Sad Gory Accident In Spanish Fork

From the Provo Herald:

Eight sheep remain after being chased
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPANISH FORK -- Just eight sheep remain from a flock of 132 that was hit by a train after being chased to the tracks by a dog, the owners say.

Jim Jensen, one of four people who own the group of sheep, said 13 immediately survived the accident but five have since died, and, "There's a couple more of those -- two more at least -- that I'm not sure will make it."

The owners have been raising the registered Suffolk and Hampshire sheep for 20 years, entering them in livestock shows and selling them to 4-H and Future Farmers of America clubs. It would cost up to $1,300 to replace each of the sheep, said Jensen, who works for Utah State University's extension service in Provo. The sheep, many of which were pregnant, were in a fenced area on Jensen's property on the night of the accident, he said. A dog owned by a resident in west Spanish Fork started to chase them.

To get away from the dog, the sheep ran through an electric fence, then onto nearby Union Pacific railroad tracks, where they were hit by a train. The dog that chased the sheep was still in the area and police allowed the sheep owners to shoot it, Jensen said.

"You're responsible to take care of your own dog, to make sure it's tied or kenneled and not bother others," he said.

Questions remain about the liability. Jones blames both the dog owner and Union Pacific.

"It is their (Union Pacific's) responsibility to keep the tracks fenced and cattle guard in front of them," Jensen said.

A spokesman with the Omaha, Neb.-based railroad said the incident is under investigation.

"Typically, we do not have fences on our property," said Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific. "Usually, responsibility for maintenance of these fences is that of the property owner."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C2.

Assuming I understood the radio report correctly, the railroad was assisting in the cleanup, although whether they would pick up the bill was not clear.

The railroad line in question is the old Denver & Rio Grande Western mainline between Salt Lake and Denver, just west of the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon.

I would be surprised if the railroad was held liable; trains cannot stop quickly. Basic physics. The dog's owner is out a dog, and possibly a lot more.

Just a sad waste.

What's Up With The Name?

Why "Pacific Coast Extension"? Fair question.

I have two other weblogs, The Pacific Slope and the Wasatch Front (you might have noticed them on the link bar). I wanted a place to talk trains (not that I've done that much lately), and it didn't go well with my politics and ranting on the Pacific Slope or the Wasatch Front. Plus, the audience for train stuff tends to be more limited.

So, I started this blog, and adapted the name from the Milwaukee Road and their "Pacific Coast Extension."

Ogden Union Station

On the platforms, looking south...

Platform sign...

The Depot's seen better days, but they've seen worse, too. At least it survives, and still has tracks to it.

Unlike my hometown farther south. Salt Lake City's fathers, displaying the lack of foresight common to Salt Lake City politicians, ripped up to the tracks to not one but both of Salt Lake's historic depots, leaving them rootless. Both buildings were once owned by either the state or the city. The old Rio Grande depot still is, and houses the Utah Historical Society. But the Union Pacific depot was sold by Salt Lake City to a developer for a song, which proceeded to gut the building. The old depot fixtures were sent to the dump. All in the persuit of elusive property tax dollars - which no one ever checks to see if those promised dollars materialize.

Either could have served as a commuter rail / light rail / bus hub for the city, an excellent gateway to the "Crossroads of the West." Instead, Amtrak passengers see a grimy collection of industrial buildings, and the old abandoned Rio Grande freighthouse. The depots have been replaced by an Amshack, a dingy-gray double-wide that lacks any of the class, grandeur, or history of either of the old depots.

Such is Salt Lake urban planning. But that's another rant for another time.

But it appears Ogden will display more foresight. I hope so.

Notice To Model Railroaders

Just a reminder: This weekend the Wasatch Division of the National Model Railroading Association is having its annual show in the Grand Pavilion at the Utah State Fairgrounds.

The schedule:

Friday, November 4th: 5pm - 9pm
Saturday, November 5th: 9am - 6pm
Sunday, November 6th: 10am - 4pm

This is the biggest model train show in Utah, and the best to attend if you want to see what model railroading offers.

SPR: I Need A Name

Scratch-Pad Ramblings:
I Need A Name


Photo by Chuck Donaldson at Somewhere West
Part of the fun of freelancing is developing your own railroad.

Part of the hassle is making your railroad fit into the real world, in a satisfying way. (At least, satisfying for you.)

