**********
The date now is March 3rd, 2020. It was fifty years ago today, the BN merger took effect.
Here are a couple of memories:
**********
Back during the summer of 2016, I caught this odd box car in the yard at
Whitefish, Montana. Supposedly it was used for work inside tunnels on Marias Pass:
**********
Winter of 1993 and here comes BN Train #7. A HOT intermodal.
SD40-2 #7827 Leads as they pass through Monroe, Washington:
**********
Leaves are falling & 1991 is fading as the Anacortes Local heads for a refinery delivery
of empties. GP38 #2180 "White Face" and GP38-2 #2258 are at Whitney, Washington:
**********
Spring is here, 1988. At Ruston, Washington, in not the best sunlight.
Standing atop Nelson Bennett Tunnel, looking at Ruston Tunnel.
SD40-2 #8149 with an intermodal bound for Portland, Oregon:
**********
A Spring of 1988 visit to the roundhouse at Interbay (Seattle), Washington. In the "New" Wheel
House we find an SD40-2 getting her wheels brought back into proper condition:
**********
It is now raining lightly and getting darker. Chores at Darigold in Issaquah are done.
Ambling slowly back to Delta Yard (Everett), #2096 is at the boat launch road crossing.
This is part of a State Park at the south end of Lake Sammamish, Washington:
**********
Late March of 1988 & days are still short. It's getting ready to rain.
GP38-2 #2096 & GP38 #2076 switching the Darigold plant in Issaquah, Washington:
**********
SD40-2 Extra 6797 West has Milwaukee Road SD40-2 #192 behind in Seattle, Washington.
Late winter of 1988, they are passing the former Continental Grain transloading facility.
We waited quite a while for this last view of a still painted as Milwaukee Road unit:
Earlier the same day at Interbay (Seattle), Washington.
GP35 #2509 (ex-GN), FT45 and GP35 #2551 (ex-SLSF) await the call:
**********
A short time after meeting Extra 7051 West, I catch SD40-2 Extra 8057 East again.
Here she is rumbling up the mountain through Skykomish, Washington:
**********
Winter of 1988 is just about gone as SD40-2 Extra 7051 West rolls to a stop at
Baring, Washington. In minutes there will be a meet with Extra 8057 East:
**********
A couple of weeks later, SD40-2 #8142 hurries an Intermodal
Westward (South) in a cold rain near Sumner, Washington:
Still in Winter of 1988, snows have melted but that has creating some flooding issues.
BN #975428 has been out on the Snoqualmie Branch, unclogging culverts and clearing ditches:
**********
Deep in Winter, 1988, it is lightly snowing this morning. Leased EMDX GP38-2 #763 is
arriving at Snoqualmie Falls, Washington. (This is a former Milwaukee Road branch line.)
The large Weyerhaeuser mill complex is off to the left, awaiting switching:
**********
Gray & foggy, an early winter 1987 day blurs GP38-2 #2078 heading home to Delta Yard
(Everett), Washington. The empty fusilage car is proof this local went to Boeing in Renton.
Site is the famous "Wilburton" trestle in Bellevue. When I was a boy, (as it was known then),
Richards Road beneath was a one & one half lane squeaker between wooden bents.
Now it is four lanes of roaring vehicles:
**********
SD40-2 Extra #7857 East races around Half Moon Curve and through
Columbia Falls, Montana. It is afternoon during September, 1986, and
this is Train #4 (Intermodal) passing the old Great Northern depot:
**********
Late summer of 1986 SD40-2 #8042 rolls to a stop in Sprague, Washington.
Behind the caboose of this work extra east are assorted cars with ties & more.
Just recently quickly repainted, overspray adorns the depot windows, roof & more.
This depot was saved, moved across (foreground) North D Street. Now restored:
**********
A hot day in late summer of 1985 and we catch GP30 #2247 with GP9 #1888.
Here they are just crossing the former westbound lanes of Interstate Highway 90.
Originally this was US Highway 10 & the location is Tanner, Washington.
Outbound with lumber loads from the Weyerhaeuser mill at Snoqualmie Falls:
**********
GP38-2 #2080 and GP30 #2219 are entering Monohon, Washington. In tow are a string of
BNFE reefers for the Issaquah Darigold plant. A very toasty mid-summer day in 1985, as
they crossed the dirt road at lower right, traction motor blowers kicked up a cloud of dust:
**********
A "purely by accident" catch, no time for composition. I was sitting by the river, cooling
my feet in the water, when I heard this coming. It is the Ronald Local with GP9 #1750,
caboose hopping back toward Yakima. A hot August afternoon at Teanaway, Washington:
**********
A muggy, pre-thunderstorm mid-summer of 1981 afternoon & F3A #706 ambles along. Seen here passing
the golf course & irritating players at Meadowbrook, Washington. This is the Snoqualmie Local on
ex-Milwaukee Road branch trackage, which once served the Weyerhaeuser mill complex at Snoquamie Falls:
**********
Spring of 1981 and another gray day. GP39-2 #2714 & companions at rest between chores.
This is in front of the depot at Hoquiam, Washington:
**********
F units awaiting scrapping at Tacoma, Washington. It's very late winter of 1981:
Note: As too commonly misindentified, the scrap yard above was NOT Joseph Simon & Sons,
which was located on the west bank of the Puyallup River. This is much further east.
Note the background scenery. Those trees & the bluff were nowhere near Simon & Sons.
The old Western Farmers Association site was on the west bank of the Hylebos Waterway.
Address for that elevator was 1801 Taylor Way. So, what scrapper was just north of WFA?
Answer: Big 'D' Salvage, at 1503 Taylor Way.
**********
Late afternoon of a gloomy, dark middle of winter day in 1981, so not a good photo- But
it cannot be repeated today. A friend and I had talked our way past the guard shack of
Weyerhaeuser's Everett, Washington Mill "B", in order to visit with the operator of BN's
Bridge 10. (In employee timetables this is "Delta Junction".) BN GP9 #1799 with the
Darrington Logger is passing the operator's shanty en route back to her namesake town:
**********
What is it about me, and railfanning on foggy, gray, damp days?
It is late Fall of 1980. #684 and sisters sit in the dead line
at Auburn Yard, Washington. (She is ex-GN #464A.) In a couple
of months she will avoid the scrapper's torch, and be running
again, as Seattle & North Coast Railroad's #102:
**********
A favorite memory here. An into the sun view, but I am still glad to have it!
Fall of 1980 at New Westminster, British Columbia. NW5 #987 and sister 988 wait
across from the depot for their next transfer run:
**********
A beautiful fall day in 1980 really highlights a well worn paint application.
F9A #838 waits for her call to depart from the yard at Sumas, Washington:
**********