Another Look At The BNSF 250 And 2026

My photos.

August 7, 2026

After some commitments were completed that morning, I was able to catch the 250 east of Odessa, and the 2026 at both Lamona and Mohler. The sky was filled with smoke everywhere from the big forest fire near Lake Chelan. 

Industrial and General Report-1912-4

Courtesy of the PNRA. Thanks to Aaron Schwarz for digging this out.

1980 Mt. St. Helens Story

Photo by Dick Herbert, used for attention. Photo location is in Montana.

Story below was told by Ken Albrecht.

Ken says:
"Good friend of mine (Dan Perkins, BN switchman at the time, worked Seattle & Stacy St yards, now deceased) was over in Odessa, WA that weekend with another BN engineer (Mike Gelhaus, Spokane area, also deceased) reviewing NP steam negs/pix for a book about NP Steam. Both had driven by auto to get there. When Mt St Helens popped Dan took pictures during the ash fallout. He said it got very dark Sunday morning and then ash started falling out of the sky. There was about 10" accumulation on the picnic table outside. Spokane TV news talked about ash destruction of car, truck, bus motors driving thru it as well as the geological destruction. Both my BN friends were able to get to the Odessa depot, contact the railroad, arrange freight train transportation to their respective locales (picked up their cars much, much later) for work availability. Dan said the engine crew had already duct taped every possible opening where air could enter the cab: windows, doorways, etc. Same for caboose. Dusty all the way across east side. Crew out of Wenatchee reinforced duct tape in cab. They last heard contact from crew in caboose at Skykomish but did not thereafter. All radio contact with caboose crew was met with zero response. Concerned, conductor called on railroad personnel to physically check caboose upon train arrival at Everett. Both crewmen had passed out but were still alive, barely. Apparently, enough ash dust had filtered in to affect their breathing. They were taken to the hospital in Everett, WA. They survived. Had the engine crew waited until Seattle the caboose crew would've died from asphyxiation account ash intake. It was several days before Dan, likely Mike too, could safely drive their vehicles home after the ash accumulation fallout east side of Cascade Range."

1982 Wenatchee Trainorders

 

1979 BN Station Revenues-Spokane Division

 

1920s Odessa Postcard View

Thanks to Kurt Moose for finding this.

1983 BN Washington Grain Elevator Directory M-R

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz and the PNRA.

BN 1975 Station Revenues H-R

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz and the PNRA.

Ephrata Trainorders

 

BN 1971 Consolidated Annual Station Earnings

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz and the PNRA.

1957 Derailment Scene Near Odessa

From the "Grant County Journal."

July 29, 1957

BN Train Near Odessa

Courtesy of Dean Ferris. 

BN Train #105 leans into a curve near Odessa, WA on August 6, 1989.

Ephrata Trainorders

 

1966 Track Foreman Train Location Lineups

 

GN Will Close Marlin Station

From the Spokane "Chronicle."

July 17, 1933

Undated Odessa Postcard View

No date.

Cost Of Derailment May Hit $2 Million

From the "Spokesman Review."

June 10, 1990

GN Train No. 1 Had Narrow Escape

From the Wenatchee "World."

January 27, 1910

It's not often I get a chance to put some serious pieces of a puzzle together and get a better idea of the story. That happened when I opened up a copy of the Wenatchee paper from 1910 that someone sent me. On the front page was a write up about the wreck pictured below, a picture I had first posted back in 2008. Read the clippings over the next 2 images and while not 100% accurate, it does paint a pretty good picture of what really happened.

Of note, the "washout" listed in the first paragraph was actually the end of the track west of Coulee City.

The newspaper the Wenatchee "Daily World" from January 27, 1910.

1955 Wenatchee To Spokane Track Chart

Courtesy of the Wilson Creek Museum.

Edits by Gus Christ.