Lately I have been on a Western Pacific kick. The WP was an interesting railroad; built in the nineteen-oughts to allow George Gould's rail conglomerate to compete with the Harriman-owned Union Pacific and Southern Pacific empire, it spent much of its life hanging on by its fingernails. But the Wobbly was an underdog you could root for.

One of the WP's quirks is, at the time of its building, its charter prevented it from building any branch lines. It was to run from Salt Lake City to Oakland without any detours. This attitude would actually make sense in modern Western railroading, as much of modern freight traffic is just passing through, between ports of entry. But in 1910, the freight traffic was resource-based, and you had to get to the traffic in order to haul it.

By 1920, this prohibition had ended, but SP and a host of small railroads already had tracks where the WP wanted to go. So in true business fashion - if you can't beat 'em, and they're smaller than you, buy 'em. In this fashion, the Sacramento Northern and the Tidewater Southern were added to the WP letterhead.

One of the facinating aspects about these subsidiary roads is that they maintained an individual identity right up to Union Pacific Marger Day. Locomotives were painted in Western Pacific paint schemes but lettered for the subsidiary road.


Photo by Jim Munding at RailPictures.Net
Now, I'm not interested (at least not this week) in modelling the interior valleys of Northern California. I want the WP to run somewhere it actually didn't, and do so realistically.

So - I'll invent my own WP subsidiary. I'm not the first to come up with this, actually. Rob Spangler did it first, with his HO scale Northern Nevada running from Elko north to Twin Falls. (See the June 1997 Model Railroader for details.)

Actually, I'm thinking I'll invent two: the Salt Lake & Western (SL&W), an unmodelled terminal road serving the Salt Lake environs (as a tip of the hat to home), and... the other.

Therein lies the problem. I envision a branchline, either running between Westwood and Susanville, CA (and possibly on to Reno), or running from Reno to points south, Las Vegas and/or Mojave and a connection with the Santa Fe. So what do I call it?

Some ideas:

Sierra Nevada (I like the sound of it, but does it seem too similar to the Sacramento Northern, a real subsidiary?)
Nevada Western
Nevada Central
Sierra Mojave
Sierra Pacific (But there are already several companies by that name)
Sierra Eastern or Eastern Sierra
Lassen & Reno

I need something railroady, but realistic. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or preference. please leave me a comment. Thanks in advance.

For More Info:
The Tidewater Southern
Ken Rattenne's Website

SPR: The Hazards Of Videos

Scratch-Pad Ramblings:
The Hazards of Videos

I recently started watching Pentrex's The Joint Line. That probably wasn't the best idea.

Now, I'm hankering to run Rio Grande, BN, and ATSF trains, rather than the Pacific Northwest roads I mentioned below in the Layout Design Journal series. I've decided I'm simply weak and easily influenced.

Plus, there's also the WP factor - the Western Pacific factor. You see, the Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific were hometown roads, scrappy underdogs against the yellow might of the Union Pacific. (The Southern Pacific was pretty much a non-factor until the D&RGW-SP merger in the late '80s, as until then it only had a presence in Ogden, which was outside my range then. Even after the merger I didn't pay much attention to it - I was mad that they were absorbing the Grande. Some of the moves involved in that merger still don't make any sense to me, such as why did the Rio Grande have to be the road that disappeared? The Rio Grande bought the Southern Pacific.) Not that it matters now - both of those roads and the once-mighty Southern Pacific have faded into a yellow blur. I never saw the WP run - something I could only make up for by modelling it, or some version of it.

But back to my lack of willpower for a moment. My model railroad roster is a reflection of my lack of modelling discipline. I can put together at least one decent train for any of a number of railroads: WP, D&RGW, SP, UP, BN, NP, GN, MILW, CPR... That's not a boast. That's an admission of shame.

And I still have videos of Beaumont Hill and the Highline to watch....

LDJ, Part I (con.) - Model What Again?

Layout Design Journal, Part I, Continued

Model What Again?

Now that I've whined about the problem, now comes the fun part - solving it.

What grabs you about trains? The equipment? The railroad company? The scenery?

The sight of trains dwarfed by magnificent mountain scenery? Or the sight of a dirty switcher shoving a couple of boxcars down a gritty industrial alley?

If some asks you to imagine a train - what do you conjure?

Take a good long look at that image - that is a good start for thinking about your own model railroad.

