It was then that the first depot in Hood River was built. But in about 1905, it was decided that a railroad would be built south, out of Hood River into the interior and mountains to serve as a logging railroad. The line was incorporated as the Mount Hood Railroad. To make the steep climb from the Columbia River to the mountains, the railroad built a switchback which is still used today. This was a common feature on logging railroads of old, but virtually unheard of on existing railroads today.

In 1911, the original depot in Hood River was torn down and the current depot, which still exists today, was built. That depot was meant serve both the Mount Hood Railroad and the Union Pacific mainline and was located right at the interchange. There was also a depot located in Parkdale. In 1968, Union Pacific acquired the short line, but it retained the Mount Hood name and equipment. In 1987, a private local group purchased the line from Union Pacific and has been running it ever since. If not for this private investment, it's very likely that the line would have gone the same way as the other Union Pacific shortlines that ran into the interior, east of here, and been abandoned and torn up. In 2002, the Federal Railroad Administration, loaned 2.07 million dollars to the Mount Hood Railroad, mostly for track rehabilitation. Our Excursion



We departed Hood River Depot on time at 10:00 AM with GP38 02 pushing our train out of town as far as the switchback, then pull the train to Parkdale. On the return, it would pull the train to the switchback then reverse the train to the depot. We passed the Mount Hood Dinner Train as we departed.





We turned south away from the Union Pacific mainline and crossed the Hood River.





Next we run below a water tower at a former lumber mill site.







We would start a steep climb up to the switchback following the east canyon wall along the Hood River.





Our train continued to climb, passing Powerdale at Milepost 1.0.





We approached the switchback at Milepost 2.5 as the upper level track came into view.





The station sign at Switchback.





Looking forward, you can see the upper level track taking off.





We travelled up as the lower level track was now in view.





Curving over the trestle across Oregon Highway 35.





Our train passed through Pine Grove at Milepost 5.6.





Passing through Pine Grove, Mount Adams in Washington was visible behind us.





Between Pine Grove and Mohr, Mount Hood to the forward right.





Mount Hood can be seen most of the time from the train on any clear day. We were blessed with a beautiful clear day for this trip.





An interesting tree passed on the way to Mohr.





Our train rolled through Mohr, Oregon, Milepost 6.8, named for a pioneer family of the 1880's.





Mount Adams seen behind our caboose.





Lentz, Oregon at Milepost 7.5.





A few minutes later, we passed through Odell at Milepost 8.5.





Mount Adams to our north in Washington.





The grade crossing at Dukes Valley, Milepost 9.4.





Another view of Mount Adams.





We reached Summit at Milepost 10.5, as we now dropped little to return to the Hood River Canyon.





The view northwest after Summit.





We turned south again and here came Mount Hood into view.





We returned to the ever-beautiful Oregon forest.





Mount Hood ahead of the train between the trees.





Mount Hood as seen from the old mill site at Dee, Milepost 15.5.





The water tower at Dee.





Mount Hood seen over the trees south of Dee.





One last view of Hood River.





Our train crossing Trout Creek, Milepost 16.7.





The station sign at Trout Creek.





Now in the same valley as Parkdale, our train passed through orchards.





Mount Hood as we neared Parkdale.





Running by more orchards.





Another view of Mount Hood as we grew closer to it and Parkdale.





At Parkdale, Milepost 21.0, the engine ran around our train before pushing us to the platform at the end of the line.





Our engine at rest as we laid over for an hour. Passengers went to the museum, stores or just explored Parkdale.





The Mount Hood Mack railbus, built in 1921 for the Willamina & Grande Ronde Railroad, where it operated in passenger service up until 1928. It was then sold to Condon, Kinzua and Southern, where it hauled passengers, mail and express from then until 1951. It was re-built with a new body in the late 1940's and nicknamed "The Goose" while in service on the CK&S. It was then part of Trolleyland Electric Railway Museum in Olympia Washington, sometime after 1951, with the car placed on display in Fossil, Oregon for the town's 75th anniversay celebrations. It was displayed in front of the Wheeler County Courthouse in Fossil for many years before ownership ended up in the hands of the Mt. Hood Railroad. It passed through the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad before being placed on display by the Mount Hood at Parkdale, under the mistaken belief that the car had once worked on that railroad. It has since moved to Willamina.





The rear of our train with Mount Adams in the background.





Mount Hood Railroad open air car "Lookout Mountain", nee Southern coach 1595 built by Pullman Company in 1923, with Mount Hood standing guard over.

