Moses Lake Port Buys More Land For Railroad Project

The Port of Moses Lake agreed to purchase this 1.38-acre parcel (outlined in blue) during a regular meeting on Monday as part of its project to extend the Columbia Basin Railroad from Wheeler into the port.

Screenshot, Grant County GIS Website

by CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE

Staff Writer | June 28, 2022 11:56 AM

MOSES LAKE — With the approval of a second land deal on Monday, the Port of Moses Lake continues to buy the land needed for its Wheeler Corridor railroad project.

During a regular meeting, port commissioners voted unanimously to purchase a 1.4-acre parcel on the north side of Wheeler Road near the intersection of Wheeler Road and Hamilton Road for about $210,000 plus closing costs.

Commissioners also invoked eminent domain as part of the purchase, though the claim was not used to seize the land.

“So once again, gentlemen, this is not us using eminent domain to purchase the property, but it allows the property owner to get out of excise tax,” Port of Moses Lake Facilities Manager Milton Miller told commissioners during the meeting.

According to data available from the Grant County Assessor's Office, the 1.4-acre parcel was last assessed with a market value of $103,675, and according to data available from the Washington State Secretary of State’s office, was owned by 915 Third Avenue LLC, a corporation registered to James Anderson, Jr., and Grace Anderson.

Unlike the previous land purchase earlier this year, the port is buying the entire parcel, and not just a portion for the rail corridor.

“We’re purchasing all of it,” said Port of Moses Lake Finance Director Kim DeTrolio of the deal on Monday.

In early May, the Port acquired a 1.55-acre portion of a 7.7-acre parcel immediately to the north for $246,000.

The two purchases are part of the port’s continuing project to extend the Columbia Basin Railroad from Wheeler out to the Port, bypassing the railroad’s current line going through downtown. The project will involve securing right-of-way for new railroad tracks paralleling Wheeler Road, a new rail bridge over Crab Creek, and extensive rehabilitation of the existing rail line from Stratford Road into the port.

The Port has secured $30 million in state and federal funding to pay for the rail project and will continue to purchase land along its proposed Wheeler Corridor in preparation for construction, which port officials hope can begin sometime in early 2023.

“We’re going to do this again,” DeTrolio said of the land purchase.

Moses Lake Port About Halfway To Railroad Right-Of-Way Acquisition

 Moses Lake port about halfway to railroad right-of-way acquisition

Port of Moses Lake officials hope to go out to bid early next year on a contract to build new rail connections and rehabilitate some existing rail to the port and along Wheeler Road.

FILE PHOTO

by CHERYL SCHWEIZER

Staff Writer | October 15, 2024 2:00 AM

MOSES LAKE — Port of Moses Lake officials hope to go out to bid in early 2025 on a project to rebuild railway connections to port property. Commissioners approved the purchase of two parcels at their regular meeting Monday. 

Kim Detrolio, the port’s director of finance and administration, told port commissioners that the purchases approved Monday brought the port about halfway to the goal. The port purchased property for a railroad right of way from AMJ for $324,100 plus closing costs, and a second parcel from Circle C for $170,750 plus closing costs.  

In a later interview Milton Miller, port facilities director, said right-of-way acquisition is moving pretty quickly. 

“We’re hoping to have them all done by Christmas,” Miller said.  

Miller told commissioners there are eight parcels left that require rights of way, with four separate owners. 

The port is not buying entire parcels, just the right of way. 

“Our right of way varies,” Miller told commissioners. “The track itself is only 50 feet wide, but the right-of-way purchase that we’re buying is 100 to 125 feet.”  

In an earlier interview, Miller said five miles of track will be built and about 4.5 miles of existing track will be rehabilitated. The new rail line will reconnect with the BNSF lines near Connell. 

The new section of the rail line will run south of Wheeler Road, cross Wheeler about one to two miles west of State Route 17, run along Road 4 NE and connect with the existing line. The new section will require a bridge across Crab Creek and a rail crossing on Wheeler Road.   

The project should go out to bid early next year, he said, with construction expected to take about two years.  

Once the new rail line is completed, the existing rail line that runs through Moses Lake will be taken out of service. Miller said federal regulations prohibit abandoning the existing line until a new rail line is in place.  

Commissioners approved an eminent domain declaration along with the sale of the AMJ property. Miller said that helps property owners take advantage of a tax break. 

Eminent domain is the ability of a government to compel the sale of land for public purposes.  

“They didn’t potentially want to sell us the property, but we need the property,” Miller said. 

But the property owners are still subject to sales tax, and the eminent domain designation allows that to be waived, Miller said.  

The rail lines through Moses Lake are owned by the Columbia Basin Railroad, and port officials would contract with CBRR for service once the new line is complete, Miller said.   

Northern Columbia Basin Railroad Project Advertisement For Bids

In those moments where my site actually provides timely news...

Courtesy of the Port of Moses Lake.

September 1, 2026

Bid and contract specs below:

Old McDonald

My photo.

June 16, 2026

A short train of the Columbia Basin Railway passes the McDonald sign on former Milwaukee Road track on the branch to Moses Lake. Power was an SD40-2 and SD9.

Big Power For Milwaukee Rail

My photo.

June 16, 2026

A short train powered by an SD9 and SD40-2 of the Columbia Basin Railway follow the west leg of the wye at Grow. The train is entering the Sugar Spur, which the Milwaukee Road built to reach to old U&I Sugar Plant at Scalley, about 5 miles north of here. 

