BN Operating Ex-Milwaukee To Royal City

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

From the "Sea-Port Region News."

October 1982

CCET 319 At Royal City

Courtesy of Jonathan Fischer.

January 14, 2019

Pioneer Tells Of Early Life In Smyrna Area

Courtesy of Gladys Para

From the Royal City "Capsule."

August 15 and 22, 1963

In The Path Of The North Coast Limited

From "Trains."

November 1987

Royal City Turn

My photos.

October 15, 2025

Empties were being returned to Othello, so I only chased it from Royal City to Othello.

Cold start at 8:30am at Royal City.

At the horseshoe curve just south of Royal City. In a minute or three, the short train will pass along the tracks in the lower part of the image.

About to cross Crab Creek.

At the siding at Taunton, looking west northwest along SR 26, with the Colockum in the distance.

1977 Milwaukee Road Rationalization Of Plant Light Density Lines

 

Down On 331

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

Blair says:

"Down on: Washington Royal Lines #331, former Montana Rail Link SD45R, Othello, Washington, 30 September 2020."

 

2020 Royal City Branch Views

Photos by Blair Kooistra. 

Blair says:

"Wicked horseshoe curve up a 3% gradient and a sharp curve: Mliwaukee Road's Royal City Branch, built 1967, and amazingly still in (somewhat sporadic) use by Port of Royal Slope on a connection east to Othello, Washington.

"This is the big curve around Horse Corral Coulee, just below Royal City."

"A quite rare operation. I felt fortunate to stumble onto it running during a week's holiday in the area. And I wouldn't have gotten this without a phone call from the director of the port district that owns the tracks."

1983 Portland Division Train Briefs

Courtesy of Lynn Francis.

April 1, 1983

Local Freight Trains-Portland Division  Revised 4-1-83

Pasco-Walla Walla-Lewiston Area------Trainmaster Distric 1
Local Train-----On Duty-Freq------Territory
61810 WWV Local 0830    DXSa-Su   W Walla-Milton Freewater & Ret A
61810 WWV Local         As Reqd.  College Place-Baker-Langdon
                                  & Ret B

61613 Pasco-Dixie Local 0900 Mo-We-Fr Pasco to Walla Walla,
Dixie & Ret.
61811 Snake River Swr. 1500 DXSu Pasco-Finley-Yellepit & Ret. A
61811 Snake River Swr. DXSu Pasco-Martindale-Burbank & Ret. B
61811 Snake River Swr. DXSu Pasco-Kennewick & Ret. C
61811 Snake River Swr. As Reqd.--Kennewick-Richland & Ret.
61817 Riparia Turn 1930 DXMo Pasco-Riparia & Ret.
61819 Pendleton Turn 0800 DXSu Pasco-Pendleton & Ret. A
61819 Pendleton Turn As Reqd. Smeltz-Athena & Ret. B

Connell-Wheeler-Cheney Area-------Trainmaster District 2
61826 Connell-Whlr Turn 1000 DXSu Connell-Wheeler & Ret. A
                         As Reqd. Bassett Jct-Schrag & Ret. B
61828 Pasco-Bruce Turn 1500 DXSu Pasco-Bruce & Ret. A
                        As Reqd. Mesa-Basin City & Ret. B
61823 Wheeler-Othello Turn 1800 DXSa Wheeler-Othello Lake &
                                     Ret. A
61421 Wheeler-Moses Lake 0700 DXSu Wheeler-Moses Lake & Ret. A
      Turn 0700 As Reqd. Wheeler-Royal City & Ret. B

Yakima-Toppenish-Grandview Area------Trainmaster District 3
61832 White Swan Local 0830 Tu-Th-Su  Yakima-Mabton & Ret. A
61832 White Swan Local As Reqd. Toppenish-White Swan & Ret. C
61835 NYV Local 0830 Mo-We-Fr Yakima-Moxee City & Ret. A
61835 NYV Local 0830 Mo-We-Fr Yakima-Naches-Tieton & Ret. B
61833 15th Sub div. Lcl 0800 As Reqd. To Pasco-Buena & Ret.

Railroad Comes To Royal City

Thanks to William Russ for digging this out.

Photo and caption from Tri-City Herald, 1967. Aerial taken April 7, 1969.

The principal physical feature of the new line to Royal City, a horseshoe curve built on the side of a slope, is seen in both of these images.

Port Railroad Bill Approved By House

From the "Grant County Journal."

March 30, 1981

2016 Frontier Rail To Royal Slope

Thanks to John Smoots for sharing this.

Hommage

Guest post by Frederick Manfred Simon.

Harley Kuehl – aka Byron Kuehl – and I had the opportunity to visit the remains of Harley’s former employer yesterday – 14Nov22 – Milwaukee Road’s (formerly) electrified main line at Royal City Jct., milepost 2009.5.

The cutting cold wind amplified the forlorn scene of an ambitious and proud Transcon, like a bridge too far, it was a railroad too far. And while it appears Harley is silently bowing to a relic of a dead god, he’s instead marveling the 115.20# rail which is still in pretty damned good shape. Just the same we easily let ourselves be amazed at the efforts and engineering expended by the Milwaukee to reach Royal City's “industrial” economy via an impressive horseshoe curve on an even more impressive fill on one helluva grade.

One has to wonder what it was like running the line into and out of Royal City with tonnage in tow. Just the same, one wonders if there still are any T&E with us that could share their stories about running on the Royal City line or have they too now passed away like the Milwaukee taking their untold unique experiences into whatever lies beyond? We will likely never know.

One thing’s for sure, our visit was a time for reflection on what was, what is, and what might have been.

Thanks Harley for sharing your Milwaukee memories with me!

Rail Line Taps 90,500 Irrigable Royal Slope Acres

From the Seattle "Times."

June 4, 1967

$1 Million Rail Line Opens In State

From the Seattle "Times."

June 11, 1967

2012 Timeline Of The Line To Royal City

Guest post by Lauren Scrafford.

The BN operated the Royal Slope as part of the Portland Division, 10th sub branch line Warden to Royal City until the sale of the line to Temple Industries Washington Central RR in late 1986. It was not operated at first until 1982 after the Milwaukee abandonment and sale of properties, though there was residual operations of the line after the Milwaukee shut down. The line from Warden to Othello originally was the 21st sub of the Portland Division of the BN. The Port of Royal Slope had purchased the main line from Othello to the Junction and out to Industrial Park from the Milwaukee for $300,000 and then spent a lot more money rehabilitating the line.

Washington Central operated the line for a period of time after 1986, but eventually refused to serve the line anymore due to lack of traffic. Somewhere I have the figures but there were only about 100-200 car loads most years and if I remember correctly the last year Washington Central handled the traffic there were only 51 car loads.

The Port brought in Yakima Valley or Toppenish, Simcoe and Western to operate the line, which they did for a couple of years. I think the last year they handled 9 car loads.

In 1994 the Port sold the line to the Washington State DOT. Sunfresh bought the former US Army MRS 1 from Toppenish, Simcoe and Western in 1993. I think the last car loads shipped were in 1991.

Dedicating The Royal Road To Prosperity

Courtesy of Michael Sol.

From the July-August 1967 "The Milwaukee Road Magazine."