I visited a store for some candy, went to another for post cards and returned to the train and worked on the story for awhile. Chris came back first telling me of his adventures in Parkdale and a while later, Bob returned with his tale. The train departed at 12:30 PM for the journey back to Hood River and I relaxed for about thirty minutes just watching the beautiful world pass by. I then decided to see who was here from the NRHS and spent the rest of the trip socializing in "Lookout Mountain", where I met Elizabeth Davidge from Victoria, British Columbia, who was attending her second NRHS convention. When we returned to the Hood River bridge, I returned to my seat then once the train was back in the station, I purchased a Mount Hood Railroad T-shirt then walked back to the car.





Mount Hood GP38 02, ex. Precision National Corporation 16, exx. Conrail 7796, nee Penn Central 7796 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969, with our excursion train now being readied for the afternoon run to Parkdale.





Mount Hood Railroad GP9 89, ex. Minnesota Valley 306, nee Milwaukee Road 306 built by Electro-Motive Divison in 1959.





Mount Hood Railroad GP9 88, ex. Southern Pacific 3725, nee Southern Pacific 3885 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1959.





After my last photograph, I drove down to pick up Chris and Bob and we went to a Safeway so Chris could use an automatic teller machine. I called my excellent videographer friend Keith Schmidt from Milwaukee to set up dinner at Elmer's at 7:00 PM. He flew from Milwaukee to photograph the Spokane, Portland and Seattle 700/Southern Pacific 4449 doubleheader tomorrow and was scouting out locations today in the Columbia River Gorge. The three of us then crossed the Columbia River on the toll bridge at Hood River to railfan the Gorge for the first time, driving east on Washington Highway 14 to Wishram. At Cooks, we found an eastbound green signal and decided to wait; on a rock we found two other local railfans also out scouting locations for tomorrow.







Canadian Pacific Railway 8628 East was the first train we caught providing us with coming and going views. We decided to wait in hopes of a westbound, but while we were watching the wind surfers out on the Columbia River, a one-car eastbound local snuck by us. It was certainly quiet! We continued east on Highway 14 and east of The Dalles, came upon a major brush fire that briefly stopped the highway traffic. Once on the move again, we made our way to Avery.





BNSF 2747 West.





The train made its way west towards the smoke drifting across the Columbia River.





Great Northern 4-8-2 2507 built by Baldwin in 1923, retired in 1957 and sold to the Seattle, Portland & Spokane. It was donated to the County of Klickitat and went on display at Maryhill, Washington, in 1966. After an unsuccessful restoration effort at Pasco, Washington, it was repainted in 2002 and moved to its current location in 2003. Here we met Keith Schmidt.





In BNSF's Wishram yard, awaiting its next assignment was First Union Rail (FURX) SD40-2 3027, ex. EMD Leasing 6431, exx. Conrail 804, exxx. Conrail 6247, nee Penn Central 6247 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969.





The Wishram Yard, developed by the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway in the early 1900's and an engine house, turntable and several smaller outbuildings were constructed. Historically, actions at the site were engine and railcar repairs, fuelling and watering locomotives and railcar switching. Over time, additional features were added to the facility including a concrete sump, a railcar repair shop, a 30,000-barrel oil above-ground storage tank, an elevated oil service 28,000-gallon AST, an oil-unloading trough, as well as the associated connections and piping. Currently, the major activity at the railyard is railcar switching.

In 1957, after the completion of The Dalles Dam, the impounded water level of the Columbia River rose by approximately 40 feet and engulfed a portion of the shoreline. Currently, the in-water portion of the shoreline is a reserved fishing area for the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, whose members exercise their rights under the treaty. In 1970, a merger between several railroads, including the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway created the Burlington Northern Railroad, now known as BNSF Railway.





Next, a Highline Train with BNSF 4667, on its way to Bend and beyond, departed Wishram.





We bid goodbye to Keith and started back to Portland, catching that one-car local at Avery with smoke from the fire still drifting across the Gorge.





On the drive back, we encountered BNSF 5032 East just east of Bingen and beat him back to this location, getting coming and going pictures. Now beginning to run out of time, we drove Highway 14 west to the Bridge of the Gods and crossed back into Oregon to take Interstate 84 back to Portland. We met Keith at Elmer's and had a great dinner. Tomorrow we would be on the Western Star doubleheader and Keith would be chasing us getting video and still pictures. We returned to the Days Inn for a good night's rest.



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