Spent yesterday afternoon, Valentines Day 2010 between Easton and Cabin Creek with the idea of checking out ex-NP’s Bridge 40 at Cabin Creek as some questions about it had been raised on the NP Yahoo list group.

As it had been raining most of the Sunday morning I decided to wait until 11:00 AM to start east from home.  Snoqualmie Pass was dry and not much snow until almost at the Summit.  Plenty of snow on the ski runs.  Then on down towards Easton where I took Exit 71 and drove across the tracks.  Not much was going on as far as BNSF was concerned.  The line still sees trains but they seem to run after dark now.  I continued up Cabin Creek Road a few miles as a light rain started falling and turned onto Monahan Rd and parked before the private grade crossing.  Most any other year this would not have been possible as this area is usually under FEET of snow in February!  I got out the bike and crossed the tracks turning left onto the old Milwaukee Road ROW which is now the John Wayne Pioneer Trail.  It was a short ride to the Milwaukee’s Bridge FF-20 over Cabin Creek where there is a nice look down view of the BNSF ex-NP bridge over the same creek.  It was wet (and rather muddy) but I did get some decent photos. These are all from the north side of the NP from the Milwaukee bridge.

A wide angle view to get the whole bridge in.

The east end is on the left and this looks like an original NP span. There was a plaque on it with a date of 1921.

The newer concrete span on the right is the west end span. With a date on it of 1996 this would make it a replacement BNSF span installed during the rebuilding of the line in the mid-1990’s.

And here is a photo of the center pier which appears to be the original.  Looks like BNSF built up their new span on it with concrete slabs.

I also got a good look at the Milwaukee bridge I took these photos from down on the creek bed and just loved the old concrete arched bridge. I’m amazed the Milwaukee built this work of art out in the middle of nowhere!  When the Milwaukee was still around before 1980 this was Bridge FF-20.

I then went back to the truck and drove to Cle Elum to get some food.  Heading home I made a quick stop at Easton to check things out.  Still no trains.  But the sun was poking out so I saw the chance to get some actual sunlit photos!  Been kind of hard to do this time of year.

Looking east from the grade crossing.

Here is looking west towards the Cascades.

It appears that the jointed rail on the Yakima Valley Sub is slowly starting to get replaced by ribbon rail.  Luckily there is plenty of jointed rail on the Stampede Sub like this section on the main line near the grade crossing.

I then headed back over to I-90 and started west for home.  No trains but still a productive day.

Trains are crossing Stampede again!  Problems on the coast line between Seattle and Everett was causing a huge backup so the decision has been made to start sending trains over Stampede.  A great thread on the reopening can be found here on Railroad Forums.

http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31433

Saturday 1-23-10 I crossed Snoqualmie Pass headed for Warden near Moses Lake to get a tour of the former Milwaukee Road depot that is now the towns museum and is rarely open to the public as there is no one to man the building on a regular basis.

It was snowing right at the summit of Snoqualmie but just overcast at Easton with a few inches of snow on the ground.  On the scanner I could hear MOW over at Lester working between switches.  A highrailer was heading west from Cle Elum towards Easton calling out mileposts along the way.  Not much else was happening at Easton but before leaving I photographed this snow dozer that had been brought over from Auburn.  It is also mentioned in the Railroad Forums thread.

It was cloudy all the way past Ellensburg so I stayed on I-90 and did not know that the first eastbound grain empty that crossed the pass last night was still at Ellensburg tied up on the main. 

Heading home later that afternoon the sun was out but low in the sky as I stayed on I-90 by Ellensburg.  But then I saw the brown grain cars stretched out and at first thought an empty grain train had arrived while I was gone.  I quickly got off I-90 and drove up to the head end.  The three units, BNSF 5501/4775/4479 were all dead but I still took a few photos.

Then I got back on I-90 and continued for home.  It was later that I learned the train I photographed was the one from last night.  From that thread on RR Forums it sound like BNSF will soon be running the westbound M-PASINB2 in the afternoon out of Pasco again towards Ellensburg.  That will make it kind of late on the Stampede Sub for good photos though.  But great for the Yakima Valley Sub!

