Old Almira Trainorders-2

 

Difference Of Decades Othello

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

Blair says:

"A difference in four decades. . . on September 30, a Washington Royal Lines train of fertilizer empties arrives in Othello, Washington, for delivery to Columbia Basin Railroad, which will forward the cars to BNSF at Connell. Not much remains in the second scene, made on March 1, 1980 of the final train #200 arriving at the Milwaukee Road mid-state division point."

 

Old Almira Trainorders-1

Courtesy of the Grant County Historical Society.

The Ruth M.

From the Jerry Quinn Collection, SP&S Business Car "The Ruth M" in Moses Lake, WA in June of 1971.

Old McDonald

My photo.

June 16, 2026

A short train of the Columbia Basin Railway passes the McDonald sign on former Milwaukee Road track on the branch to Moses Lake. Power was an SD40-2 and SD9.

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.

1890 SLS&E Timetable

Courtesy of Sean Rotinski.

Columbia River View

Photographer unknown.

Date unknown.

Terminal Ice & Cold Storage Co

From a 1977 brochure produced by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.