A friend sent this link too me... This website features a photo essay of a what may be the final trip on the abandoned Milwaukee Road Pacific Extension from Miles City, MN to Cedar Falls, WS

http://newwww.weedroute.com/?p=8

That is an incredible photo collection and trip. I know very little of the MILW but have always been fascinated with the story. The photos are just breath taking. I'd imagine it still looks much the same out there as it looks desolate.

Joe

When I first saw this thread, I was confused by the state abbreviations. It looked like the line being traversed was from Minnesota to Wisconsin. Actually, Montana should be MT, and Washington WA.

Enjoyed the photos. Still not quite sure if this trip was done with permission or not, although certainly a moot point today. Glad that the two gentlemen decided to do it. Some interesting railroad items along the way and I wonder how many of them are even still in existence. Especially the depots. I checked the "Hicks Car Works" blog to see if the "Minnetta's Sportsman Diner" in Easton, Washington was listed, but didn't see anything. This particular old diner even had the cars history painted on the side; NP diner #1663, built May 1910. In existence today? There was also an old wood bodied refer (with steel ends) in Hayak, Washington with the cars "slanted herald" painted out. No reason to do that unless the car had been sold to a private owner.

Finally, what happened to the Maine Central motor car? Still in existence? She sure got a workout on that trip!

Les

[quote="Les Beckman"]I checked the "Hicks Car Works" blog to see if the "Minnetta's Sportsman Diner" in Easton, Washington was listed, but didn't see anything. This particular old diner even had the cars history painted on the side; NP diner #1663, built May 1910. In existence today?/quote]

I'd be interested to know that also. Anyway, I added Minnetta's to the list. What a wonderful collection of photographs. The Pacific Extension was huge engineering accomplishment, and it's great to have this pictoral documentation of it.

More info:
http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?14192-The-Sportsman-Diner-Easton-WA

It would appear that this diner is the same NP wood dining car in Tacoma, that was discussed on this forum last year because of needing to be relocated due to railroad construction.
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36248

Perhaps others know more about the Harriman diner that remains at Easton, WA.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2438604

FYI, the NRHS convention in Tacoma in 2011 had a run up Stampede Pass and had a runby at Easton. The café not longer exists but one of the coaches still remains at the location. Even from way across the old NP tracks (the MILW crossed pretty much through the same exact point) you could see the one car was totally empty and in bad repair.

Some of the the eventual founders of Montana Rail Link submitted a proposal in the late 70’s to take over the operation of the Pacific Coast Extension as an alternative to its abandonment. They were convinced that the rising exports of grain and other commodities through the Pacific Northwest would eventually strain the capacity of the GN and NP lines, and thus there was a rationale for keeping the Milwaukee in operation.

Their argument turned out to be correct, but that did not save the Milwaukee.

Thanks, Olin, that answers my questions.

I understand that the reefer at Hyak was scrapped by Washington State Parks about 15 years ago before any of it could be saved.

Paul Krueger
Seattle, WA

A short video about the NP dining car can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvPJAD5WFbs

It is the one that needed to be relocated in Tacoma.

They have a Facebook page, it can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/np1663

I was working at the railroad museum at Snoqualmie, WA when those two guys show up there and told about their cross country speeder trip. I don't know about them but my dad and I made many outlaw speeder trips on abandoned lines in Washington. The box car at Hyak was a Soo car as I recall. It was used to store coke for the tunnel heaters before they put in gas heaters.

I thought the herald had the proportions of the Soo herald, rather than MILW, but in reality, it was most likely a URTX car. URTX surplused their whole fleet of icers sometime in the early seventies, when many went to railway museums for storage if nothing else. Even the Soo picked some up for work service; cars with someone else's heralds that they painted out.

The reasion the two guys did not go beyond of Cedar Falls is that the BN was using the Milwaukee west of there. The BN got onto the Milwaukee main line at Renton, WA and ran east to Cedar Falls. There they turned onto the remains of the Everett branch and serviced to Weyerhaeuser mill at Snoqualmie Falls. The Cle Elum depot is still standing and in use.

http://www.milwelectric.org/

Thanks John T.

Yes, still standing and nicely restored, apparently by a group named the Cascade Rail Foundation. They are also working on the electric substation located next to the depot. AND are in the process of bringing a Milwaukee Road U25B to Cle Elum for display!

Les