Spokane International Airport Receives Federal Grant To Build Rail, Freight Project

From the "Spokesman Review." 

November 6, 2019

Washington Eastern Railroad conductor Scott Rohrig switches tracks on the Geiger Spur along West McFarlane Road on Nov. 16, 2018. The West Plains PDA is laying down framework to attract large aerospace and manufacturing companies to the area. Spokane International Airport received a $2 million grant to a build a mile of rail from the Geiger Spur to the airport, which makes plans for a proposed transload facility closer to reality. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)

West Of Hite On The WER

Photo by Roger Hepkema.

Roger says:

"All of the Washington Eastern's current power was pulling west out of Hite on 11-17-18 with a scoot train plus some storage tanks."

Hay Wheels On The WER

Photo by Roger Hepkema. 

Roger says:

"Engineer Fred rolls past hay wheels on the WER westbound descent to Davenport on 8-31-19."

Unloading At Four Lakes

Guest post by Bruce Butler.

April 18, 2020

Per Washington state "Essential business" guidlines, most railroad employees are considered "Essential".  Yesterday I was delighted to accept a call to unload a 59 car grain train at Highline Grain at Four Lakes WA.  Occasional breaks in the process allowed me the opportunity to get off of the train and stretch my legs without imposing any delay to the unloading.

This view, looking east, shows the Highline facility and the shed where the cars are unloaded. The track on the right is the loop track where BNSF unit trains are loaded, and occasionally unloaded with hard red wheat from the midwest.

Here we have rounded the first curve and about half of the train has been unloaded. Looking north.

Looking east at the Highline facility

The shadow side. SD40-2 3910 was doing the work. GP30M 2422 and SD40-2 3776 were just along for the ride.

These ducks enjoyed some of the larger water puddles near the tracks. They didn't care for the noise of the nearby train and soon flew off.

This view, looking east, shows the Highline facility and the shed where the cars are unloaded. The track on the right is the loop track where BNSF unit trains are loaded, and occasionally unloaded with hard red wheat from the Midwest.

New Power On The Washington Eastern

Photos by Bruce Butler.

April 29 2021.

At Highline Grain in Four Lakes. Parked east of the unloading shed.

At Mondovi after making our 10 car pick-up.

New Power On The WER

Guest post by Bruce Butler.

April 28, 2021

A lash-up unlikely to be duplicated again on the WER.  Yesterday's (4/28/2021) eastbound scoot train with FIVE units; all running and online.  I was the engineer on the HL28-2 crew with Conductor Kai Longre.  We got the train from the HL28-1 crew (Ted Curphey and Gary Durr) at Telford Rd, which is near MP 57.  Our final destination was the Highline Grain facility at Four Lakes WA, at MP 6.4.  

We had 50+ miles to travel, most at 10 mph,  including a complex pick-up in Davenport, another easy pickup at Mondovi, and a couple of 5 mph slow orders.   As you may imagine, we had our challenges!  The only 20 mph track we encountered was at Geiger Jct, MP 7.9 which didn't do us much good.

Our consist after leaving Mondovi, where we picked up 10 loads:

3910 - SD40-2

7348 - C40-8

3776 - SD40-2

7338 - C40-8

3588 - SD40-2

74 loads, 6 empties, for a total of 80 cars.  The 6 empties were set-out at Elizabeth siding on the Geiger Spur and the 74 loads went to Highline Grain to be unloaded.

Not wishing to have this train "dog caught" (ie running out of time) we elected to do our work in the most expedient and simplest manner.  This resulted in all 5 units running and online.  The 3910 and 7348 were added on the point at Davenport. 

The descent down Deep Creek hill was handled entirely with dynamic brakes in notch 4 or 5.  The climb up Deep Creek was easily achieved in throttle 4 or 5 and staying within the 10 mph speed limits allowed.  It was a full 12 hour shift but we got the train to Highline.  Garrett Wheeler, who was the Engineer unloading this train at Highline assisted us with the Geiger Spur setout and the back-up move into Highline.  His help was much appreciated. 

We got the job done within the 12 hour time limit imposed by the hours-of-service law.  Am I grandstanding?  Perhaps a bit!  I was proud of the job Kai and I did for the railroad.

At Mondovi after making our 10 car pick-up.

At Highline Grain in Four Lakes. Parked east of the unloading shed.

I try to offer good details. Most of our run was at night and Mondovi was the first opportunity to actually get any pictures. I was hoping some other fans might show up but no such luck. Nobody was at the INRM museum when we went by.

Many people do not understand what is involved in changing locomotive consists, and how much time it can take. You have to connect the walkways and their chains. Hook-up the MU cable which can be a P.I.T.A. if you are doing it yourself. Hook-up the 6 (3 on each side) pneumatic MU hoses - yes I know, theoretically you only need one side hooked up, but sometimes you will eliminate problems by hooking up both sides. Then there is the consist test to make sure all locomotive brakes work correctly. The headlight test to insure that the rear unit lights up for back-up moves. The throttle test to make sure all of them rev up and load.

In our case, the 3910 and the 7348 in Davenport were not connected together. So we had to put them together and then add them to the front of the 3776. Another consideration was that the 3588 was the only west facing unit in this consist, so it was desirable to have it on the rear.

WER Runaround At Coulee City

Photos courtesy of Jack Reardan.

March 14, 2021

2018 Last Run Of The EWG

Guest post by Rocky Gibbs.

November 3, 2018


3346 - departing the west Spokane industrial park for Cheney with empty cars for BNSF.

3352 - Approaching xxx road crossing on the Geiger Spur.

9910 - 328, train GT-03, going to Cheney crossing Four Lakes to Medical Lake road.

9915 - 328 arriving Cheney.

9925 - same action as 9915.

3366 - at Cheney moving equipment around on various tracks.

3377 - crew with engineer Bruce Butler, and Rodney Aho.

9934 - same action as 3366.

9950 - same action as 3366.

3384 - same action as 3366.

3391 - last loads going to west Spokane industrial park approaching Craig road.

3398 - last loads be shoved to Seaport metals.

3401 - same action as 3398.

9985 - preparing for group employee photo. Employees in safety vests, railfans no vests with two exceptions.

3406 - group employee photo.

L-R: Jerry Miller, Rodney Aho, GM and President Donald Purdie, Engineer Bruce
Butler, VP Operations Scott Nauer, Fredrick Simon, Trainmaster Gary
Durr, and Conductor Scott Rohrig

3413 - photo of the last run crew.

9979 - 328 ready to run back to mainline to spot tanks on Geiger spur with 329 inside fence at Western Rail where 328 would move to by the new company on Nov 5.

3420 - the tanks be re-spotted onto the Geiger spur.

3422 - 328 and tanks spotted on the spur and 328 being shut down. the end of EWG operations.