I might not have been at Easton 11-21-69 for the previous update but I just discovered I was at Easton the following year on 11-21-70, eight months after the BN merger took place.  Except for the notes I took and what I read from bookets I have from the Easton depot I don’t remember that much about the day.  As I was 15 at the time I am guessing my dad drove us over.

It was a clear and sunny Saturday 11-21-70.  We first stopped at North Bend where I noted BN lettered GP9 1871 and NP caboose 10305.  Then it was on to Easton.  The weather book showed Easton had snow falling up to 06:00 when it stopped and cleared up after noon.  It was 20 degrees at 4:00 PM with 2″ of snow on the ground.  Makes me wonder how Snoqualmie Pass was when we drove over from Renton.  We must have arrived after 2:00 PM as #25 was by at 1:58 PM before we showed up, quite a few hours late!    

We did see a following westbound BN freight with NP 6008D/1632/1631/734/1630/1923/NP 226  (F7A/2 GP7/F7A/GP7/2 GP9) which stopped at 3:22 PM.  All were still in NP colors but the 1630 which was in BN green.  The train left at 3:42Pm and bringing up the rear was NP caboose 10900.

#26 was by at 4:58 PM with F-units 9822/9771/9763 leading.  F9A 9822 was noted wearing BN paint.

Here is the page from the OS booklet showing all the trains BN ran on 11-21-70. 

We must have left after train #26 was by as I did not see the BN 5650 East a few hours later at 7:05 PM. 

I am guessing the sun might have been out at 3:22 PM when the NP 6008D came west, or it may have already been behind the mountains by that time.  Still would have been a nice lashup to have photographed!  Fun to picture in my mind at least.

As there has been no activity over Stampede Pass with possibly the exception of work trains since it was shut down due to the economy I thought I would look back to this day in 1969 to see what trains NP was running 40 years ago.  Here is a page from the Station Record of Train Movements book at Easton for Friday 11-21-69 showing the trains that were “OS’d” that day.

At least there was one eastbound train in daylight hours as SD45 3612 went through Easton at 10:24AM.  With a count of 12 trains, 6 east and 6 west at least it seemed to be pretty busy.  NP U33C 3302 caught my eye as it was westbound after 6:00 PM. 

After the BN merger this unit was given the number 5717 and I recently had a photo of it printed up taken in Seattle 6-1-77.  Oddly enough the ex-NP U33C is not on the BN but was pooled into Seattle on the Union Pacific.  I recall seeing many ex-NP U33C’s and SD45’s come into Seattle on the UP in the late 1970’s.

You can’t tell by looking at it but that is still the NP 3302 under all that green paint!  There is also an entry I am curious about.  At 3:40 PM the PD35 went by westbound.  I have no idea of what the PD35 is.  If I find out later I will update this post.

And lastly I checked out the Easton weather book for November 21, 1969 and see it was a cloudy day with a noon time temperature of 40.  There was no snow on the ground.  Still it would have been fun to have just been there to watch the NP action.

On Friday morning 9-25-09 I was headed to Western Montana and got a late start. After stopping for supplies at Cle Elum I headed towards I-90 and was surprised to see the BNSF 4165 sitting east of the grade crossing! I knew right away it was the loaded grain train that was up here yesterday! The testing continues!  I parked just as the engineer gave a few toots and off they went headed west towards Stampede Pass just about 11:30 AM. Talk about good timing.

Leading was the BNSF 4165/5504/4948 and they are just starting to dig in here as the throttle is opened up.

As the C44-9W’s pass by they are putting on a great sound show.

Back in the train I can see a pair of DPU’s approaching so I set up for the 5388/1112 and get a back shot after they are by.  Note that the 5388 is still a “peach”.

The train is really picking up speed and is moving at a good clip when the rear DPU’s 1066/9318/5523 go by.

It was a fantastic show and a great way to start my Montana trip!  Talk about starting out on a positive note!

Wednesday 9-16-09 was a dark day for fans of Stampede Pass railroading.  BNSF mothballed the line due to low traffic levels.  It looked pretty bleak.

Then on Monday 9-21-09 BNSF ran a U-SEAPAS over Stampede to Pasco but this turned out to be the track geometry train with BNSF 4083 leading the 2 cars.  Stampede was not quite dead yet.

