Tuesday, March 31, 2015

1955 Summer Falls Bridge

Canal was constructed in 1947. Rails were out of service by 1950.



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Saturday, March 28, 2015

1967 Schrag Topo Map

Rails on the Ritzville Cutoff of the Northern Pacific were only laid between Bassett Jct. and Schrag, though the grade continued all the way to Ritzville.


Sunday, March 22, 2015

1955 Mitchell

North of Moses Lake, near Rd 7NE and L NE. Line through here was abandoned in 1983. 


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Saturday, March 21, 2015

Big Bend Railroads Photo Addendum-1

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 2 here. See Part 3 here. See Part 4 here.

You can still find the book at Amazon.com.


This plunge pool between Quincy and Trinidad looked like a crater to early settlers and the railroad, who named the adjacent station Crater. You can see the cut the railroad blasted out of the basalt on the top left. This spot has been dammed and now holds a small amount of irrigation runoff water. (Courtesy of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society.)


On December 2, 1934, President Roosevelt was scheduled to visit ground-breaking ceremonies at the site of Grand Coulee Dam. The Presidential Special that was to run to Ephrata had a special helper engineer that day, in the form of newly elected Washington State Governor Clarence Martin.  Behind the Governor is the actual engineer, Danny Loughlin. (Photograph by Lee Pickett;  courtesy of Allen Miller.)



The Great Northern maintained a public relations department, charged with handling the image of the railroad, which included letters like this. Digging up the facts outlined in the letter probably took a few days, as sources of information were examined and people were questioned before the letter was drafted. (Courtesy of Darrin Nelson.)




The boys leaving for World War 1 was a big event in Waterville. Though they were headed to the other side of the state for training, most folks figured this might be the last time they would see them so turned out to see them off. In this view looking southeast,  the Douglas County Courthouse can be seen in the distance.(Courtesy of Darrin Nelson.)




American Lake, in western Washington, was a base for military operations during WWI. This train  likely shows young men who are headed to the installation for training. Two coaches and the automobile boxcar mark this as one of the longer passenger trains operated on the line. (Photograph by C.M. Lockwood; courtesy of Harold Badten.)




This view of the base structure of the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Power Plant also shows the car skip just behind it, in line with the blocks of the dam. Also note the various railroad cars holding various loads. Sharp-eyed readers will note the penstock loads in the yard downstream of the dam, directly below the light colored bridge between the buildings. (Courtesy of the Hu Blonk Papers, EWU Archives, Image Number 5-13-11.)




 A supervisor looks over the recently completed bridge over Crab Creek, just off the mainline of the Milwaukee Road.  This was probably the last trestle of any sort built on “Lines West.” (Courtesy of the Grant PUD Archives.)



1967 Ritzville Cutoff Topo Map

In this view you can see the outline for the branch that was graded from Ritzville west. Large parts of the grade can still be seen today, with the rail having been laid only between Schrag and Bassett Jct. 


Friday, March 20, 2015

1955 Douglas

You can still see most of where the wye was for the Waterville Railroad at the bottom center of the photo. They stopped operating in 1948. 



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Monday, March 16, 2015

1955 Bonspur

Bonspur is a contraction of the name Bonneville Spur, which is where this line off of the Mansfield Branch went, to service a large substation a few miles south of Rock Island Dam. 



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Sunday, March 15, 2015

1955 Beverly

View of Beverly before the highway was moved to the edge of the bridge. 



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Saturday, March 14, 2015

1955 Adrian

Unlike the previous photo of Dry Coulee where I mentioned that the line had not seen a train in a few years, the big bridge at Adrian saw regular use, especially during the sugar beet campaigns, where a GN local would deliver sugar beets to the interchange at Adrian for the NP to pick up and deliver to the U&I Sugar plant at Wheeler.



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Friday, March 13, 2015

1967 Marcellus Topo Map

Having been at Marcellus recently, the grain elevator is still there. I'm pretty sure I came across the well location and where the depot once stood. Never knew to look for the wye there.


Thursday, March 12, 2015

1955 Dry Coulee

Aerial photo of the large trestles in Dry Coulee. Best I can figure, by this time it had been 5 years since the last train had passed over them.



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