Sunday, April 21, 2013

Spirit Of Washington Dinner Train

The Columbia Basin Railroad operated the Spirit of Washington Dinner train out of Renton. After its operation was discontinued, the cars were stored in the Moses Lake area while the locomotives were stored at the CBRW shop in Yakima.

The cars actually sat outside the old U&I sugar plant at Wheeler, though the actual railroad location on the former Milwaukee Road track was Scalley.

A pre-arranged visit on November 6, 2012 found the cars being prepped for their new owners in California. The multi-year storage at Scalley let some of the cars become infested with mice. All the cars were to have their wheels replaced and the brakes inspected and upgraded.

Power car.
 

UP 8000 - ["City of Los Angeles"-4/55], Auto Train 800 (6/72), Roy Thorpe/Falcon Safety Products Mountainside NJ (2/81), Washington Central WCRC 800, then WCRC 106 (1990) "Mt. Rainier" for the "Spirit of Washington Dinner Train" - fluting added under the windowband. Relettered CBRW (Columbia Basin Railway) 11/02.




Cascade.




Chateau Ste Michelle

Old U&I sugar plant silos.

Remaining cars on the other side of the sugar plant.


City of Seattle.

City of Renton.

Columbia Winery
 


Olympic.





City of Renton dome.

City of Renton galley.

City of Renton galley.

City of Seattle lounge.

City of Seattle dome.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is a sad day to see those cars sit and rot! Why not use them on the Columbia basin railroad tracks along the river up to omak pateros brewster ? That would be vey beautyfiul ! Fun happy! I know it takes money but there has to be people to keep it in washington state) if I had the money time help would be fun!

SDP45 said...

Some of these cars have finally left, a full year after I took these pictures, to a new operation in California. Some still sit there today. I believe the owner of them all is the Iowa Pacific crowd.

Dan

Unknown said...

We live on and by the railroad tracks along the Columbia river.Brewster Pateros Omak Bridgeport. I REALLY AGREE WITH THAT USE. WHY NOT USE PATEROS AS A TRAIN STATION FOR THE SPIRIT OF WASHINGTON DINNER TRAIN.I REMEMBER GROWING UP IN BELLEVUE AND SEEING THE TRAIN.my mom called it her toy train.use to take up the drive way in her wheel chair.is THERE ANYWAY WE CAN FIND HOW TO GET THE TRAIN HERE IN COLUMBIA RIVER AREA. FROM WENATCHEE TO CANADA?,DOESN'T COLUMBIA BASIN RAILROAD OWN THE TRACKS THREW BREWSTER