Meet At Adrian

My photo. 

June 29, 2026

A westbound Z train is doing track speed at Adrian, WA, while passing an empty oil train holding the siding. 

My photo location is part of the filled in Northern Pacific trestle which leapt over the GN main and Crab Creek here. This structure was removed in 1983. There was an actual interchange track here, starting at a point along the oil train marked by the water tank in the distance. There was another bridge over Crab Creek there, and a ramp going up to the NP at a point called Adco. Adco was a conjunction of the names “Adrian” and “Connell.” The line to here had been built between those points in 1910, connecting with the 1903 build NP branch down from Coulee City. 

At one time, this junction had been envisioned to allow the large quantities of wheat coming off the NP, which wanted to go to tidewater at Seattle, from having to be hauled all the way back to Spokane, and then to Seattle. This would save about 200 miles. 

During the mid 1930s, this interchange boomed with carloads of construction material for the abuilding Grand Coulee Dam. While much was handed over to the NP at Spokane, the cement plant along the GN at Grotto, on the west side of Stevens Pass, added it’s share to the other 5 places enlisted to provide product.

In the early days of the newly merged Burlington Northern, there had been a plan floated to build a unit train loader in this area. Unfortunately, the boom of Wyoming coal took the bulk of BN’s money and time, so this project never came to fruition. 

The interchange had a longer life than expected. While the line through to Coulee City was largely unused after 1950, the interchange and line south boomed due to the sugar beet processor built outside of Moses Lake. Nearby Quincy and Winchester, along the GN, became huge beet growing regions. Beets from there were shipped by rail along the GN to Adrian, where they were handed off to the NP for furtherance south to the plant. This continued until the plant was closed in 1979. 

Both bridges were removed in 1983 after BN got permission to abandon the line south. 

Is This The Bassett Behind Bassett Junction?

From the "Spokesman Review."

March 3, 1904

From the "Spokesman Review."

February 9, 1908

From the "Spokesman Review."

August 17, 1908

From the "Spokesman Review."

August 10, 1924

New Railroad Rumors

From the "Spokesman Review."

December 22, 1946

Connell Thinks East Road Best

From the "Spokesman Review."

January 9, 1947

Moses Lake NP Line Pondered

From the "Spokesman Review."

October 17, 1948

Open Big Tract In Grant County

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

July 5, 1913

A Splendid Opportunity

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

February 12, 1912

Road Will Shorten Distance To Coast

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

November 23, 1911

Run Trains On Pasco Branch

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

October 31, 1910

Build New Road From Connell To Adrian

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

June 2, 1909

Location Made For NP Cutoff

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

April 11, 1910

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.  

Smack Through The Middle Of The Columbia Basin

From the "Spokesman Review."

January 26, 1947

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!

GN Cement Hopper View

USBR photo. Courtesy of the Grant County Historical Society Museum. 

June 28, 1950. 

Best guess for a location is south of Adrian/Adco on the line to Wheeler, somewhere north of Gloyd. 

"Columbia Basin Project, Irrigation Division 2nd Section East Low Canal. View showing cement siding and unloading operation. Cement is trucked approximately two miles to Batch Plant."

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

WCRC At Wheeler View

Photo by Ken Ardinger. From the collection of Ted Curphey. 

July 20, 1987

Located inside what was then the Carnation potato processing facility, now run by Simplot.

Yes, This Is A Railroad Photo

February 12, 2026

An Air Tractor AT-802 fully loaded with fertilizer is in the process of taking off from "Meise Field" today, as the moderate temperatures have local farmers getting started on the growing season. Yes, it's only February 12 when this photo was taken.

The railroad connection? The airstrip is build on the former Northern Pacific's Connell Northern right of way, near the station of Mitchell, about 3 miles north of the current end of track at Wheeler.

Back From The Dead?

My photo.

February 12, 2026

In the deadline at Warden, WA since last August, the 2274 has been a pigeon roost out near the Bunge canola pressing plant. I figured today would be no different, so imagine my surprise to see it tied up to the 651, an SD9 still in service on the CBRW. 

Admittedly this could just be preparation for moving it to a new owner.

Back And Forth Between The NP And Milwaukee To Pay A Bill