Big Bend Railroads Photo Addendum-2

While I hope you enjoyed the book, "Big Bend Railroads," there were many photos that did not make the cut for numerous reasons. This post will give you the chance to see those missing photos.

See Part 1 here. See Part 3 here. See Part 4 here.

Book is still available on Amazon.com.

This is the first depot in Ephrata, looking west.  In the early days, Ephrata wasn’t much more than a stop for water.  It didn’t take too long for business to grow here and the Great Northern built a new depot next to this one in 1902. (Courtesy Grant PUD Archives.)

This 1956 view of Beverly shows it to be a bustling place, as far as the railroad is concerned. The water level in the river is still in a natural state, as Priest Rapids dam is not in place. Note the highway crossing beneath the near part of the bridge.  At one time it crossed underneath the tracks right after it curves to the left for the straight shot to the bridge.  The tracks curving to the right hand side of the photo are a wye track used for turning the helper locomotives that were used to help push trains up the 2.2% grade on the other side of the river. The other end of the bridge also sports a wye, with the track curving to the left heading to Hanford, and the track heading to the right being the mainline. (Courtesy of John Ball.)

In 1909, as part of the new grade put in place between Quincy and Columbia River Siding, a tunnel was bored through a hill just below the siding of Crater. In this 1994 view, the train is just about to head into the short tunnel. The original grade swings wide around that hill, and is used as a maintenance road for the railroaders to reach the uphill portal.

This view of Adrian dates from about 1910 and is quite rare, as no one seems to have a view of any sort of the depot there, nor of the Northern Pacific engine facility. The flume is from the Adrian Irrigation Company, which was trying to irrigate about 5000 acres near Soap Lake. You can see the roof of the depot just behind the string of boxcars.  Just right of center, below the string of boxcars, you can see a Northern Pacific boxcar sitting at the coaling dock. (Courtesy Grant PUD Archives.)

Early view of the bridge at Beverly, before this section of the Milwaukee Road was electrified. (Grant PUD Archival Photo.)