Originally opened in August 1911 by the Mount Hood Railway & Power Company as a standard-gauge steam motor line to reach Bull Run and build a power house there, the line, plant and other properties were taken over by the Portland Railway, Light & Power Company shortly afterwards and converted to electric traction – first the section from Montavilla to Ruby Junction, then the rest of the line. Interestingly, the deal with PRL&P was brokered in May 1911 – before the line was even open! – but was not made public and finalized until March 1912.

Construction of the line was plagued by issues: grading started as early as 1906, but an economic downturn halted work in 1907. Once work resumed, a long-term strike by workers slowed things down again. Two workers died in a rock slide on the line. The company struggled with obtaining franchises from the city, both to connect the line with the streetcar system at Montavilla and to eventually run their line into downtown Portland. The franchise for the latter was eventually acquired, but this extension was never built. A further extension from Cottrell to Sandy with an eye to crossing the Cascades was surveyed and grading was commenced, but this project was then abandoned.

The line’s original inner terminus was at NE 90th and Glisan, where it interchanged with the PRL&P’s Montavilla streetcar line. Track also continued north to make a connection with the OR&N’s main line, where construction materials (and later freight) were interchanged. After acquisition, PRL&P changed the inner passenger terminus to the downtown First and Alder loop, and reconfigured the Montavilla terminus to run up to Troutdale instead, turning north at Ruby Junction.

In its years of operation, weekend picnic excursions out to Bull Run Park (later renamed as Dodge Park) were very popular, and girls heading to Camp Namanu rode right to the end of the line at the Bull Run power house. Freight services were also offered for farmers along the line in addition to the scheduled passenger trains.

The section of line from Montavilla to Ruby Junction (then part of the Troutdale branch) was abandoned in 1927. The remainder of the line out to Bull Run was abandoned in December 1930 with the track past Gresham torn up shortly thereafter. The line from Linneman Junction through Ruby Junction and out to Gresham continued to be used for freight operations and briefly again for passenger service from c. 1945 to 1948 when the Gresham terminus was moved from the OWP station to the Mount Hood station.

SE Dodge Park Boulevard now runs along the old grade at the outer end of the line, while TriMet’s MAX Blue Line has brought passenger rail service back to the right of way between the East 102nd and Cleveland Avenue stations. TriMet’s Ruby Junction facility occupies the same space as the PRL&P yards that were founded in 1912.

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