Courtesy of Michael Sawyer.
This site features daily historical railroad posts from the Big Bend/Columbia Plateau region of Washington state. As a personal site, this is my online filing cabinet of interesting things I've come across about railroading in the area. I know it's easy to grab an image from here and post it elsewhere, like Steve Renfrow does, but if you do, could you at least give this site a little credit? Dan Bolyard
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Milwaukee Road Moses Lake Station Area Plans
As drawn by the Milwaukee Road, then transferred to the Burlington Northern, and updated to the time of purchase by the Washington Central.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
1949 CW Passenger Train
Amazing to me how photos like this come out of the woodwork. I put the word out that I am looking for photos, and this gem appears.
1949 photo of a passenger train on the CW branch. Photo label states this is one crossing west of Hartline.
Bruce Butler adds the following about the picture: "That would be train 305 and I believe the caption is correct. Westbound, it is bit of a downgrade approaching the crossing. 2193 is a hand-fired Q-4 Pacific, standard CW and P&L passenger power in that era. By the time I was in circulation the only NP Pacifics I saw was the 2256 and 2260, both class Q-6. 2256 in fact handled the last CW passenger train in March, 1954."
1949 photo of a passenger train on the CW branch. Photo label states this is one crossing west of Hartline.
Bruce Butler adds the following about the picture: "That would be train 305 and I believe the caption is correct. Westbound, it is bit of a downgrade approaching the crossing. 2193 is a hand-fired Q-4 Pacific, standard CW and P&L passenger power in that era. By the time I was in circulation the only NP Pacifics I saw was the 2256 and 2260, both class Q-6. 2256 in fact handled the last CW passenger train in March, 1954."
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
GN 2037 At Wenatchee
Image courtesy of Dora Shirk.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Construction of the Milwaukee Road Bridge at Beverly, WA in 1908
Guest post by James E. Lancaster.
Before my mother passed away she gave me ten photos taken in 1908 during the construction of the Milwaukee Road's railroad bridge across the Columbia River at Beverly, Washington. She said her father (my grandfather), James H. Wilson, had worked at the construction site with his drilling rig. She believed he was in several of the photos. I stuck the photos away in a box and just came across them recently. The envelope containing the photos has "Pictures of Pop's drill on the Columbia River" written on it.
All of the photos are very faded. I have used Photoshop to restore them as best I can.
My grandfather would have been 42 years old in 1908. He and his family probably lived in Ritzville, WA at the time since my mother was born there in 1907. My grandfather died in 1959 when I was 21 years old.
Before my mother passed away she gave me ten photos taken in 1908 during the construction of the Milwaukee Road's railroad bridge across the Columbia River at Beverly, Washington. She said her father (my grandfather), James H. Wilson, had worked at the construction site with his drilling rig. She believed he was in several of the photos. I stuck the photos away in a box and just came across them recently. The envelope containing the photos has "Pictures of Pop's drill on the Columbia River" written on it.
All of the photos are very faded. I have used Photoshop to restore them as best I can.
My grandfather would have been 42 years old in 1908. He and his family probably lived in Ritzville, WA at the time since my mother was born there in 1907. My grandfather died in 1959 when I was 21 years old.
The man on the right looks very much like my grandfather. The machine on the right behind the floating crane looks like a steam-powered drilling rig or pile driver. It may have been his rig since well drilling was his profession.
The man on the right in the hat may be my grandfather.
The man standing with his back to the camera could be my grandfather. He is dressed the way my grandfather dressed when I would see him 40 years later.
The steam-powered drilling rig or pile driver visible on the right in Photo 346 is now on the left.
Labels:
Beverly,
Milwaukee Road
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Fruit And Vegetable Transit In The Pacific Northwest In 1934
The following were found in NP General Managers File 2554-20. Letters sent in response to a query regarding plans in operation for accumulating carload of fruit and vegetables and assembling the refrigerator traffic into trains. Request from Mr. Charles Donnelly, Chairman, Pacific Northwest Division Western Railroads.
The General Managers files surrounding this file seem to deal with the development of regional railroad routes. This file asked for responses on how fruit and vegetable traffic in the Washington, Idaho, Oregon areas were handled by each railroad.
(Only the GN version is presented here. I'd like to find who transcribed this and thank them.--Dan)
Great
Northern Railway
State of Washington
Points at which fruit
and vegetable loading necessitate the supplying of refrigerator cars as follows:
East and North of
|
SC&P Railway
|
||
Good- Hopkins spur
4 miles north of Northport
|
Millwood
|
Monitor
|
|
Excelsior
|
|||
Ephrata
|
Dryden
|
||
Marble
|
Dishman
|
Peshastin
|
|
Snohomish
|
|||
Vera
|
|||
Davies Spur
|
Flora
|
Fryelands
|
|
Mead
|
Greenacres
|
||
Hillyard
|
|||
McGuires
|
|||
Sumner
|
|||
All stations
|
||
For the territory
north of Spokane and on Spokane, Coeur d' Alene, & Palouse Railway, the empty cars are conditioned , and, if the
car orders call for it, are iced at Hillyard and distributed to the loading
stations by local way freight trains. After loaded, the cars are picked up by
local way freight trains and brought into Hillyard, from which point they are
forwarded in time freight trains or added to an eastward fruit train if a fruit
train happens to be fit to run.
