1923 NP AFE Davenport Union Oil Spur

Courtesy of NPRHA.

1921 NP AFE Wilbur Motorcar

Courtesy of the NPRHA.

Malaga Depot

Late 1960s.

McKay Seed Moses Lake Loadout Spout

From Millwrights Northwest Inc.

"Millwrights Northwest spent the week in Moses Lake at McKay Seed working on modifying their train load out. It now can load out to the rail cars and trucks. New spouting and a directional valve were installed. These modifications are becoming more common and we are here to get them done for you."

 

Odair Area Plat Map

Poking around the online Washington state website for plat maps, and this little tidbit popped out. Looks like the state drew up the map after they discovered the line from Coulee City to Adrian had been abandoned 8 years prior. Click for a larger view.

1942 Top Map Coulee City To Bacon Tunnel

Each square represents a square mile. Section 21 is where the water tunnel for the Federal irrigation project comes out, near where the siding of Connolly was established in section 22. Connolly was named for the contractor that was building the tunnel in a few years. The double dotted line meandering in section 34 is the original alignment of Pinto Ridge Road.

BN Train At Malaga

Photo courtesy of Brian Ambrose.

"Here BN train #130 is passing through Malaga, WA 7-7-79 with 6621/2212/1533 (F45/GP30/GP7)."

Is This Montana?

June 21, 2016

No, it's not Montana. During the summer of 2016 the MRL 290, a former Great Northern SDP40, was leased to the Eastern Washington Gateway. This was a shortline operation of a former NP branchline from Cheney to Coulee City, WA.

I can confirm that more pixels were exposed to the 290 that summer than any of the motley collection of power the EWG operated, including the 3 SD45s they had at startup.

In the first photo we see the 290 lashed up with the NIWX 9129, a C40-8 of UP heritage, drifting downgrade just south of Odair, WA on approach to Coulee City.

Peeking through the sagebrush on the right are brand new well cars, stored on the east leg of the wye. Not seen very well, but just above the well cars is the 1953 abandoned grade of the 'mainline' connection to Adrian. County road 36 NE is seen just to the right of the 290. The clubhouse of the Coulee City Gun Club is the structure middle right.

Best I figure, the 290's future is uncertain, with the demise of the MRL right around the corner. The 9129 gave up it's prime mover a year or so ago to another locomotive in the NIWX fleet. It was a reliable engine for the shortline while it was here.

Dave Reagan is the engineer. Zachary Hastings is the conductor this day.

A note on those well cars. They may still be in the ditch along this line close to the old station of Telford. When they were finally recalled, they never got out. See them here.

F Units Departing Wilbur

Photo courtesy of Micheal Sawyer.

September 27, 1980.

Micheal says:

"Departing Wilber around Sept 1980. Yes, Blair was there and I believe Brian was also.
Interesting thing about this Train, the throttle broke on the 712, Jerry the Engineer knew there were two cars full of railfans, keeping us in mind he's running from a rear unit while the brakeman is working the whistle and headlight up front."