Blair says:
"Difference of decades. . . .
"Difference of decades. . . .
"The last #200 symbol arrives in Othello, Washington, on March 1, 1980, two weeks before the railroad's final train traversed the transcontinental mainline. Five GP40s and a GP30 lead the last revenue cars east.
And September 30, 2020, and six empty fertilizer cars arrive at what's left of the Othello yard behind Washington Royal Lines SD45R #331, and ex-Montana Rail Link locomotive and the las SD45 rebuilt by Southern Pacific.
"Since abandonment this trackage has been owned by Burlington Northern, the State of Washington, and now Columbia Basin Railway. The WRL is the contracted operator for the Port of Royal Slope, which owns the remnants of the Milwaukee Road west of here to Royal City Junction and the five mile branch up to Royal City. Operations are sporadic, but after years and years of trying, the operation is starting to gain a little traction in building traffic in an area where admittedly it's usually easier and cheaper to use trucks.
"One advantage of being old enough to have made both photographs 40 1/2 years apart that the amazement of having experienced the railroad wither and die, then waiting most of a lifetime to have the opportunity to see the rail line come back to life--however tenuously such a revival may be."