Also, take full advantage of the modeling resources out there - they are a treasure trove of ideas. And those ideas can appear at any time. Some suggestions:

• Realistic Model Railroad Design, by Tony Koester. Mr. Koester is a name you will run into often, and for good reason. He could probably be considered the chief philosopher of model railroading. Not because of his ideas - but because of his ability to communicate them. He has rendered tacit much of what makes a model railroad seem like the real thing.
• Realistic Model Railroad Operation, by Tony Koester. If you know how and why the real thing operates, you can understand how to model it. And want to model it right.
• Track Planning for Realistic Operation, by John Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong is still known as "The Dean of Track Planning." This book will show you why, and its advice and methodology are extremely helpful when it comes down to building the railroad you can have - rather than the one you want, for which you need an acre-sized barn.
• Model Railroader magazine, and its annuals, Great Model Railroads and Model Railroad Planning.
• Especially Model Railroad Planning. It is devoted to articles by people who have just been where you and I now are.
• Railroad Model Craftsman - especially their issues that feature a "Railroad You Can Model" article.

And don't be afraid to change your mind. I'm not the best example of this, since I've allowed "analysis paralysis" to stymie me for three years now, but keep in mind that you are allowed to change your mind. It can be expensive, but there is nothing saying you have to model the same thing forever.

It's a hobby. Have fun with it. If you're not having fun anymore - change it.

All right - so what am I doing with it? You would have to ask.

Steve Eschom at RailroadForums.com
Imagine, if you will, a bustling Pacific Northwest seaport city. Its docks send off the grain, logs, lumber, and coal of the American West and Midwest overseas, and accepts the autos and containers of consumer goods from Asia. Such a bustling port needs a good strong link to the rest of the nation - and one such link will be my railroad.

Also imagine, the backroads leading out of that port, the farm towns and mill towns that raise the grain and cut and saw the timber. They need a link to the rest of the country - including that aforementioned seaport.

In addition, the Pacific Northwest has all these neat little branchlines and shortlines. Some connect mill towns to the mainlines. Others service industrial trackage in port cities. Some, like the Weyerhaeuser railroad pics shown here, are logging railroads. And some of those shortlines aren't that short, like the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad.

So - I'm going to to a little bit of all of it. I have narrowed my timeline down to Burlington Northern's days, running from the 1970s into the mid-1980s. I'm going to cheat on that a little, though; while they won't be part of every operating session, there will be double-stack container trains. And they will be run with cabooses, another part of that cheating. (By the time double-stack trains got really big, cabooses were a disappearing part of the past. They weren't gone, but they were pretty hard to find.)

BN and a yet-to-be-named free-lance regional railroad will be the big players. The disappearance of the Milwaukee Road from the PNW in 1980 left a lot of trackage without an operator. Rather than scrap it all, the state of Washington tried to keep it operating. Making a deal with BN, who decided they could use some extra capacity and a route around Seattle to their Cascade mainline at Everett via the old Milwaukee main from Tacoma to Snoqualmie and Milwaukee's Everett branch. (Yes, there is some gratuitous abuse of actual railroad history here. Work with me.) So, the regional operates the old Tacoma Eastern, with some trackage rights into Portland, the Milwaukee main from Tacoma to Cedar Falls, and the old Milwaukee Everett branch. BN is a major stockholder in this line, as is the State of Washington. Traffic is largely carload traffic (i.e. boxcars, tank cars, hoppers - rather than container trains). Some BN run-through trains operate as well.

Connecting at various points are a port industrial line, the Port of Undecided-City Terminal, and a logging line, the McPherson Timber Company.

Chief inspiration for this delusion, er, vision? Ken Gentili's Puget Sound Southern from the January 1995 Model Railroader.

Now, I start trying to figure out how to pull this off.


Steve Eschom at RailroadForums.com

LDJ, Part I: What to Model?

Layout Design Journal, Part I
What do I do now?

If your interest survives your first train set, eventually there comes a point where you want to take it to the next level.

The question then becomes, how do I get there?

If you're anything like me, that can be a really tough question. We live in a golden age for hobbies. There are more high-quality products in more scales than ever before. Prices have climbed some than they were ten years ago - but what you're buying is better, too. The paint and detail on an Athearn SD40-2 is worth the doubling in price, at least to my mind. In the end, it comes down to a couple of simple things: you get what you pay for, and quality is better than quantity.

