CBRW Between Warden And Bruce

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

Blair says:

"Between Warden and Bruce, Washington, the next "station" south going to Connell on the Columbia Basin Railroad, there isn't a lot of road access. A handful of farm roads, including the "10 road," at the south end of Warden past the cemetery.

"The 10 road is your standard two-lane gravel road; after passing the cemetery is a gate, left open, with a lock on it. I didn't want to get locked in, and a little past that, at a tranformer station, a hard hat leaving in his pickup truck assured me he wasn't going to lock the gate with me behind it.

"I drove down to the end of the road, which crossed the former NP, then the former Milwaukee Road mainline, and an irrigation canal. A home was at the very end, with an interesting porch looking over the Milwaukee.

"I turned around and decided to shoot the CBRW train from off a little hill as it moved through an S-curve departing the yard, an alignment that replaced the original fill and flyover of the Milwaukee when BN consolidated trackage here post 1980.

"A guy in a white sedan soon left the house heading out on errands. He stopped and I talked to him. You won't lock me in behind you, will you? I'm just here photographing the railroad. Will only be a few minutes, i told him.

"The railroad? Thanks for letting me know. Those folks at that farm nearby"--the other side of the tracks--"grow marijuana and are pretty paranoid about people with cameras." It was then the skunky smell in the air made sense. He said he'd call them and let them know.

"Even so--they WERE paranoid. "NO PICTURES! PRIVATE PROPERTY" they yelled. I yelled back, telling them "TRAIN PHOTOGRAPHER! WILL BE LEAVING SOON!" They left me alone after that, and I got the shot of the train departing Warden.

"I'm sure they REALLY would have gone apeshit if they saw I was flying a drone here as well!"

 

1962 Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Right-Of-Way Remnant

Thanks to Kyle Jarvis for digging this out.

1962

Milwaukee 21 At Othello

Courtesy of Blair Kooistra.

Blair says:

"Another view of the Milwaukee Road #21 and sister parked at the Othello roundhouse in August, 1978.

For as much grief as the railroad got--and justifiably--for their worn physical plant, it's plain to see in this view that the workers at the Othello Roundhouse took great pride in the spic-and-span appearance of their workplace. The tidy servicing facility wasn't the oily swamp that, for instance, Tideflats had. This isn't to cast aspersions on the workers at Tacoma--they had a HUGE facility that had become far bitter than the space required, and upkeep of the property wasn't the top priority. But Othello didn't seem to have a weed growing where it shouldn't."

1968 Larson Air Force Base Trackage Map

August 1968

Ralston Section Crew

Guest post by Ryan Reed. 

Jay Lentzner photo.

"This picture taken by Jay Lentzner on the Marcellus Branch shows a section crew made up of (left to right) Vern Nevitt, Walt Mathews, Harold Johnson, Bob Law, Rene Guerra, and Bob Adams. So, my question is what section were they on? I understand that Bob Adams was the last one to live in the Ralston section house before he moved to Ritzville and his son worked on Divisional Gang 5525. Just trying to figure out what section gang we're looking at here."

 

I think it's just east of Moody.

 

BN Says No To City Speed Limits

From the "Grant County Journal."

July 15, 1996

Train Speed Limits Eyed

From the "Grant County Journal."

July 8, 1996