The Milwaukee Road's Goodnight
"As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return." Job 7:8-9 The year is 1972. GE has released a proposal to the Milwaukee Road to close the electrification 'gap' between Avery, ID and Othello WA while supplying new electric locomotives to handle trains across the expanded Harlowton to Othello electrified lines. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this arrangement is GE's offer to finance the deal itself. Significant unknowns lie ahead for the nation, a fuel crisis looms and an economic downturn as well. The best of Milwaukee's electric locomotives in service entered their roles more than two decades prior. The oldest date from the teens. Out on the mainline, away from the decision makers, the trains continue to move, benefitting from the port and operating agreements spawned by the BN merger conditions. But back in the midwest, far from places like Two Dot or Harlowton, decisions are being made, fut...