Courtesy of Sean Rotinski.
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. Thanks for stopping by!
Friday, June 19, 2026
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Termicold Corporation
From a 1982 brochure produced by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.
This building is now run by Americold.
Monday, June 15, 2026
Carnation Processed Potato Division
From a 1982 brochure produced by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.
Later run by Nestle, and now run by Simplot.
Sunday, June 14, 2026
Saturday, June 13, 2026
Friday, June 12, 2026
Thursday, June 11, 2026
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
1984 View At Former Tunnel 12
Guest post by Brian Ambrose.
On 3-4-84 I followed BN's 2/198 up to Trinidad from Wenatchee behind 6634/6499 (F45/SD45) Here it is approaching Columbia River siding. That was one of the things I remembered about March skies. Very pale blue and colors rather muted. I never did like that. Give me the dark blue skies of June!
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Monday, June 8, 2026
Last Train To Mansfield
Courtesy of the PNRA. Thanks to Aaron Schwarz for digging this out.
Sunday, June 7, 2026
BN Operating Ex-Milwaukee To Royal City
From the "Sea-Port Region News."
Saturday, June 6, 2026
1989 Quincy View
Photo courtesy of Brian Elchlepp.
February 1989
A pair of dash 2's rolling an eastbound stack train through Quincy, WA on a chilly morning in February of 1989.
Friday, June 5, 2026
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Is This The Bassett Behind Bassett Junction?
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Monday, June 1, 2026
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Saturday, May 30, 2026
BN 2213 At Ephrata
Guest post by Ryan Reed.
On May 15, 1988, BN 2213 West wakes up Ephrata, Wash. with nearly quarter-century Great Northern heritage up front. The ex-GN main in eastern Washington was never on my to-do list, but a recent magazine article on the line got my buddy Carl Sonner jacked up to see it, so off we went for a two-day trip on May 14th, and 15th - to a territory off our beaten path. On this trip we photographed Trinidad Loop for the first time and was thoroughly impressed despite waiting so long for a train that Carl actually fell asleep on the hillside. We chased this train all the way across the line and with that ex-GN GP30 on the point trailed by a bunch of GP9s, we were lovin' it. It's funny, I never made big efforts to see the ex-GN, but ended up shooting all of it from Spokane to about Index on multiple two or three day trips. It just kind of happened.