Friday, April 30, 2021

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

WRL On The Move!

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

October 1, 2020

Blair says:

"Very little of the Milwaukee Road's trancontinental mainline survives intact in Washington State--nearly all of it has been preserved as a trail from near the Idaho line to the Seattle area.
Most intriguing to me was the segment from Othello to Royal City Junction and the branch to Royal City, a total of 26 miles, which was sold by the State of Washington to the Port of Royal Slope in 2015. The Port has moved to upgrade trackage, clear and repair slides and washouts, and contracted Paul Dideius' ColumbiaRail to operate the line. Still, train movements have been very sporadic.
What would be the chances I'd actually see train move on this most tenuous--and tenacious--survivor of the mainline?


"I called the Port's phone number last week listed on their website, and talked to Port Director Bonnie Valentine. She was fascinated by my story about photographing the branch in 1978--even then operations were only around once a week, often at dark, and seldom photographed. Milwaukee Road was only moving around 300 cars a year. . .only a fraction of what the railroad thought the branch would generate when it spent $1 millon in the early 1960s on a developing area of the Columbia basin.
Bonnie said there were in fact six empties released from the shipper awaiting a crew to take them away. When that would happen was anyone's guess. Bonnie said she'd call me if she got and update on when the train would move. That was on Thursday. Several days later, Bonnie said there was no news.
It seemed like one of those "bucket list" train movements I knew I didn't have much chance of photographing wasn't going to happen during my week in Eastern Washington.
Wednesday morning, Steven J. Brown and I got up early in Spokane and drove to Valley, to photograph BNSF's Chewelah Turn coming south. The plan was follow that train for a while and then head north to spend the rest of the day on the Pend Orelle Valley.


"I was set up for a shot of the Chewelah Turn at Jump off Joe Road above Springdale, on the climb to Loon Lake. With the train approaching, I got a phone call at 0820 from Bonnie: the outbound train crew would be at Royal City at 10am if you wanted to photograph the train. Would I??? But it didn't seem like it would be possible--from where we were, we'd have to travel 167 miles in 2'48" according to Google Maps. Surely, that train would be long gone by the time I got there. . .but then I thought: the crew would have to fire up the power, run the power around the train, inspect the cars. . .railroading being railroading I figured if I drove REALLY FAST, I had a 30% chance of seeing the train on the branch. I called Bonnie back and said I'd be there--but if the train, parked outside her office window, moved, please give me a call.


"I was impressed how fast my rental Grand Cherokee could move; I don't want to know how poor my mileage would be with lots of miles at over 90 per on the two-lane mostly-straight back roads down to the Interstate at Sprague. I pushed it a bit on I-90 as well. . . . getting stopped by a state trooper for being "a bit" over the limit. My pleasant attitude and cooperative demeanor got me a warning to keep my speed down.


"I did that 167 mile trip in 2'15", shaving a half hour off the Google estimated time. Alas, the train had departed Royal City. .. .but dropping down the coulee a mile south of town, there it was!! Stopping for some unknown reason. I was in business, and a bucket list item was ticked off.
Bonnie and a coworker, it turns out, were chasing the train as well, and I met port commissioner Skeeter Mianecki as well, out with his camera. Apparently, train movements are still rare enough out of Royal City that much of the Port staff took some time off to chase it for photos.
Of course, I chased it to Othello. It didn't move much slower than the mainline trains did in the final months of operation--around 90 minutes for the 20 miles from the Junction to Othello, where the SD45 #331 dropped its train and returned to Royal City.


"I shot the train in 8 locations, aided greatly by drone technology--those locations as a 20 year old I could run 900 feet across a field and climb 200' up ahill side to get the shot was done with a flying camera. Even so, I was able to shoot this train at several places I'd photographed Milwaukee Road trains at 40 years ago.


"I was pinching myself hours later at what I'd seen. I never expected to see that again!
"Here are a couple drone images from today's chase."




 

 
For reference, a vintage view.

 

Friday, April 23, 2021

Milwaukee Road Othello Roundhouse View

Courtesy of Dave Morgan.

Davy says:

"This is in the Othello roundhouse, sometime in the early 70's. The person in the photo is my uncle Les Roach. Les worked on the MILW in Othello for a short time before enlisting in the Army in WWII."


Thursday, April 22, 2021

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

BN Mansfield Turn Near McCue

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

Blair says:

"A pair of former Northern Pacific GP9's sand their way up the 2% grade through Slack Canyon, emerging from a tunnel above Douglas Creek on the ex-Great Northern branch to Mansfield, Washington, on August 1, 1983, a string of otherwise-obsolete 40-foot boxcars trailing bound for grain loading on the Columbia plateau above."


Saturday, April 17, 2021

Friday, April 16, 2021

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Milwaukee Power At Othello

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

Blair says:

"Just as their Box Cab predecessors did just a decade before, a pair of SD40-2s idle at the roundhouse on the Milwaukee Road at Othello, Washington, in August 1978.
The railroad, in later years especially, was always tight on power, so most eastbound trains into Othello would cut locomotives for the lighter grades of "The Gap" across Eastern Washington, adding more power either at Saint Maries, Idaho, for the climb across the Bitterroot Mountains or cutting in helpers at Avery. Westbound trains would add those locomotives for the Transcontinental's toughest grade across the Saddle Mountains, just to the west of Othello.
These two locomotive were likely left by that afternoon's train #200, and will go back west to Tacoma on #201."


Monday, April 12, 2021

BN Malaga Area View

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

Blair says:

"TEENAGE-ADVENTURE: A couple days after meeting the memorable Michael "Mad Dog" Sawyer at UP Junction in Tacoma, the two of us made the first of many rail photo trips together, over to Wenatchee in July 1978. We were just out of high school. Here's train #74 eastbound east of Malaga with an old GE U33C up front. But the REAL adventure came later. . ."


 

Sunday, April 11, 2021

2015 CBRW At Frischknecht

Photo by Jonathan Fischer.

February 13, 2015.

Jonathan says:

" Columbia Basin Railroad 2294 crosses Buehler Road near Frischknecht, Washington with a northbound freight for Warden on the afternoon of February 13, 2015. Moving dead in tow is CBRY 652, formerly of the MRL. It was delivered to CBRY by BNSF at Connell earlier in the afternoon."


 

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Vintage 1948 GN Views

Courtesy of Pete Kruml.

Between Malaga and the bridge at Rock Island.



Looking railroad east at the Wenatchee depot.



Train stopped at the Wenatchee depot.