THE OFFICIAL WEBPAGE
OF ROBERT D. WEST
Mount Hood Model Engineers
The Mount Hood Model Engineers railroad club is located at SE 55th & Belmont in Portland, Oregon. The club's HO-scale layout is freelanced, but has a Pacific Northwest theme, based around the fictional Mount Hood Railroad (which is distinctly different from the real-life Mount Hood Railroad in Hood River, Oregon). The layout is set in a 1950s-1960s era, and the equipment on the layout generally fits this era.
March 8, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008 was the club's annual "Run Your Train Day," on which members of the public were invited to bring their own HO-Scale model trains to have them inspected by club members and then get to run them on the layout. The club members were also running their own equipment. This video shows Northern Pacific Railway 4-6-6-4 Challenger #5136 pulling a streamlined passenger train on the layout.
At one end of the layout a yard is under construction. In contrast to the rest of the layout, the scenery here is in its earliest stages, but a number of examples of Mount Hood Railroad equipment, and equipment for members' private roads.
Mount
Hood Railroad Alco S3 switcher #12.
Mount Hood Railroad caboose X112 appears to be based on a steel cupola caboose of the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, only with a side door added and fewer windows.
Oregon Central Baldwin S12 #19 represents one of the members' private railroads.
Wishram, Oregon & Western Alco #439 is another representative of a member's private railroad.
A
number of locomotives were grouped together at the end of the yard, in
what appears to be a future engine terminal, including Mount Hood F7A &
F7B #106 & #106B & H24-66 Trainmaster #862, Great Northern GP20 #2012,
General Motors Electro-Motive Division GP20 demonstrator #300
Also in the yard is the Mount Hood Railroad's streamlined passenger train, the Pioneer, powered by an A-B-B set of EMD F7s led by #310A.
Rivestown
After
leaving the yard, the first major location is this wye, which gives the
option of proceeding straight, to the town of Rivestown and a reverse
loop, or taking the diverging route to the tunnel and the rest of the
layout. The Mount Hood Railroad's streamlined Pioneer, powered by an
A-B-B set of F7s led by #310A, is shown taking the diverging route.
Here are a couple of views of the town of Rivestown, which consists of a small yard and engine terminal and several industries
Mount Hood Railroad caboose #120, a Santa Fe-style steel cupola caboose, and another older wood drover-style Mount Hood Railroad caboose sitting next to the single-stall brick enginehouse in Rivestown.
Mount Hood Railroad EMD SW1500 #50 rests outside the enginehouse in Rivestown.
Mount Hood Railroad GP7s #240 & 248 near the depot in Rivestown with a freight train. Both lack dynamic brakes, and #240 features an extended fuel tank and roof-mounted "torpedo tube" air tanks.
Mount
Hood GP7 #240 in Rivestown with a mixed train including express boxcars,
passenger cars, and piggyback flat cars.
A train that takes the diverging route around the wye can proceed on to the rest of the layout. The first major point it would pass is Muletail Falls, which is shown here.
Milwaukee Jct.
Milwaukee Road SD9 #2315 is on the point of a short freight train at Milwaukee Jct., on the interchange track that connects the Milwaukee Road line to the Mount Hood Railroad line.
At Milwaukee Jct., the Mount Hood Railroad crosses over the Milwaukee Road's electrified main line. Milwaukee Road SD9 #2329 at Milwaukee Jct. has emerged from a tunnel with a freight train. Milwaukee Road caboose #01935 is on the end of the train on the interchange track.
Here is an aerial view of Milwaukee Jct., showing both Milwaukee Road trains and the crossing of the Milwaukee Road's electrified double-track main line and the Mount Hood Railroad's single-track main line.
Shaniko
Just outside of Shaniko is a logging line that is still under construction, but there were a few examples of logging equipment on the line, including a pair of disconnect log cars, an unusual boxcar and a Mount Hood Railroad logging caboose.
Mount Hood Railroad F7A #130A and an F7B in an earlier paint scheme are in the siding at Shaniko with a freight train.
Here
are some views of the town of Shaniko, which includes several
industries, including the Mount Hood Packing Company and Mickelson
Alcohal Plant #2. Northern Pacific Railway SW1200 #135 is parked in the
industrial area.
Timber
The town of Timber is about the midpoint of the line. The town consists of a number of industries and a diner built in an old passenger car.
Mount Hood Railroad Alco S2 switcher#10 is parked in Timber, and sports an early black & white paint scheme.
Northern Pacific Railway 4-6-6-4 Challenger #5136 is stopped at the depot in Timber with a streamlined passenger train.
The Northern Pacific Railway streamlined passenger train stopped at the depot in Timber.
Mount Hood Railroad GE U30C #803 leading a freight train through Timber.
North Powder
Here
is an overview of the North Powder area of the layout.
This
mine is on a mountainside above North Power.
Northern Pacific Railway 4-6-6-4 Challenger #5136 passing through North Powder with its streamlined passenger train.
The Powder River Paper Company is located near North Powder. It employs its own GE 44-tonner, #30, and receives many woodchip cars.
Bridgeport
This large double-track lift bridge connects the towns of Bridgeport & Westport.
Here are some aerial views of the town of Bridgeport, showing the industries and engine terminal.
A
tugboat and barge in the bay at Bridgeport.
A gondola car had been pushed over the end of a dock in Bridgeport, and the end of the car still sticks out of the water of the bay.
This is the large two-story Bridgeport depot. A pair of refrigerator cars are spotted on a siding at the depot.
Northern Pacific Railway 4-6-6-4 Challenger #5136 passes in front of the Bridgeport depot with its streamlined passenger train.
Here is the turntable and five-stall enginehouse in Bridgeport. Parked here are Southern Pacific GE 70-tonner #5106, a Denver & Rio Grande Western SD7, another steam locomotive and a Mount Hood Railroad auxiliary tender.
Mount Hood Railroad SD9 #450, GP7 #235, F7A #130A and an F7B are parked in the engine terminal at Bridgeport.
Later, the F7s had left, but Mount Hood Railroad SD9 #450 & GP7 #235 were still in the engine terminal at Bridgeport.
A trio of Mount Hood Railroad cabooses on the caboose track in Bridgeport: wide-vision caboose X228, steel cupola caboose X042 & Santa Fe-style steel cupola caboose X281 in Bridgeport.
A Mount Hood Railroad cow-calf set TR4A #34 and TR4B #38 in the small yard in Bridgeport. Behind the caw-calf set are Kettle River 0-8-0 #624 and Northern Pacific Railway 0-8-0 #1171, and behind that, wreck-damaged Mount Hood Railroad Santa Fe-style steel cupola caboose X296 rests on a flatcar.
Longview, Kelso & Rainier Railway U28B #281, GP50 #351 & GP40 #300 visiting the Mount Hood Railroad with a freight train in Bridgeport.
Spokane, Portland & Seattle FA1 #859 & FB1 #209 with a freight train in Bridgeport.
Mount Hood Railroad steel caboose X343 at the end of a freight train in Bridgeport.
Also See:
Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club
Longview, Kelso & Rainier: Current Layout
Longview, Kelso & Rainier: Old Layout
Corvallis Society of Model Engineers
2007 LK&R Train Show & Swap Meet
2007 Three Rivers Mall Model Train Show
2007 World's Greatest Hobby on Tour
2006 LK&R Train Show & Swap Meet
2006 Great American Train Show
2005 Great American Train Show
2000 Great American Train Show
1998 Great American Train Show
All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted. Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission. Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.
Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.