From the
territory Stratford
to Trinidad , dry cars are furnished from the
supply at Hillyard. Iced cars, when ordered, are furnished from Appleyard and
either handled on the local way freight trains or through freight trains
depending on the service required. Loaded cars eastbound when ready are handled
by the local way freight trains to Wilson
Creek , where they are picked
up by the time freights or eastward fruit trains. Loaded cars moving westward
are handled to Appleyard and moved out of there on the westbound time freight
trains.
Empty cars
for the territory Ohio Colony Spur, Malaga, and Palisades are furnished from
Appleyard, and when so ordered are iced at Appleyard Empty cars are distributed
to the loading stations by local way freight trains and the loaded cars
returned by local way freight trains to Appleyard where they are put into time
freights or eastward fruit trains.
For the territory Wenatchee west to Leavenworth and north to Oroville, the empty
cars are furnished from the supply at Appleyard-Wenatchee Terminal and
distributed by local way freight trains. The loaded cars are picked up by local
way freight trains or mixed train and brought into Appleyard, from which time
they are forwarded in time freight trains or eastward fruit trains. Ice houses
are maintained at Wenatchee ,
Pateros and Oroville. Iced cars are distributed by local freight trains from
Oroville south to Barker and sometimes as far south as Omak. Iced cars are
distributed from Pateros to Okanogan and iced
cars for the balance of the stations south of Okanogan
and west to Leavenworth
distributed from Appleyard-Wenatchee Terminal.
A
considerable portion of the soft fruits and cherries from the Wenatchee Valley
district moved as passenger train freight. The empties are supplied from
Appleyard-Wenatchee terminal, conditioned and iced for loading when so ordered.
Empties are distributed by local way freight train and mixed trains and after
loaded, brought by the same trains into Wenatchee
for passenger train movement.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Winchester
Not much is left at Winchester, other than the station sign and memories. The produce company that used to ship occasional reefers of produce in the 1990s is still there, but the loading dock is falling down. Hard to believe that there used to be a depot and three other tracks in the wide spot.
I'm guessing the middle tracks came out sometime in the BN era. The GN AFE's don't mention them coming out.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Winchester AFEs
This is a summary to the "Applications For Expenditures" (AFE) files which were project files for all purchases, construction or removal of facilities or equipment from Great Northern property. These files sometimes contain correspondence, invoices, blueprints and other project information, and often contain insight into events or changes in a specific area at a point in time.
As a summary, it does give a look into the changes made over the years.
From the GN-NP Archives.
1898 Extend passing track
1900 Construct private crossing
1903 Construct Right of Way cattle guard
1903 Install mail crane
1904 Construct private crossing
1904 Construct Right of Way fence
1904 Construct Right of Way cattle guard
1905 Install public Crossing
1905 Construct Right of Way fence
1906 Install public crossing
1906 Install public crossing
1908 Extend passing track and place portable depot
1914 Place 1620 feet of ROW Fence ½ mile west of Winchester
1914 Construct 950 foot extension to passing track
1922 Move section house to Columbia River
1951 Install culvert
1952 Provide easement for highway
1953 Extend industry track
1953 Construct temporary crossing
1955 Extend track for Ranch Produce
1959 Extend track 2
1962 Provide easement for ditch
As a summary, it does give a look into the changes made over the years.
From the GN-NP Archives.
1898 Extend passing track
1900 Construct private crossing
1903 Construct Right of Way cattle guard
1903 Install mail crane
1904 Construct private crossing
1904 Construct Right of Way fence
1904 Construct Right of Way cattle guard
1905 Install public Crossing
1905 Construct Right of Way fence
1906 Install public crossing
1906 Install public crossing
1908 Extend passing track and place portable depot
1914 Place 1620 feet of ROW Fence ½ mile west of Winchester
1914 Construct 950 foot extension to passing track
1922 Move section house to Columbia River
1951 Install culvert
1952 Provide easement for highway
1953 Extend industry track
1953 Construct temporary crossing
1955 Extend track for Ranch Produce
1959 Extend track 2
1962 Provide easement for ditch
Monday, October 7, 2013
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Difference of Decades Ephrata
From the "Spokane Chronicle."
May 23, 1955
May 23, 1955
View looking down from my vantage point on top of the grain elevator. Yes, I had permission to be here, and a chaperone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)