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. 

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.

Undated 1977 Freight Train Delay Report

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

Undated U&I Sugar View

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

No date.

"Beet stockpiles at the Utah and Idaho beet sugar factory near Moses Lake. View taken from atop one of the pulp silos. The three large piles are about 32 feet deep, 200 feet wide, and one-fourth of a mile long."

Note the 4 NP gondolas towards the upper right.

1966 U&I Sugar View

Bureau of Reclamation photo. 

1966

New Power On The Wheeler Turn

My photos.

September 30, 2025

Where NP and BN banned 6 axle power, now we see former Santa Fe SD40-2s. 

First view is along Wheeler Rd near the old Simplot plant (there's a new one now too, both in operation.)

Coming up the former Milwaukee Road sugar spur after setting out cars at Seiler. That's Interstate 90 crossing above.

1979 BN Station Revenues-Portland Division

 

Improvements Added To Utah-Idaho Sugar Factory At Scalley

From "The Northwest."

March-April 1962

$500,000 More Going Into Additions At Sugar Factory

From "The Northwest."

July-August 1963

Sugar Company Now Is Replacing Storage Silos Destroyed Last Fall

From "The Northwest."

March-April 1964

1952 Proposed NP Spur Locations At Wheeler

 

1952 Moses Lake Area Map

 

1955 Scalley Improvments

 AFE joint with NP and Milwaukee.

BN 1975 Station Revenues R-W

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz and the PNRA.

81,000 Tons Of Beets In Basin

From the "Grant County Journal."

December 18, 1952

Loading Beets At Wheeler For Toppenish

From the "Grant County Journal."

December 9, 1952

Story Of Wheeler Sugar Beets

Back in 2012 Mac M. asked:

I have a 1968 Idaho Division train brief off (this) website about the Wheeler Turnaround Local, train 1234-1235 between Pasco and Adrian. The brief includes statement "This train supplemented during beet and potato harvest with road switcher at Wheeler and Turnaround local Pasco to Connell."

Does anyone know anything about the seasonal road switcher at Wheeler? I suspect this job went to Adrian in season to deliver empty cars and get loads of beets from GN at Adrian. Can anyone confirm? Anyone know official or unofficial name of this assignment in the 1960's?

I intend to use info for a sentence or two in a book John L. and I are writing about the GN in the 1960's and his career. John worked the GN beet local for at least one stand in the 1960's.

Gary D replied:

I arrived in Wheeler WA on September 25, 1963. 

I was filling a temporary position as Operator for the fall sugar beet harvest that was about to start. Before the day was over my job had been eliminated and reinstated by Mr. Westine, the train master. The reason it was reinstated was the U&I officials declared that they would open as usual. However, there would be no sugar storage facilities, and every ton of sugar produced would be loaded and shipped within about 24 hours.

There were at least two ramifications. One the sugar loading tracks needed to be switched at more frequent intervals, so a 16 hour seven day a week switcher job was created. The crew actually worked 15 hours and took "beans" at the end of their shift. It was an extremely popular job. The crews could fill their time cards for the month in just a few days and then take the rest of the month off. We saw mostly the top of the seniority list.

The beet car trains moved according to need and were a daily occurrence. That may well have been your Wheeler to Connell turn around local. I know at least on one occasion I rode the caboose to Connell and back. This became a source of embarrassment for me. This train set out empty beet cars at each siding. At one such stop I was in the cupola watching the activity on the ground. The brakes were releasing and I was listening for the slack. I heard it coming, ripping down the train and I ducked back inside. I wasn't quite fast enough and the window frame snicked my glasses and sent them spinning out of the window onto the ground. I quickly wrote down the number of the beet car adjacent to the location, and next morning I sent a note to the agent and asked him to search the ground nearby. The local that evening brought me an envelope with my glasses, no worse for the wear.

The switcher would make up the train in the afternoon and push the whole thing out the main line north of town. The local would arrive and pull through the storage track with loaded beet cars, empty sugar hoppers for the bulk sugar and fifty foot double door box cars for bagged sugar. Nothing but the best! I would take up a position at the wye to the plant lead in the afternoon as the switcher pushed the train. I could scribble car numbers for my train list as fast as the crew would push. In fact they were inclined to push at the dead slow so as to help me. The plant lead was the top of a long hill out of the plant. Then the main line continued on a slight down hill slope. One day I was on station scribbling furiously when the slack came ripping by and a knuckle whistled by my head. After that I stood a bit further away.

The average beet car train was over a hundred cars. I must have scribbled a million car numbers that winter. 

1973 BN Consolidated Annual Station Earnings-1

Courtesy of Aaron Schwarz.

1960 Scalley Sugar Beet View

Bureau of Reclamation photo. 

From the collection of Sam Simons.

Note the Milwaukee Road hopper in the background full of sugar beets.

January 18, 1960.

1953 U&I Sugar Plant At Wheeler Aerial View