Amtrak from Tacoma-Seattle-Shelby got me home. Moving day from MT is March 15.... http://www.skilookout.com/hiawatha/trailinfo.php The Route of the Hiawatha Rail Trail is your place.
Let the tour begin! OK, I'm starting with some territory I know well, millions of people have driven by it, never knowing it has been there... Between Tunnel 15 and 16, lies the abandoned carcass of Ravenna Substation #9. Just before you get to Tunnel 16 are some remaining trolley poles! The cable seems to be hanging between them, but it's difficult to see. So few of these exist anywhere on the 650+ miles of electrication, that seeing even one quickens ones heartbeat!
Superior, MT's depot has stood for all these years, and I just finally found it; thanks to BoxcabE50's directions. Difficult to get a good clear photo with all the stuff strewn around, but it's intact nevertheless.
That's all I was able to visit till I bailed off the interstate at a lonely outpost called Vantage... After an 7-9 mile drive down a twisty paved road, I got my first glimpse of the amazing Beverly Bridge. The structure is massive, spanning the equally impressive Columbia River: The late hour of the day I arrived at left the valley in deep shadow, but a shot is a shot. A little closer, the ROW attacked a 2.2% grade at the west end of the trestle, and the tracks went thru the cut in the foreground as the mainline pregressed to the Boyleston summit: The gallows trolley supports are still in place, swaying gently in the ever-present wind at Beverly:
Beverly Jct is where the mainline curved north to Doris and a branchline veered south to Hanford, WA, and the DoE facility there: The mainline west of Beverly Jct, in the teeth of the 2.2% grade to summit of the Saddles:
Back to the interstate, and a few miles from Vantage is Resnlow Trestle. This imposing structure spans the valley thru which the interstate runs. You cannot possibly miss it! At Kittitas, exit 115 on I-90, several MILW structures remain. The depot has been lovingly cared for, and looks great in the late afternoon light: Adjacent the depot is Substation #23's foundation: The substation's operator bungalows still stand:
The pump house is also nicely re-done: A section house (experts, is this MILW-related?) is across the road from the depot: I boogied back to the interstate, and with light fading fast, skipped Ellensburg, as the couple items there were not of as much interest as the surviving artifacts at South Cle Elum.
At South Cle Elum, the light was gone. Finding the MILW side of town was also a challenge, and thankfully, my camera takes decent low-light photos hendheld. That image stabilizer really works well! SCE has a beautiful depot-turned-restaurant, substation #24, caboose, shacks, signal, etc. The SCE depot is gorgeous!
Hemi, Great photos. The bridges certainly show how small we are, don't they? Loved the stations pix also. The SCE depot would make a great home (think of the layout one could put in it)!
You caught it at the best time of year- Low angle light. With those dark paint peeled walls and that white snow roof, when the sun is high in summer, photos lose all details below the eaves. Boxcab E50
Note the hitchimng rails in front. For any horsey folks who ride the trail. Not Milw. However, they did ship onions, etc, by rail. At one time significant harvests. Years earlier, facility was somewhat larger. Boxcab E50
Are those bridges crossable? Now I realize you cannot drive a vechicle but can you walk. It would certainly be interesting of how much you could ride a dirt bke along the ROW and just fantasize ridding on the train again. Robert
Renslow is not crossable. Concrete beds for the ballasting have been moved to discourage people from driving across. in so doing, only the steel skeleton remains. Dangerous! And if the wind is blowing, as is often true, even worse. Unfortunately, no dirt bikes allowed. Walk, bicycle or horseback only, for those portions open to general public access. You can drive onto a few places, but they really don't want that.... Just maintenance vehicles. Boxcab E50
I just realized that I have more photos from S. Cle Elum that I haven't posted yet! The light @ SCE, as I mentioned, was all gone, so after dark shots is all I got. An ABS signal, once the pride of "America's Resourceful Railroad", stands as a silent sentinel south of the depot: A sign near the depot--wouldn't this sign style be the type affixed to the depot proper? A section shack east of the depot: A lovingly restored caboose, once the flagship of the Milwaukee's shops, sits next to the section shack:
The nest shot is from Tacoma. I had no detailed notes of what is left and where to find it, so the only thing of MILW presence (and this is a bit of a stretch) was this sign that marks the road that runs along the vanished remains of Tideflats Yard's sprawling complex:
Acually it's ABS. There was no CTC in that area. Yes. There are signs on the depot. These were replicas placed more for the trail users. Boxcab E50
Oh how I remember that street name sign! Probably 9999 of 10,000 asked today would not have a clue of it's origins. :tb-sad: Boxcab E50
Ken, I ‘d hate to correct you, as I do think you are one of the most knowledgeable people regarding the Milw but while researching for my book I believe this building was built by the Milw during the 1930’s. It's late and I haven't looked at my Kitty notes in a while. I'll have to go back and look at my Land, Tracks, and Structures map to get the exact date and confirm. I may even have a copy of the blueprints for this warehouse. I’ll check tomorrow and report back. The only reason this building really sticks out to me right now is I seem to remember making a mental note that this building and another close by are two of the remaining warehouse structures still standing within the Kitty Yard. You are right about the early days; the Kitty Yard was a busy place. Hemi - There were several warehouses built within the yard during the 1930's, mainly for potatoes. The yard at Kittitas was a very busy place during the 1930-1940s. As things changed in the farming community so did the use of each warehouse. There was however a few warehouses within the yard that were not built by the Milw, such as a feed storage, and a silica plant. Probably the most popular feature of the Kitty yard was beet loader used to load sugar beets. Some of these warehouses survived well into the 1960’s but most of them burned and were never rebuilt. My book will have a nice aerial photo of the yard showing most of the warehouses. I’ve even conveniently numbered them on the photo to correspond to a key so the reader can identify them.
Wow I just watched the three set vhs tapes on the electric Milwaukee railroad, I never knew how cool of a road it was! Makes the ghost roads pictures come to life. Thanks for all the work you did on this project(I may have to start a new line now).
