The MRRR's regular schedule ran weekends from Memorial Day to late October, with special event Polar Express trains November through December.

In May 2020, American Heritage Railways announced that the railroad would cease operations "for the foreseeable future" due to financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1887, the Hart brothers constructed a short, 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad originating at 46th Street in Tacoma, Washington.

[6] The route was also extended to access stands of virgin timber south of Mount Rainier, eventually reaching Morton.

The Tacoma Eastern, though, continued to exist as an independent entity within the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad system, where it was known as the National Park branch.

The Tacoma Eastern was a viable carrier of lumber from stands of timber owned by the Weyerhaeuser Corporation, whose tracts of land still surround the MRSR today and provide commercial traffic on the line.

In the wake of the Milwaukee Road's 1980 bankruptcy, Tacoma lumberman Tom Murray, Jr., sought to open a portion of the line to tourists.

American Heritage Railways then sought a new owner for the operation before the newly revived Western Forest Industries Museum acquired the railroad in 2022.

These long-awaited excursions mark the first under the new ownership of Western Forest Industries Museum (WFIM), a local nonprofit organization that assumed control of the railroad in August 2022, after its closure by its former for-profit operator, American Heritage Railways.

Rainier Scenic Railroad has played a vital role in the economic prosperity of southern Pierce County, as well as in preserving the region’s rich local history.