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.

The Last SD9?

Photos by me.

10-21-25

These are all taken on former Moses Lake branch of the Milwaukee Road. 

Crossing a canal along the sugar spur.

Crossing road N SE at Grow.

Passing the old sign of Grow. That's Seiler in the background right, with the branch to Moses Lake proper in the foreground.

Coming back from Seiler.

CBRW At Grow

Photo by Roger Hepkema.

The Columbia Basin's Wheeler job has run beyond Wheeler to reach the remainder of the MILW's Moses Lake branch. Seen here at the wye, the train will now head a mile east on the old branch mainline to reach the fertilizer distributor at Seiler (at the east end of the stubbed branch). It's just a few minutes from sunset on 10-16-2013.

Chuck Grow

I recently learned of his passing, via his granddaughter, Sarah Mendoza.

I related my encounter with him a few years ago in this posting.

Here is the text of his obituary, found at the Stevens Funeral Chapel webpage.

"Charles “Chuck” Grow, beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, passed away June 28th, 2015 at his home surrounded by family. Chuck was born on November 6th, 1931 in Colorado. His family moved to Othello, Wa. in 1946 where he met the love of his life, Betty Bluhm. They were married in 1949 and had five beautiful children. He had a lifelong career as an engineer with the Milwaukee Railroad, as well as in construction and farming.

"Chuck was a talented athlete, avid sports fan and made friends everywhere he went. He enjoyed coaching as well; starting with his sons and continuing on through his grandkids and great grandkids.

"He loved hunting, fishing, and camping, boating, and wood working. He enjoyed attending community events, participating in parades, fair, and he never missed an Othello PRCA rodeo.

"He is survived by his wife, Betty; children Deborah (Robert) Russell, Chuck Grow, Theresa (Wil) Pickel, Michael (Sheree) Grow, and Lori (Darwen) Wheeler, sister Kathy (Paul) Shaftic, 10 grandkids and 8 great grandkids. He is preceded in death by his parents Tom and Nora Grow, and sisters Mary, Bettie and Sybil.

"At his request there will be no funeral services. In lieu of flowers, please send donations on behalf of Chuck to the Othello Senior Center where he enjoyed coffee with buddies daily."

Ms. Mendoza passed along the following photo from her collection.

Note that the current operator of the line where Mr. Grow worked, the Columbia Basin Railway, still has Grow marked on it's system map, the former Milwaukee Road station of Seiler.

My First Encounter With The Washington Central

I was living in Moses Lake at the time the Burlington Northern sold off its mixed former Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road branches between Connell, Wheeler, Warden and Othello in 1986. At the time I did not appreciate the change very much.

I finally got out to check out what the Washington Central was up to out in Wheeler in November of 1988. This photo is all I can find anymore of those days.

The 203 started out life as a switcher for the Missouri Pacific before getting picked up by Ceeco out of Tacoma, WA. They rebuilt this one and a few others for the WCRC.

Those were fun times for me as I got to know some of the crew members. One that stands out was an older gentleman named Chuck Grow. Mr. Grow lived in Othello and had worked for the Milwaukee Road up until 1980. He really liked to railroad and missed the Milwaukee. The Washington Central thought enough of him to rename one of the siding switches at Seiler after him.

He invited me and a friend for a cab ride to Warden. On the day of out trip, some of the refrigerator cars they were shuffling at the Carnation plant at Wheeler went on the ground and it took a few hours to clean up. As a result, our trip to Warden happened after dark. Fun times!