The Southern Pacific Railroad’s Pengra Pass route connecting Portland, Oregon with San Francisco, California was completed in 1926. Hauling the trains over the Cascade Mountains would be the answer to problems with huge amounts of curvature and very steep grades dictated by the old line down the Willamette Valley and over the Siskiyou Mountains.

Nonetheless, a major helper operation is demanded by the 44 miles of constant grade — the longest anywhere on the Southern Pacific system — and remember, that would include Donner Pass.

From a prototype railfanning standpoint, it is extremely impressive in both beauty and power. The right-of-way is surrounded by  waterfalls and crystal clear streams that work their way through a monstrous forest of towering Douglas Firs. At many locations, the SP is just barely hanging on to the sides of the canyon. For hours before ever seeing them, you can hear massive multiple unit diesels thundering up the canyon walls in their task to get their trains over the mountains. Then from the other direction, dynamic brakes are whining wildly. Along the way they will pass through some 22 tunnels, several snowsheds and multiple bridges across canyon after canyon after canyon — just barely retaining its footing on the cliffs.

The moment I first learned about Southern Pacific’s route over the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, I knew I would have to model it someday. I had no idea that “someday” was that far away.

Though I’ve restricted my modeled area to that between Oakridge and Cascade Summit, there’s an abundance of selective compression involved. Yet, its going to be a scenic monster, which plays right into my preferred aspects of the hobby of model railroading.