March 23, 1980
Reporting from Harlowton, Montana
Showing posts with label MILW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MILW. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
After the Milwaukee Road - Harlowton, Montana
NBC News
March 23, 1980
Reporting from Harlowton, Montana
March 23, 1980
Reporting from Harlowton, Montana
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Thirty Years Gone
Thirty years ago this week, the Milwaukee Road abandoned its Pacific Coast Extension and limped home from the West, the last train crawling out of Tacoma early in the morning of March 15, 1980. Service actually ended on March 7th, with a few employees retained to salvage what they could and load it on boxcars bound for the shops in Milwaukee.
The transcontinental no one knew was gone.
I never knew it, but I wish I had.
Friday, August 04, 2006
The Milwaukee Road Lives!
Well, at least their switchstands still do. Photo taken at the Ione, WA depot.
This is the terminal for the Pend O'Reille Valley's excursion trains.
This is the terminal for the Pend O'Reille Valley's excursion trains.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Nightmare At Custer Creek
The Billings Gazette remembered the worst train wreck in Montana's history this week.
On the night of June 19, 1938, the Milwaukee Road's crack Olympian (its first-class Chicago-Seattle/Tacoma passenger train) was running westward through eastern Montana, along the Yellowstone River. Unbeknownst to anyone on the railroad, a thunderstorm unleashed a flash flood down Custer Creek, a minor tributary the Milwaukee crossed.
The flash flood came fast and sudden, washing out the foundations of the bridge which had been inspected not a half-hour before. The train started crossing the bridge, causing its collapse; the momentum of the locomotive carried it to the other bank, but it also dragged two sleeper cars into the flood-swollen creek.
Before the waters receded, they took 48 lives. For a railroad that had prided itself on a great safety record, especially where passengers were involved, the tragedy was unthinkable.
If you wanted to visit the site today, you could, but there won't be much to see. The bridge was rebuilt, and the name of the place changed. The Milwaukee Road doesn't even exist anymore; it retreated from the west in 1980.
On the night of June 19, 1938, the Milwaukee Road's crack Olympian (its first-class Chicago-Seattle/Tacoma passenger train) was running westward through eastern Montana, along the Yellowstone River. Unbeknownst to anyone on the railroad, a thunderstorm unleashed a flash flood down Custer Creek, a minor tributary the Milwaukee crossed.
The flash flood came fast and sudden, washing out the foundations of the bridge which had been inspected not a half-hour before. The train started crossing the bridge, causing its collapse; the momentum of the locomotive carried it to the other bank, but it also dragged two sleeper cars into the flood-swollen creek.
Before the waters receded, they took 48 lives. For a railroad that had prided itself on a great safety record, especially where passengers were involved, the tragedy was unthinkable.
If you wanted to visit the site today, you could, but there won't be much to see. The bridge was rebuilt, and the name of the place changed. The Milwaukee Road doesn't even exist anymore; it retreated from the west in 1980.
Friday, August 26, 2005
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
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
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
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
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
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