Just recently released, is a book by Dan Bolyard through the "Images Of Rail" section of Arcadia Publishing. Many of us will know that prolific book source and there are a lot of interesting topics available, for me this is one! For residents of Washington State, the "Big Bend" country is generally covered by Douglas, Lincoln, Adams and Grant counties. I had no idea what to expect, but as soon as I began turning pages, it stirred old memories, and started teaching me of things I'd never seen nor heard. This area of the State is often overlooked by railfans and historians, which sadly includes me. Inside are all kinds of views from early days of the Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railway, Milwaukee Road and more, continuing up to even a bit of the present day. Grand Coulee Dam construction, trains, depots, structures and more. Well worth having on my book shelf, my next trip homeward to the west coast I intend to take this along and do some exploring I should have done long ago.
There is a map just as the book begins, which shows the Milw Marcellus Line. There are a couple of station names I never knew, and apparently Marcellus was originally named Griffith! I never knew the Waterville RR's engine house in Waterville had survived so long. If still standing, this gives me an excuse to wander through there again. Waterville is like a time machine in some ways. Old buildings, unique! I need to ask Dan about it.
And, as always, get plenty of pics!! What's still standing today, could be gone tomorrow! It's gonna be another hot, dry summer, and could be more fires, like the ones on the west side of Beverly that burned some old bridge and such.
I have failed in taking pictures as much as I should. But these days I do take some. I especially enjoy getting off the road and into some little railroad town. Great buildings which are perfect for modeling. Such as in Ritzville. Or the back roads north and south of I-90. Waterville has several really wonderful structures, such as the bank building. Wow. There were more in Beverly, but they've been vandalized and destroyed buy current inhabitants, so that few remain.
