Good Afternoon, Continuing on from my previously posted lists of Milwaukee Road, Great Northern and Northern Pacific depots, the following is a list of the surviving passenger and combination depots used by the Union Pacific Railroad and its subsidiaries in Washington State. My main resources have been the information that rrshs.org maintains, information provided by various members of the railfan community online, Washington State Railroad Depots by Clive and Ann Carter, and various County Assessor websites. Depots I've confirmed in person are marked with a *. All others have been positively identified using Google Earth, I can provide the .kml file if you PM me. This list is only complete to the best of my knowledge. I appreciate any information that can be used to correct my information or add additional depots I have omitted. Built by UP: Moscow Branch Pullman - 2nd Depot, built 1938 - On site, Sterling Bank Spokane-Portland Main Line Wallula - 2nd Depot, built c.1954 - On site, In use by UP Built by OWR&N: Seattle-Portland Main Line Seattle* - 1st Depot, built 1911 - On site, Sound Transit offices Olympia Branch Olympia - 1st Depot, built 1916 - On site, Largely modified, Olympic Outfitters store Original Main Line Dishman - 2nd Depot, built 1916 - On site, Produce stand Yakima Branch Hedges - 1st Depot, built 1912 - Moved south to Finley, Residence Yakima* - 2nd Depot, built 1927 - On site, Washington ESD 105 offices Pomeroy Branch Pomeroy - 2nd Depot, built 1911 - On site, Office building Built by OR&N: Original Main Line Diamond - 1st Depot, built 1901 - Moved north along tracks, Storage Colfax - 2nd Depot, built 1904 - On site, In use by Palouse River & Coulee City RR Connell Branch Kahlotus - 1st Depot, built c.1900 - Moved south into town, Residence/storage Connell - 1st Depot, built c.1883 - Near original site, Unused Dayton Branch Dayton - 1st Depot, built 1881 - Moved east into town, Dayton Historic Depot museum Megler-Nahcotta (IR&N) Line Seaview* - 1st Depot, built c.1906 - On site, Depot Restaurant Long Beach* - 1st Depot, built c.1906 - Moved one block north, In use by city Nahcotta* - 2nd Depot, built 1915 - On site, Baileys Bakery & Cafe Any and all comments and feedback are welcome. Kind Regards, Kyle
I wish someone had a better address for the Kahlotus depot. I made a quick swing through there, summer of 2010. Somehow I missed spotting it. That same day, Connell still looked good, and might be in original paint. Where it sits had me wondering how the UP tracks in town were arranged. Diamond is a name not ringing any bells for me right now. Even though I lived almost fifty years in Washington. Small farming community? Last summer, a retired UP employee was telling me he thought the depot in Tekoa was still standing. (Moved?) It had been in use by a feed store. Am hoping to get down that way this summer, somehow.
The depot at Kahlotus is at the NW corner of Washington St. and Spokane Ave. (SR 263). It's a fairly nondescript, run-down brown building that looks like it's easy to miss. At Connell, it looks like the UP tracks came in from the southeast, and there was probably some form of a wye. However, the position of the depot relative to a couple of other structures has me wondering whether or not it's at the original position. Diamond is a very small farming town of about 50 people west out of Colfax, almost halfway to Endicott. I'd never heard of it either until I saw a picture of the depot. I'd imagine if the Tekoa depot is still there, it would be fairly easy to spot, unless it's been modified. It was a fairly large two-story building. I too hope to make it out into that part of Washington this summer, too. I really want to get a picture of the depot from Hedges. Pure dumb luck had me notice the building in Google Earth.
Thanks for the Kahlotus address! That is what has me wondering about Connell. When I was there, I looked around, trying to orient myself, and it somehow seemed off. The photo he shared with me of Tekoa, was a single story building. Looks like it could be the reverse floor plan of Connell. The MILW depot at Tekoa was definitely two story with attached freight house, same design as Lind. A apst MILW employee confirmed to me their Tekoa was knocked down about 1975, +/-. Hedges at Finley? Finley, the same place once a former SP&S train order office site? Isn't that sort of off the beaten path a ways? It has been many long years since my last trip by there, so my memory is very dim. OK. I remember where Diamond is located. The reason is on a Johnny Carson Show long ago, he had a couple of kids from there on his show. I believe they were the entire graduating high school class that year. He did this sort of thing now and then. Another time kids from a tiny town, I believe their family had orchards or something. It was Appleton, located up northwest off the old SP&S Goldendale line.
Not a problem, like I've said, I have each and every one of these pinpointed down to the building, so it's easy to give an accurate location. I tried to see if I could dig up some kind of a map showing Connell, but nothing I found had enough detail. That's intriguing, as from what I can tell, Tekoa had a two-story depot, as seen in a Washington State Library photo here, similar to one in the Clive Carter book at Winona, Washington. Perhaps it's one that was moved from another location? I believe there were a number of single-story depots in the area. Yes, the Finley just southeast of Kennewick. Hedges was the depot at the west end of the UP bridge at Burbank. Seems that after the building was retired, it was moved about 1.5 miles almost straight south to Main Street in Finley. It seems to have been a near-twin the UP depot at Midvale seen in the Clive Carter book. Haha, I guess that seems appropriate. I think at least one of the late-night shows still follows that practice, though I couldn't say for sure. I've certainly been through a few places that would be good candidates for it. Sadly, I think it's been many years since anyone graduated from a school in Diamond, I don't think it has a Post Office anymore, either.
