Dome car opens vistas for riders

Two-level, 1950s luxury railcar recalls the heydays of passenger train travel

By Calvin Hall

The Gresham Outlook, Aug 13, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Calvin Hall / The Gresham Outlook

Onboard Conductor Dan Devers makes his rounds and chats with visitors in the new dome car during its maiden voyage from Hood River to Odell on Wednesday, Aug. 6.

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For modern travelers and tourists who enjoy a scenic train ride now and then, few can pass up checking out the century-old Mount Hood Railroad.

The railroad’s two trains set out from the station in downtown Hood River and rumble along the tracks southward through the Hood River Valley for 22 miles, passing scenic forests, rivers, mountains, orchards and small farming communities.

The antique train cars, from the engine, the dining cars, the Pullman coaches and little red cabooses – the oldest car dating to 1910 – shake and roll from side to side at a leisurely 14 to 18 mph.

Railroad General Manager Michelle Marquart said about 70,000 passengers sign on each year for the weekend dinner and brunch trains or for the themed excursions, such as the popular murder mystery or Wild West train robbery trips. But the main attraction, she said, is the valley’s countryside.

To enhance the journey, the railroad added a new dome car: a two-level, authentic 1950s luxury railcar that recalls the last heydays of passenger train travel. The dome car’s upper level offers 72 half-circular cushioned seats and a domed, panoramic window view of the valley.

“It’s a wonderful way to enjoy the company of family, friends and coworkers,” Marquart said. “It can be very relaxing for people to sit back and enjoy the countryside. And it’s a lot of fun.”

The dome car debuted to the general public on Saturday, Aug. 9, when it was added to the dinner train. It continues full-time for both the dinner and brunch trains on weekends and on excursion train trips during the week, Marquart said. It’s still possible to get tickets for one of the many train journeys before summer ends, she said, as the train trips usually sell out weeks, instead of months, in advance.

The dome car was added by Permian Basin Railways, a Chicago-based company that purchased the Mount Hood Railroad in April 2008.

On its maiden voyage Wednesday, Aug. 6, the dome car carried representatives of the logging, tourism, business and media industries through the valley into the small community of Odell on an invitation-only roundtrip.

Among the passengers was Mount Hood resident Jack Mills, one of the 25 investors who purchased the railroad in 1987 from Union Pacific for $650,000 and opened it to passenger travel. Owing to the debts and the expenses of maintaining the railroad and trains, he said they decided to sell.

“The people of the Hood River area liked it, so we thought, let’s see if we could get a new buyer who could keep it running,” he said.

Mills said he liked Permian Basin’s president and the company’s ideas for the railroad, including the addition of the dome car, which he enjoyed riding in for the first time.

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