My understanding is a local group wants to bring the railroad local again, but we'll see how that goes. A local group bought the MH in 1987 from Union Pacific, and sold it (at a loss) to Iowa Pacific.
IPH did do a few things - brought in more passenger equipment to replace some of the very worn out Herriman stock, brought a new GP38 locomotive (and sent one of the GP9s to another road), built a shop in Hood River, and tried to expand on the railroad's offerings. However just looking at the reviews on sites like Yelp and Tripadvisor the average Joe rider doesn't have much nice to say about the railroad, and having a couple derailments during revenue service doesn't help public opinion either.
I agree with some of the previously posted comments that are now dated - the scenery is not exciting, and there's little to do in Odell or Parkdale which are just sleepy farming communities. There's the Hutson Museum in Parkdale if you like going to small town museums. There's the occasional fruit stand. That's it. The scenery itself is the same that you'd get while driving Highway 35, but at least you aren't getting sea-sick riding a very top-heavy super dome on class 1 track that needs some serious alignment and tamping work. The "standard class" cars are unrefurbished east coast commuter cars that hardly belong on a tourist train (at least they have air conditioning, that's the ONLY positive thing I can say about the cars).
I hope that a new owner comes in and realizes that quality is more important than quantity. IPH has a huge fleet of passenger cars on the property, but they only really need four or five really good cars (and maybe a spare or two). The dome is nice, but unless they go all-out on rehabbing the track, it needs to go, and replace it with an open-air car (that MH used to have). Bring back a good on-board experience. Consider running dinner trains on Friday and Saturday nights and a brunch train on Sundays. The entire 22 mile route to Parkdale can be a bit much for families with young children, offer a discounted trip to Odell that's designed more for kids, with a picnic lunch and a playground in Odell.
And I know this opinion will NOT be popular...but maybe this is one railroad that rightfully should become a rail-trail. Cycling is very popular out of Hood River but there are very few good routes (and those that do exist south out of Hood River require some serious climbing, so much of the cycling is left to the expert riders). Offering a route with a 3% or less grade, entirely separated from cars, would be immensely popular. There's only one reliable freight shipper left on the MH (Mount Hood Lumber), and they could easily be accomodated with a reload facility in Hood River. I believe they only get switched maybe once or twice a week as is.
