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.

McDonald Siding

From a 1982 brochure produced by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Undated 1977 Freight Train Delay Report

Courtesy of the Casey Adams collection of the Cascade Rail Foundation.

1942 Coast Division Timetable

Just the pages that relate to this corner of the world.

McDonald Track Profile

 

1942 Moses Lake Branch Abandonment Study

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz and the PNRA.

 

 

 

 

 

Moses Lake To Tiflis Track Profile

No date known.

1983 BN Washington Grain Elevator Directory M-R

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz and the PNRA.

1980 Milwaukee To Burlington Northern Transfer Document

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz.

Potholes Work Is Progressing

From the "Spokesman Review."

January 30, 1947

1969 Milwaukee Road Timetable Emergency Telephone List

1969 MIlwaukee Road Tenth Subdivision Timetable

1956 McDonald And Seiler Topo Map

BNSF Line Segment 395 & 456

Compiled by the late Alan Eisenberg.

Green segments were in service at the time the list was made. "CB" stands for "Columbia Basin Railway."

News of McDonald And Train Service To Moses Lake

From "The Neppel Record."

January 16, 1914

Milwaukee Road 1976 Condensed Profile Moses Lake to Tiflis