#hoodriveror

Vintage Dome

A couple of weeks ago I saw this dome in Hood River, Oregon. Given the flat window panels on the dome itself, being flat rather than gracefully curved and sculpted, I wondered if this was one of the very first dome cars.

After briefly poking around on-line, I felt this was ATSF 501 as the fluting seemed to jibe. To confirm I asked a group of knowledgeable people on Facebook. Alfred Lynch says,

That is definitely a Pullman Standard dome car that was originally part of the Santa Fe 500 class...built for the 1951 Super Chief. Most likely, that is the original number. Those cars contained the famous Turquoise Rooms, a private dining area...designed to be coupled the 600 class diners.

The car is part of equipment owned by the Mount Hood Railroad; the company does both revenue freight and tourist operations.

Final Train in the Gorge

Mount Hood Railroad

To follow up on the previous post, here are some images taken of the Mount Hood Railroad, in Hood River, Oregon. It originally operated between 1906, when it was built, and 1987. At that time it was purchased and transitioned to primarily a tourist operation.

The railroad is one of the few that still utilize switch-backs. The station dates from 1911, built by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The GP9 seems to have been built for the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1957.

Final Evening in the Gorge