This site features daily historical railroad posts from the Big Bend/Columbia Plateau region of Washington state. As a personal site, this is my online filing cabinet of interesting things I've come across about railroading in the area. Thanks for stopping by!
Monday, November 17, 2014
1947 Grand Coulee
This 1947 view of the rail layout below the dam show the Green Hut restaurant sitting where the visitor center is today. Note that the grade for the railroad still exists on the right hand side of the highway today.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
1939 Grand Coulee Bridge
This view shows the MWAK bridge that had been built in record time for railroad use, but turned out to be unable to handle the loads of the railroad. In this view, it has been converted to a road bridge. Note that you can see the railroad switchbacks coming down the hill, the railroad bridge over the highway, at what is now the visitor center, and then the tunnel in the hillside.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Grand Coulee Dam Model
The Grant County Historical Museum in Ephrata had an amazing amount of exhibits stuffed away in a big building adjacent to the highway department. One of these items was a model of the Grand Coulee Dam site, that had a lift-away section showing what progress would look like after a period of time. This section also showed how the highway and the railroad would share part of the same grade.
Fire destroys building at Grant County Historical Museum
EPHRATA, Wash - A Friday afternoon fire destroyed a 120' x 25' building housing antique vehicles at the Grant County Historical Museum in Ephrata, which is operated by the Grant County government.
Fire units were dispatched at 3:10 to the museum, located at 742 Basin St NW, at the north end of Ephrata. The building was mostly engulfed in flames when fire units arrived. The building eventually collapsed. The loss was estimated at up to $1-million by the county's insurance agent.
The building housed two antique fire engines, a 1950's public utility lineman's truck, and a few other antique vehicles. The archived museum records and photographs were not affected, because they are stored in another building on the museum campus.
Fire units from the City of Ephrata, and Grant County Fire Districts 13 (rural Ephrata), 7 (Lakeview), and 3 (Quincy) battled the fire for nearly two hours before bringing it under control.
Firefighters kept the fire from spreading to the adjacent Washington Department of Transportation region office, which sustained heat damage, and to nearby wood-framed museum buildings, which are constructed to replicate early 1900s stores and mercantiles.
One person, a museum volunteer who was inside the building when the fire started, sustained minor burns to his arm. He was treated and released from a local hospital.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Ephrata Fire Department. However, there is no indication of any malfeasance.
The building, and all the exhibits inside, burned in an accidental fire back on August 8, 2009. Of note, the gentleman pictured in one of the photos, Blackie Moser, was the man injured in the news report below, when the fire engine he was attempting to start, backfired.
Fire destroys building at Grant County Historical Museum
EPHRATA, Wash - A Friday afternoon fire destroyed a 120' x 25' building housing antique vehicles at the Grant County Historical Museum in Ephrata, which is operated by the Grant County government.
Fire units were dispatched at 3:10 to the museum, located at 742 Basin St NW, at the north end of Ephrata. The building was mostly engulfed in flames when fire units arrived. The building eventually collapsed. The loss was estimated at up to $1-million by the county's insurance agent.
The building housed two antique fire engines, a 1950's public utility lineman's truck, and a few other antique vehicles. The archived museum records and photographs were not affected, because they are stored in another building on the museum campus.
Fire units from the City of Ephrata, and Grant County Fire Districts 13 (rural Ephrata), 7 (Lakeview), and 3 (Quincy) battled the fire for nearly two hours before bringing it under control.
Firefighters kept the fire from spreading to the adjacent Washington Department of Transportation region office, which sustained heat damage, and to nearby wood-framed museum buildings, which are constructed to replicate early 1900s stores and mercantiles.
One person, a museum volunteer who was inside the building when the fire started, sustained minor burns to his arm. He was treated and released from a local hospital.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Ephrata Fire Department. However, there is no indication of any malfeasance.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Moses Lake Trackage Photos
Dorothy Kimball photos.
Photos from 1981 (the white stuff along the tracks is ash from Mt. St. Helens) showing trackage to the south of the depot location.
All but the track on the right is gone now.
Photos from 1981 (the white stuff along the tracks is ash from Mt. St. Helens) showing trackage to the south of the depot location.
All but the track on the right is gone now.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
1979 Adrian Cutoff Views
Dorothy Kimball photos.
Best I can figure is that these are along the section from Coulee City to Bacon section.
Best I can figure is that these are along the section from Coulee City to Bacon section.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
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