Hmmm. For Tekoa, we seem to have a mystery! I am sure there were enough other depots in that area, which could very well have been moved. Look at the ex-NP depot from Hysham, Montana. It managed to move about 35-40 miles east, to Forsyth, and across the river north of that town. Or the ex-MILW depot from Drummond, moved about fifty-sixty miles to Missoula. Isn't Fairfield a museum? Or another one close by that which is in such use? I know someone who as I recall, at one time worked the UP agency at Tekoa. So have sent off an email, and will hope he can reply. I knew another UP agent who worked in that same area, but he passed away many years ago. He gave me a few of the UP orders in my collection from that vicinity.
It certainly is, but that's good, I love a mystery! There are actually surprisingly few left in that part of the state, at least considering how many small towns there are that were once on the railroad. As far as I know, the depot at Fairfield is gone, and the only real depot museums anywhere close are the ones at Dayton and Ritzville. Maybe you know of one I don't. The only other one fairly close I can think of is Potlatch, Idaho. That's great that you have all of these contacts, hopefully we'll be able to find something out.
Sadly, a lot of them have passed away these last ten years or so. I grew up in a family which had a lot of railroaders, so got to know a few people. Seems as though I knew a bunch of railroader's children as well, such as in school. And then some of my schoolmates also went to work for railroads. My favorite area of railroadiana collecting, train orders, put me in touch with even more folks. Then with the Internet, I have managed to make a few more contacts.
Or is it Rockford which is gone? Now that I think about it, the Fairfield depot is in Idaho. That should be the museum I was thinking about.
Have traded a couple of emails with my contact. He says the old depot was indeed as pictured, but does not know if it was the original structure. When he actually was there, it was gone, and the UP had an off line leased space office in town. The building I am talking about, he does not recall, but said it sure could be something from older days. Whether freight house, or another older depot, he had no ideas.
I've been over aerial photos of the town a couple of times, and nothing there these days jumps out at me immediately as an old railroad building. There are a few that I wonder about, but it's hard to dig up any information as Whitman County's Assessor only offers online records search by address, most other counties in the state have a map search. It wouldn't surprise me if something is hiding from us, though. There's a whole window from Pine City to the Idaho border and from Spokane to Colfax with few known standing railroad structures, despite the area having been criscrossed by railroads and filled with small towns. Other than bridges, the only structure I know of is the old Spokane & Inland Empire (later GN) substation at Mount Hope near Rockford.
I didn't know anything S&IE/SCD'a&P still existed. Hmmm. I must mark this one onto my find it and photo list. I traded one more email with that gentleman. UP had moved to an off-line office in town, then demolished the trackside depot. He couldn't recall an exact address. Only a couple of streets where he thought it was located. Another one to locate and photograph. But that could be a tough chore, unless some local has a sharp memory. Many fans and historians overlook these buildings. Even though just leased, they were definitely railroad necessary operations sites.
It's at the intersection of E. Valley Chapel Road and S. Darknell Road, approximately 13813 E Valley Chapel Road, Fairfield, WA. It's similar to the building on the left of this postcard from Palouse, WA. It looks like the substation is now a house, and the nearby garage features a turret that I suppose is designed to be reminiscent of the turrets built into the S&IE depots.
Thanks. I'll get this right into my note book! I need to start marking up a map with necessary stopping places.
At the end of September this year I took a two day roadtrip to eastern Washington, and managed to photograph a number of surviving depots during my journey. While I'll eventually get around to adding all of my photos to the respective threads, I first wanted to highlight a bit of a discovery. I'd known that the tiny town of Diamond, on the OWRN/UP line between Winona and Colfax still retained it's original depot from 1901, which I've included a photo of. The surprise, however, was noticing that nearby stood another small structure still bearing traces of Union Pacific yellow being used as a chicken coop on a farm. Later checking it against historic photos shows that it matches the c.1909 shelter shed from Hooper in design. While it is possible that the structure is from another location that had a similar structure, Diamond is not excessively far from Hooper, so it could have easily been moved from there after retirement.
As an added bonus, I also discovered that a small garage at Hooper now bears the original nameboard from the UP shelter shed.
Another interesting development was to see that the c.1900 OWRN depot at Kahlotus appears to be undergoing some from of a restoration, wearing a new roof and siding, windows restored to the original size and mostly repainted, it certainly looks much better than the pictures of it I had seen. In addition, the nameboard had been returned from a location downtown to the building. I was certainly glad to see a community, or at least an owner, stepping up to save a depot that had seemed forgotten.
Do you have an address for Kahlotus? For some reason, I have never managed to swing through there. Argh. While speaking of roughly that general vicinity, it sure is sad how few SP&S depots seem to have escaped bulldozers and bonfires.