Not that you would learn that from me. I'm a rolling-stock hog. My current state of living has allowed me to spend a lot of money on cars and locomotives "that I've always wanted," and far more than I should have. And I have no desire to part with any of it. Even though I really have no need of two Atlas Rio Grande GP7s (or do I?).

For there is the rub. I want all this stuff, but I don't do anything with it. I'm suffering from a self-inflicted dose of analysis paralysis. So many things I could/want to do! For example:

• Burlington Northern in the Pacific Northwest - mainline railroading in spectaular scenery.
• Milwaukee Road, in same.
• Northern Pacific (BN predecessor) in same, and in either the steam era, the early diesel era, or right before (or right after) the 1970 merger that created BN.
• Southern Pacific in Oregon. SD45's on the main and SD9's on the branchlines. You can model a gillion* trees or not, depending on where in the Willamette Valley you set the scene.
• Union Pacific over the Blue Mountains of Oregon and through the Columbia River Gorge. This could be fun in either steam or diesel, set in the 1940s/1950s or in the 1970s/1980s.
• Branchlines! Of the BN, MILW, or the SP, in Oregon, Washington or Idaho. You won't see any big trains here, except for mine trains. (Usually.**)
• D&RGW branchlines in Utah. Two really good ideas here: the D&RGW line west from Provo to Eureka, or the line south from Thistle to Marysvale. Both lasted into the 1980s.
• Shortlines, little railroads that connect a few shippers
• Freelancing. Make up your own railroad! Take it anywhere you want, anytime you want, using anything you want! ***
• Proto-freelancing. A combination of freelancing and real railroads, modeled together. An example would be modeling a city where your railroad interchanges with models of a real railroad.

So many options! How do you decide?

If the truth is to be told, I have to admit: I still don't completely know. They all still look pretty good.

I do know this, though: I want to run trains, my own trains, and soon. If I'm going to do that, I have toi start making some decisions.

*gillion - geek slang for "a lot."

**A well-known model-railroading axiom - "There is a prototype for everything." In other words, you can find almost anything somewhere on some real railroad. Whether that would be fun to model or not is a whole other question.

***Freelancing can be a lot of fun - or it can drive you nuts. It all depends on what you want your railroad to be, how detail-minded you are, and how anal-retentive you are.

Layout Design Journal

A multi-part series where I will explain my thinking and share my opinions on turning a model railroad from an idea to an operating entity.

Yeah, this is going to take a while.

Layout Design Journal, Part I: What to Model?

Layout Design Journal, Part I (con.): Model What Again?

Layout Design Journal, Part II: Surveying the Route

Scratch-Pad Ramblings

This is the index page for my Sketchpad Ramblings series.

The Hazards of Videos (October 3, 2005)
I Need a Name (October 11,2005)

Lurching South - The Saga of the Nevada Western (January 19,2006)

Track Plan Ideas

This is the index page for my track plan sketches.

Yeah, there's nothing to see here yet. That will change.

Re-Invigorating

I am relaunching the Pacific Slope Extension, and adding to its scope model railroading.

I have dabbled in model railroading for over twenty years now - since I was six, technically.

Unfortunately, my accomplishments have never quite met my aspirations. I have yet to physically build a layout that is more than a small loop on a sheet of plywood - chiefly because I hadn't made the effort to.

Like many model railroaders, I have hopelessly grand schemes for model railroads that shatter when exposed to the harsh light of reality.

But that is about to change. I have a concept for a model railroad that I believe is doable, now.

So in the next few weeks, I'm going to start posting up here my layout rationale, starting with what I want to portray. Basically, I'm going to use this weblog as an open journal, to record my thoughts and ideas as they happen. Things will evolve and change over time, and I will track those changes here as well.

History-oriented posts will now be found on The Pacific Slope, co-mingling with my political essays and rants. But railroad-related items will continue here, as they strike my fancy.

The goal is a post a week, minimum. Hopefully more.

Thanks for looking around, and I hope you enjoy the trip.

1000 Miles Too Far (Reprise)

The Late, Great Milwaukee Road
And Its Pacific Coast Extension



In the darkness of early March 15, 1980, the last train of the Milwaukee Road left Tacoma yard and headed east. The dream of the Pacific Coast Extension was dead.

The Milwaukee Road was a successful granger line earning a profit hauling grain from the Upper Midwest to market. The joint ownership of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads by rail magnate James Hill denies the Milwauke Road any share of the traffic from the booming Pacific Northwest. To prevent itself from becoming trapped in the Midwest, the Milwaukee Road built the Pacific Coast Extension in the early 1900's, and set about making itself into a Chicago-Seattle transcontinental.