The train has carefully tread the 85lb rail to the siding at McDonald, on the Moses Lake Branch, to pick up and drop off a handful of cars. The remainder of the branch from McDonald to Moses Lake is out of service, and someday will be replaced by new construction off the Northern Pacific spur at Wheeler, to a connection with the Air Force built spur to the old Larson Air Force Base trackage. 

Grow will not be found on any Milwaukee Road timetables, nor BN for that matter. The name was bestowed on the wye here by the Washington Central, who bought all this trackage from Milwaukee successor Burlington Northern. The WCRC had hired a number of Milwaukee men out of Othello to run it's trains in 1986, and had bestowed the Grow name to honor Chuck Grow, one of the more senior men that were left in Othello when the Milwaukee quit in 1980.

Wheeler Turn With The SD9

My photo.

May 15, 2026

From Mainline To Branchline To End Of The Line

Photo date April 19, 2012.

What was once the planned relocation of the Northern Pacific mainline across Washington State, became a backwater branchline that is now out of service. 

Drivers along Interstate 90 east of Moses Lake, WA are often confused by the railroad line that "follows" the road. It was, in fact, the other way around. 

The NP was aware that their mainline was longer than the competing lines of the Milwaukee and the Great Northern, so came up with a plan for a line to branch off their mainline at Ritzville, and run mostly due west to Ellensburg. This would save about 80 miles of running time, instead of dipping south through Pasco and then back north through Yakima. The line was surveyed and grading started at Ritzville and connected into the abuilding Connell Northern branch headed north out of Warden, WA, at a location called Bassett Junction. 

Rail was laid from Bassett to Remple (now called Schrag), when the project stopped. Cold. Why? The opening of the Panama Canal. It would seem that enough traffic disappeared from the otherwise very frugal NP that the project could no longer be justified. 

The NP did look at completing the line a few more times over the years, including a plan to use the Milwaukee grade to Ellensburg. The last internal  correspondence the NP had about this project was about 1951. 

Most traffic on on the branch was from a modest sized grain elevator at Schrag. It was still shipping when Burlington Northern sold off the old Connell Northern branch in 1986 to the Washington Central. Operations continued to be seasonal as ownership changed to the Columbia Basin Railway, after BN bought back the Washington Central, but promptly spun the Connell Northern lines right back out.

In the Columbia Basin era, car supply became dependent on the State of Washington having purchased older hopper cars, and doling them out to a few shortlines, in order to help keep truck traffic off state roads. In the photo you'll see these greenish yellow cars in abundance. 

I'm not so sure the brain-trust who put the state program cars into service thought much about the rule about 50 year old cars being prohibited from interchange service, but that is what seems to have killed off service on this branch. The photo here is from 2012, but in a few short years these cars were parked at Schrag, rusting to the rails, as they were all too old to hand off to the BNSF anymore. 

Those cars sat for about two years before they were rounded up and doled out to other state-owned shortlines for captive use, where they are still today. 

The Columbia Basin Railway ownership has changed recently. All the small power like the pictured GP9s are now long gone, and the branch is being used to store out of service Cryotrans reefers, with the mechanical refrigeration parts removed. There are nearly 100 of these cars out there today.  Is this the end of what was supposed to be a mainline?

Most of this information I plan on using for a program at the upcoming NPRHA convention this year in Toppenish, WA.  

651 At Warden

Courtesy of Jonathan Fischer.

January 12, 2018

Chasing The CBRW

My photos.

April 20, 2026

Wheeler Turn headed towards Wheeler while crossing I90 at Raugust.

Passing through Bruce.

Passing Koren. I'm standing on the embankment of the SR 26 overpass.

BNSF Connell Turn power was all EMD this day.

Returning towards Warden, passing Buehler Road.

At Coyan Road.

Just north of Bruce. That's Othello in the background.

Coming off the BN built connection between the NP and the Milwaukee Road, the Columbia Basin Railway Connell Turn is nearly home at Warden, WA. You can see the remnants of the NP ramp behind the 651. 

The flyover was built by NP subsidiary Connell Northern, to get over the Milwaukee Road in 1910. After the Milwaukee quit in 1980, BN bought that line between Warden and Othello. At this particular location, they pulled out the NP bridge and built an at-grade connection between the two railroads, which is still in use today.

It's now 7pm and the Wheeler Turn hasn't finished at Wheeler yet.

That Remaining CBRW SD9

My photo. 

April 4, 2026

The remaining SD9 of the CBRW is dropping a car at an industry south of Wheeler, WA. This spur was built off of the old Milwaukee Road spur to the U&I Sugar plant.

What's Up In Warden?

April 5, 2025

Old power going away. Unit train of some sort delivered by big BNSF units. First time I've seen those here!

My Chase Of The "New" CBRW SD40-2s

My photos.

October 13, 2025

Koren

Frischnecht

Connell

Near the Moon Road crossing.

Moon Road crossing.

Shano

Reshuffle The CBRW Warden Deadline

February 27, 2026

Two SD9s that had been stored in Yakima were dropped off on February 25, the 12 and 171. 

This photo was takin on February 26, after a late arriving Connell Turn had cut off it's power and tied up for the night.

After the SD9s had been dropped off and the 1626 picked up, this is the lineup.

Goodbye CBRW 302

February 27, 2026

Jaguar sold off this one and the 1626, both former NP GP9s. The 302 left Pasco for points east. I caught it at a few places along the way.

Hatton

Cunningham

Providence Hill

Lind