Monday, March 3, 2008

Adrian, Washington

I noticed that with the different construction dates of the line from Coulee City to Adrian versus the one from Adco to Connell, that a small mystery had come up, but then solved nearly right away.
I had the understanding that the NP line that went down to the GN at Adrian and the NP line that crossed over on a large bridge were built at the same time.
In the first picture, you can see the GN curving in from the right and then down to the bottom of the picture. The NP line to Adrian comes from the top left of the photo and connects to the GN. You can make out the grade for the line from Adco between the NP and Adrian Road Northeast, headed straight down to the bottom of the photo.


In the second photo, you can see where the NP Adrian line connects with the GN in the top right of the photo. The GN runs through a big curve in the photo, and the NP Adco line is still visible in the middle of the photo, and where the dark line starts near the bottom. Yes, there was a large bridge over Crab Creek and the GN.



I propose that the turntable and water tower at Adrian belonged to the NP, though they now seem to be along the GN. These items would be at the edge of the railroad lines in the second photo, but on the upper portion of the lines. The GN had a divisional shop at Wilson Creek (just a few miles away) and would have no need of a turntable here. The NP ran trains from Spokane to Adrian for a time, and would need to be able to turn their steam locomotives at this spot. I think the current siding track, the upper curved black line in the second photo originally was the NP, which curved along the GN, to the 3 track yard at Adrian, currently still there. Or that there were once more tracks at Adrian which belonged to the NP.

In the third photo, the unnamed marker shows the turntable pit.



Here is a closeup shot of the footings and the turntable pit.




In the very center of the turntable pit was this bit of concrete. It certainly fits the time line.


Before the turntable was built, the NP trains could have used the wye tracks on the GN, which were about 1/4 mile west of the GN depot.

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