Map.

The Road spared no expense. It had the best-engineered line in the West, taking full advantage of the best steel and concrete technology to vault the ravines and coulees and the most of modern machinery to lay the mountains low. And then it really took a bold step - the Milwaukee electrified two major lengths of its line (Harlowton, Montana to Avery, Idaho; and Othello, Washington to Tacoma, Washington), the only Western mainline railroad to do so. Electric locomotives, more powerful and easier to maintain than the steam locomotives of the age, would haul the freight trains of the Milwaukee.

And in so doing, they bankrupted themselves. Though it would know a few brief periods of success, the Milwaukee Road would spend the rest of its life near or in bankruptcy. When the third bankrputcy came in the 1970's, the Milwaukee management decided to leave the West, and in 1980 abandoned everything west of Miles City, Montana.



Keith Anderson Collection.

And that is why the story of the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extension is worth telling. Despite the sacrifices of seventy years of employees battling Nature and five mountain ranges, the Milwaukee failed. Inept management, corrupt management, and the Hill Lines proved too much to overcome. The lives and money spent building the line, and the blood, sweat and tears spent keeping the line open, was for nothing.

The Milwaukee Road became the only transcontinental railroad ever abandoned.

You can still see the bones of the Pacific Coast Extension. The grade parallels I-90 between Butte and Missoula, Montana. You can see the line again from I-90 crossing Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, its giant steel viaducts visible to the south as you race towards Issaquah. The loop grade up to St. Paul Pass in Idaho is a Forest Service trail, bridges, tunnels, and all. The great bridge over the Columbia River at Beverly, Washington still stands. But the tracks are gone.

In the last decade, the Milwaukee Road's senior management did its best to forget the Pacific Coast Extension. No money for maintenance, no interest in revitalizing its transcontinental route, no desire to make the best route over the Cascade mountains make money. It gave up and hid. Milwaukee's management demanded great sacrifices from its employees, and then abandoned them, in the largest railroad abandonment in American history.

And in the darkness of early morning, March 15, 1980, the Milwaukee Road slipped out of the Northwest, never to return.

For more:
Milwaukee Road Historical Association
Helmut's Lines West Page
Milwaukee Road Online

I Wish I'd Been In Oregon

Picture by Steve Shom, posted at Railroad Forums.

What a great picture. Here, the 700 is making hers way back to Portland from an excursion trip in Salem, crossing the bridge over the Willamette River near Lake Oswego.

WIllamette River Bridge

Willamette River Bridge

Willamette River Bridge
Originally uploaded by Tyler-PacificSlope.

How about some bridge action? Here's a look at the Willamette River Bridge.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

May 10, 1869

What was it that the Engines said,Pilots touching, head to head,Facing on a single track,Half a world behind each back?- Bret Harte

On this date, one hundred and thirty-six years ago, America's greatest engineering feat to date was finished. This feat meant the nation would flower, as at long last East was linked to West.

They would never look back.

The Province's Great Enterprise

In 1912, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway was formed to connect the remote interior of British Columbia with the port city of Vancouver, opening up the resources of the interior for trade and development. The death of its guiding visionary, Issac Hays, on the Titanic in 1912 and the financial difficulties posed by World War One (capital being hard to find for nonessential ventures) drove the company into bankruptcy by 1918.

The Province of British Columbia, seeing a need to open up the interior and provide better transportation, purchased the company in 1918. The railroad has been a Crown Corporation of the British Columbia ever since.



The change in ownership did not mean a change in pace; the railroad would have to wait through the Great Depression and the Second World War before being completed to Prince George in 1952, and finally linked to Vancouver in 1956. By then, diesel locomotives were becoming the mainstay of PGE's motive power fleet, and its passenger trains would soon be replaced by the legendary Budd Cars. In 1972, the railway would change its name from the Pacific Great Eastern to the British Columbia Railway.

In 1974, the province decided to go into the tourism business, running an excursion train from Vancouver to Squamish. To pull the train, they found the 2860, a former Canadian Pacific steam engine that had avoided the scrapyard only to be hung up in museum limbo. The province purchased the locomotive and started up the excursions, and the 2860 became the only steam locomotive in regular daily service in North America.

The locomotive was a source of pride both to the railroaders and the community, as the operation was truly unique. As long as it was in service, the locomotive never looked anything less than gleaming, and the excursion service was very successful.

