Mount Hood Railroad August 8, 2019

(This post is part of a (mostly) non-ship series about a trip to the West I took during July and August of 2019)

The Mount Hood Railroad started construction in 1906 at the town of Hood River, Oregon and finished in 1909 22 miles away in Parkdale, possibly by the Mount Hood Railway and Power Company, but I was unable to find anything that asserted so.

The Union Pacific Railroad acquired the line in 1968 until 1987 when local investors purchased the line and began offering passenger excursions in addition to the freight services. The line was sold in 2008 to Permian Basin Railways, a subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings.

Today it continues to offer a variety of excursions from the Parkdale Excursions, the Wine Train, Western Train Robbery, and Murder Mystery Train as well as seasonal excursions in addition to servicing freight customers along the line.

My mother and I chose did the Parkdale Excursion, opting for the Diamond Class which included seating in the Sky Dome car. Other classes were standard in coach, first class in the lower part of the Sky Dome car, and First Class Wine Car which includes a wine tasting and dessert. The locomotive for this excursion was GP38-2 #02.

The dome car is a good choice because it puts you above many obstructions that the lower level seating might encounter. However, I feel they could take a page from Mt. Rainier’s first class which included snacks and beverages delivered to your table.

This is a pleasant 4.5 hour train ride to Parkdale which travels through the scenery of the area including the Hood River, forests, fruit farms of various kinds and so on. I understand that it is unusual to be able to see Mount Hood itself as it is often shrouded in clouds.

At the Parkdale layover the train stops next to the Hutson Museum. Entry is only $1 but I had no cash on me at the time so I did not go in. There are several interesting things to see from outside, however, including an antique logging truck.

I can definitely recommend this trip to any railfan who is looking to put as many track miles under them as they can as well as anyone looking to enjoy some scenery from a train. Be aware that their parking lot has a fee!

Check out more photos I took by clicking here and also see the video I took below. Some information was provided by this Wikipedia article.