BNSF surprised everyone with a loaded grain train out of Pasco to Ellensburg on 9-23-09!  It turned out to be the G-CSNINB9-20 with BNSF 4165/5504/4948/5383/1112 on the headend, and BNSF 1066/9318/5523 DPU on the rear. With a total of 108 loads, 15445 tons and 35100 HP.  The train was a test of EMTS (electronic maintenance of train separation) and was noted heading west across Stampede Pass Thursday 9-24-09.

I’d say they may be hope on the horizon for Stampede Pass yet!

Late this morning 8-8-09 I took a drive over Snoqualmie Pass on my way to Ellensburg and possibly head down to Toppenish to photograph the depots. (and check out the brick platforms)

On the way out I stopped at Easton and while I did not see any trains all day I looked over my Easton OS books and decided it would be fun to compare this day in 1969 against 1970 as that was the last year of the NP and first of the BN.  First, here is the page from August 8, 1969 which was a Friday.

Actually looked like a pretty busy day with 6 westbound movements and 8 eastbounds.  First thing I noticed was all those SD45’s leading, 5 of the 30 SD45’s through Easton this date.  Rounding out the numbers were two U25C’s and one GP9.  The four passenger trains and the B96.

Now compare with Saturday August 8, 1970.

Only one SD45 and it is new BN built 6481.  It does have an NP connection however.  It was ordered by the NP as the 3639 but delivered after the BN merger July 1970 as the BN 6481 so it was less than a month old on this westbound trip through Easton.  So if the merger had not happened this might have been the 3639 West. 

I photographed the BN 6481 once myself but it was in pretty shabby shape compared to how it probably looked August 8, 1970.  BN 6481 in Seattle 8-6-79.

Back to August 8, 1970.  Not as many trains but still better than what I was seeing today.  6 westbounds and 5 eastbound.  Still 4 passenger trains, a GP9 led local (BN 1882) and besides the SD45, five U-boat led trains.  Of them, the 5613, 5628 are former NP U25C’s 2513 and 2528 and the BN 5673 is ex-NP U28C 2807.

The other two U-boats that day (5701 and 5713) are former Great Northern U33C’s.  More trains in 1969 but more variety in 1970.

Here is some followup information to the recent “Where the NP Survives” for the NP building at Auburn and the old depot at Kanaskat.

There is a lot of discussion about the building which was an NP stores built in 1913 in this Trainorders thread.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1964855

And from the NP Telltale are these two threads of information thanks to Dave and John.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/NPTellTale/message/27070

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/NPTellTale/message/27082

Nice to have this new information!

On Saturday June 27, 2009 I did a bit of exploring between Auburn and Palmer Jct, WA on the western foothills of Stampede Pass.  Starting at Auburn around 08:40 I first photographed this old brick building in the yard.  As far as I can tell it is the only surviving NP built structure left at Auburn after the yard was closed in 1983.

I then drove out Highway 18 to the SE Auburn-Black Diamond Rd and parked near the two bridges at MP 100.  The sun angle was not that good for photos of the larger bridge over the Green River but I did photograph the smaller one at MP 100.2 just west of it.  Heading east out of Auburn this is the first RCT bridge of many all the way to Northtown Yard in Minnesota.  Actually, I will have to do some investigating to see how far east NP installed their RCT bridges as I don’t ever recall seeing any in Minnesota now that I think about it.  Other technical info shows this 2 RCT (reinforced concrete trestle) was built in 1912, is 61′ long and 13′ high from the top of the tie to the ground.  It has seen a lot of use judging from the wear it shows.

Then it was back to Highway 18 eastbound and from Covington I took 516 out past Ravensdale and on to Kanaskat.  Shortly after crossing the tracks I noticed an old NP depot in a field beside the road.  I had never photographed it before and the light on it was good so I took a few photos.

Funny how it outlasted the brick depot that was actually built to replace it!  Then I continued up to the grade crossing just east of Bridge 81 located between Kanaskat and Palmer Jct.  It is the 6th crossing of the Green River between Lester and Auburn.  I noticed the bridge here was very backlit but I took a few photos of it anyway.  Later in the morning would be better for photographs.  The NP Pocket Bridge List gives a construction date of 1958.  It is 570′ long and 130′ high. 