But it would not last. To be continued...

For further reading:

The PGE/BCR Special Interest Group
Wikipedia
The Exploration Place
Canadian National

BC Rail Splendor

Above, BC Rail Budd Cars at Mons, BC. Picture by Brian Ambrose at PNWR.
Below, BCR helpers at Nairn Falls, BC. Picture by Nathan Holmes at DRGW.NET.

Empire Builder Derails in Columbia Gorge

The Portland section of Amtrak's Empire Builder derailed near Home Valley, Washington in the Columbia River Gorge, at 9:30 AM PDT yesterday morning. Home Valley is about forty miles east of Vancouver, WA.


Photo from Excite News/Associated Press.

115 passengers were aboard. One was airlifted to a Portland hospital, one was admitted to the hospital in nearby Hood River, Oregon, and 24 more were treated and released.

There was heavy damage to the track, but Amtrak expects to have passenger operations back to normal by tomorrow.

The Power and Glory

Now don't get me wrong. I like living in the time and place I do. I'm thankful I do not have to drag all I own across the Plains in a wooden box on wheels dragged by a steam of stubborn oxen. I am thankful to live in a time where I had a better than 50% chance of surviving childhood, and to live in a golden age of relative peace and prosperity. But...



But there are times & places I would like to visit, just for a little while...





Just a little while. Please?

Pictures from Steve Thompson, Otto Perry Collection at Denver Public Library, and Catskills Archive.
Crossposted at the Pacific Slope Extension.

1000 Miles Too Far

The Late, Great Milwaukee Road
And Its Pacific Coast Extension



In the darkness of early March 15, 1980, the last train of the Milwaukee Road left Tacoma yard and headed east. The dream of the Pacific Coast Extension was dead.

The Milwaukee Road was a successful granger line earning a profit hauling grain from the Upper Midwest to market. The joint ownership of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads by rail magnate James Hill denies the Milwauke Road any share of the traffic from the booming Pacific Northwest. To prevent itself from becoming trapped in the Midwest, the Milwaukee Road built the Pacific Coast Extension in the early 1900's, and set about making itself into a Chicago-Seattle transcontinental.

Map.

The Road spared no expense. It had the best-engineered line in the West, taking full advantage of the best steel and concrete technology to vault the ravines and coulees and the most of modern machinery to lay the mountains low. And then it really took a bold step - the Milwaukee electrified two major lengths of its line (Harlowton, Montana to Avery, Idaho; and Othello, Washington to Tacoma, Washington), the only Western mainline railroad to do so. Electric locomotives, more powerful and easier to maintain than the steam locomotives of the age, would haul the freight trains of the Milwaukee.

And in so doing, they bankrupted themselves. Though it would know a few brief periods of success, the Milwaukee Road would spend the rest of its life near or in bankruptcy. When the third bankrputcy came in the 1970's, the Milwaukee management decided to leave the West, and in 1980 abandoned everything west of Miles City, Montana.



Keith Anderson Collection.

And that is why the story of the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extension is worth telling. Despite the sacrifices of seventy years of employees battling Nature and five mountain ranges, the Milwaukee failed. Inept management, corrupt management, and the Hill Lines proved too much to overcome. The lives and money spent building the line, and the blood, sweat and tears spent keeping the line open, was for nothing.

The Milwaukee Road became the only transcontinental railroad ever abandoned.

You can still see the bones of the Pacific Coast Extension. The grade parallels I-90 between Butte and Missoula, Montana. You can see the line again from I-90 crossing Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, its giant steel viaducts visible to the south as you race towards Issaquah. The loop grade up to St. Paul Pass in Idaho is a Forest Service trail, bridges, tunnels, and all. The great bridge over the Columbia River at Beverly, Washington still stands. But the tracks are gone.

In the last decade, the Milwaukee Road's senior management did its best to forget the Pacific Coast Extension. No money for maintenance, no interest in revitalizing its transcontinental route, no desire to make the best route over the Cascade mountains make money. It gave up and hid. Milwaukee's management demanded great sacrifices from its employees, and then abandoned them, in the largest railroad abandonment in American history.

And in the darkness of early morning, March 15, 1980, the Milwaukee Road slipped out of the Northwest, never to return.

For more:
Milwaukee Road Historical Association
Helmut's Lines West Page
Milwaukee Road Online