Hidden in the Trees


 MP1613.1, Ravenna, MT.  Substation 9

 I once met the man who owned the old Substation at Ravenna.  In one of those strange twists of history, so I'm told, it was supposed to be torn down and sold for scrap as the bricks had value.  But the original sale didn't work, the scrapper never came and it remains standing near the howling roar of I90 to this day. I90 is just one part of  the U.S. system that moves upwards of 90% of freight by truck and highway.  But tucked in amongst the tall pines like a mirage, Ravenna looks out blankly towards that interstate and shouts quietly back about a different time.

The year was 1972 and General Electric had put together a unique proposal: completion of the electrified railway portion of the Milwaukee Road.  In a formal proposal, offered by GE itself ("Proposal for the Completion of the Electrified Railway Operation of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company") via the Locomotive Products Department, the proposal laid out the expected cash savings from completion of the plan from 1974 through 2003.  With a 2.7% growth rate in railroad traffic, the estimated savings (after taxes) was $114M.  With a 5% growth rate, $203M.  Perhaps in an era where we routinely hear of costs in the billions of dollars, it's worth noting that $203M in 1972 dollars would be worth about $900M in 2003, and $1.5B today.  Before tax savings were essentially calculated as double those values.

Important to the plan was the completion and closure of the 'gap' that existed between Othello, WA and Avery, ID as well as the annual lease charge for 44 electric locomotives to be combined with the on-hand Little Joes.  General Electric estimated that the combined fleet would equal or exceed 90 diesel-electrics in both "horsepower and tractive effort."  The plan also included upgrading of the current substations, like the one above at Ravenna.

As expected, the traffic did come as the Milwaukee gained access to ports through the BN merger, and yet, the proposed upgrade to electrification did not.  Instead of the beginning of a new era of electrification, 1974 would mark the end.  Ravenna is just one of the reminders of what was and what could have been, but it is a very visible one that has overwatched the strange twists of history for more than 100 years.  

Comments

Anonymous said…
The failure to properly assess the Electrification was deeper than even first appeared. In the year following termination, instead of reduced costs of operation, operating costs SOARED! " Headquarters in Chicago demanded an explanation, and the Engineering Staff in Deer Lodge.

I inquired and this is the answer I received. The writer is Charley Chambers.
"Michael , I was working in the Deer Lodge engineering office during
the shut down of the electrics . I can't remember if it was Rusty
Landers or Paul Johnson - but one of them had the Montana Power
bills. Whoever it was he asked me to look into the bills and do some
comparison and make some hand graphs . I compared old bills (back several years at locations around the state) to new bills - number of electrics running etc . (all by hand - no computers - not even calculators) . We quickly came to the conclusion that for years the Milwaukee was operating the electrics for free . The new rate
impacted not only the shops in Deer Lodge - but every power drop we had - signals , tool sheds , section headquarters, shops , depots , etc . I can not remember the % increase , but I do remember that the increase was far more than what the Milwaukee was paying to put juice into the overhead wire . We didn't have much faith in the Milwaukee ' s higher management in Chicago (Worth Smith) . We were 100% convinced that the decision to dump the electrics was the seat of the pants decision (or deeply flawed) . They were thinking of all the cost of substation personnel, the trolley crews, wiring the "gap", changing from DC t o AC (stretch out substations), etc . They never bothered to look into the electric rates.In essence they gave up free power . Another dumb thing the Milwaukee management did (a few years before shutting down the trolley) was selling the transmission line. I don't remember the numbers but I think the Milwaukee got $6 or $8 million - afterward people at Montana Power said they thought the price would be in the
$20 to $30 million range and they were prepared to go that far .
Dumb. -- Charley

The Milwaukee did a laborious "scrap" calculation for the Transmission Line and came up with a $3.6 million figure. The President of the Montana Power Company, Paul Schmechel told me that he "could not believe" how low the number was and immediately got on the phone to accept before the Milwaukee changed its mind.

In "today's" dollars, Milwaukee asked for $19 million, and MPC had been willing to pay $120 million. Said Paul Schmechel: "That confirmed to us (at MPC) that there was "something wrong at the Milwaukee Road."
9/19/2024 11:43:00 PM
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