This bridge also crossed a Milwaukee Road branch line at one time.  The Milwaukee bridge was removed many years ago.  The former NP bridge high above the Green River is very similar in appearance to another former NP bridge west of Trout Creek, MT on the MRL.  Both were built just a year apart in fact.  After photographing an eastbound BNSF train crossing Br 81 I drove back to Auburn to check on the sun angle at MP 100 again.  It was much better now so I took a few photographs here before heading into town for lunch at Herfys.

Br 100.0 is the seventh and final crossing of the Green River.  It appears to have been built in 1900 with some upgrading done on it in 1919.  It is 282′ long and 31′ high.  There is a photo of this bridge in the Charles Woods book Northern Pacific on page 102 showing the westbound North Coast Limited in the Pine Tree scheme taken by Jim Frederickson.  The bridge looks pretty much the same now as it did then but the surrounding area certainly has seen changes.  The addition of the Highway 18 bridge in the background is no doubt the most obvious.

I noticed there was a trail under the Auburn-Black Diamond bridge I took the photo from that led towards the tracks so I decided to investigate before leaving.  The trail starts at a parking lot on the other side of the roadway.  I parked there and walked over to the NP bridge.  It was a very easy walk and not a bad photo of the bridge either.

Then it was back to the car and into Auburn for some lunch.  A very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning!

Saturday morning 6-27-09 was bright and sunny.  I planned to stay close to home this weekend but wanted to get out and do something too.  So I left the house around 08:00 and headed down to Auburn to do a bit of exploring between there and Palmer Jct.  I had not been out to the Green River Bridge at Palmer Jct since 2003!

At Auburn I saw two trains in the yard both facing north.  Soon I heard one tone up Centralia North dispatcher and say they were ready to leave Auburn and head north to Seattle.  That was the M-VAWEVE.  The other train had the 6614 in the lead but no crew as far as I could tell.  I then headed out past East Auburn and took some photos of the two bridges at MP 100.  I then got on Highway 18 getting off at Covington and drove out on SE 272nd (Hwy 516) towards Ravensdale.  There seemed to be a lot more untimed traffic lights going this way then I remembered from before!  Once I got to Ravensdale I checked out the tracks and was surprised there were no stored baretable cars here!  The siding was actually empty.  I left and continued on past Lake Retreat and was soon on the overpass crossing the tracks at Kanaskat siding.  As I made my way towards the large bridge crossing the Green River I noticed the old depot beside the road out in the open.  I had never photographed it so I made a quick stop for a few pics and continued on to Palmer Jct.  The sun angle for eastbounds was pretty bad.  Any train would be very backlit.  Nice for a westbound though.

So I relaxed in the truck and did some reading.  Then I heard the 6614 back at Auburn doing some switching.  I continued to listen and about 10:00 heard the 6614 empty grain train tell the Centralia North they had a warrant and were ready to head east.  Stampede bound!  The shot here would be bad but I knew the sun angle at Ravensdale was good so I drove west and waited at the Ravensdale grade crossing for a bit.  The photo was actually kind of dull.  Standard 3/4 angle with nothing really standing out.  So I headed back to Kanaskat with the idea to shoot from the overpass.  However the sun angle was gone, straight nose on light so it was back to Palmer Jct.  Parking I heard the MP 91 detector go off telling me the train was nearing Ravensdale now.

The sun had come around enough here so the nose would be half lit.  Better than in the shadows.  Another railfan showed up named Ed with camera in hand.  We talked a bit and could hear the train approaching.  It blew for the grade crossing west of the bridge first and came around the curve out onto the bridge and then towards the crossing we were at.

The train raced by with 6614/6615/6623/6620 for power.  The train then passed and Ed and I said goodbye and I headed back to Auburn.  I considered heading over to Easton for more photos of the 4 6600’s, (the numbers had me thinking of 4 BN F45’s!) but it was almost 11:00 now and it would be at Easton around 12:30 to 13:00 I figured.  It would be a very poor sun angle.  I was happy with the one shot I did get and enjoyed my morning on the west side of the Stampede Sub.