This photo has been in my possession for many years and would like some input to help identify the image. The person I bought it from obtained it from a Seattle estate. That is all the information I have. The print was made very long ago and is printed on thin paper. I will refrain giving any of my thoughts, so as not to influence yours. Thank you to any or everyone that responds. Kevin
That is a tough one. Logging railroads usually did not go wirh the expense to build tunnels. However the locomotive and cars, look to me, to be typical of logging operations.
Check with the University of Washington photo archives. They have one of the world's largest B/W photo collection of logging, mining, tunneling and bridge building photos. To me this looks like the Stampede Pass area. Just a guess. Jim
This looks very similar to the Gold Mining Train picture that my wife took when we lived in California up by Sonora.
It was very common to use small gauged locomotives in tunnel construction. They were easier to work around when mucking out and didn't fill the space as badly with their exhausts. Such power was also used in other non-tunnel track construction. It definitely has a flavor of the Washington Cascades. GN, NP and MILW all had tunnels up there. The MILW definitely used little narrow gauge steamers and small dump cars. It is definitely not the west portal of their Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel.
I agree. This may MAY be the Everett-Monte Cristo RR terminus at the town of Monte Cristo. IIRC, and it's been a few years since I've been up there, the scene in the pic looks familiar to that area. The NP finally abandoned this line in the '30's if I'm not mistaken. The Town of Monte Cristo is now a ghost town and is a short hike from a FS trail head along the Mountain Loop Highway in WA state. Someone did a neat job of modeling part of the RR http://www.theinsidegateway.com/Dedrick Voss Everett & Monte Cristo.htm
I am thinking it could possibly be the original Cascade tunnel. Or maybe even tunnel 4 on Stampede Pass.
Keep in mind, just because the person was from Seattle does not mean the photo had to be taken near there or even in Washington. Think of all the photos we Railfans take when on trips that would be part of our estates some day...
Perhaps, but the Wiki site has a rock faced/lined cut and a steeper hillside above. The photo in question has a dirt cut.
Original poster here after a long absence from this site, for really no good reason. I searched quite awhile trying to definitively locate this scene and an early Milwaukee construction photo revealed that the image in question was captured at Taft, Montana. The archived image was taken from a greater distance but did contain details that are in the image I posted here. The photo I found is saved somewhere on a backup drive that I will post here when I get some time this winter. It is somewhat of a hobby mine trying to identify old photos to help preserve a little bit of history. Will post at some time in the future a set of boxcabs resting in a siding that needs to be identified. Thank you for all the response to this post.
Sure looks just like the west portal of the Milwaukee Road tunnel at Roland, Idaho. "St. Paul Pass" Tunnel.
Yes, you are correct the west portal. I got myself confused using the original name of Taft Tunnel named after the boomtown of Taft neart the east portal.
More officially it was Tunnel Number 20, St. Paul Pass Tunnel. However, in early years and as a localism, it was the "Taft Tunnel".
Thank you BoxcabE50, I added tunnel #20 to the back of the photo, at least it is fully identified now. Note the image number 19 on the print. Sure would like to have the rest of the set.
Yes, that would be more than nice. Really miss the Milwaukee, spent a lot of time around the railroad growing up near Renton, Wa. One of the oldest memories is the day my dad took the family to Renton to see the final eastbound Hiawatha. There was a pretty big crowd for the event. My lucky older brother was fortunate enough to ride the Hiawatha to Chicago in a sleeper with my mother. He distinctly remembered the changing of locomotives and riding in the sky top lounge. Mother told me years later that he hardly slept, just looked out the windows day and night. He was young but always keenly observant.
My family moved to Renton in '81, just missed it all....only the remains. Now in Kent, I always look down the UP, and imagine the Milwaukee rolling thru the valley.
