tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14456380.post438393705272032133..comments2023-11-05T12:17:32.979-08:00Comments on Lost Rail: Small Rails and Big BoatsLinesWesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05256267359329575594noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14456380.post-48147970750177372682014-04-15T09:01:49.010-07:002014-04-15T09:01:49.010-07:00Ben, thanks for the addition to the blog here even...Ben, thanks for the addition to the blog here even if it is "late." No worries, it is much appreciated. <br /><br />Your thoughts echo many of my own - a company that just couldn't keep its act together for whatever reason, a huge economic and social loss, an enormous opportunity left to history.<br /><br />-LelandLinesWesthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05256267359329575594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14456380.post-56210134457497030392014-04-13T21:05:37.318-07:002014-04-13T21:05:37.318-07:00I'm a little late commenting here but I just w...I'm a little late commenting here but I just want to say "thank you" for the wonderful blog. <br /><br />The Milwaukee is special to me. I was born in Deer Lodge a few months after the abandonment so all my memories are post mortem. But my grandfather (Frank Turner) was a pipefitter in Deer Lodge for a long time. He told me all about it, most of which I've forgotten or was too young to truly understand. I played in the Deer Lodge yard as a boy, biked up and down the ROW, and watched a once solid middle class town fade into poverty after the mighty Milwaukee folded. My childhood home was a half mile from the yard and I crossed the mainline almost every day to go downtown or to school. <br /><br />I now live in Everson, WA and live a quarter mile from the Sumas-Bellingham branch north of Everson. The line has been abandoned south of Hampton Junction (south to Everson then Bellingham, west to Lynden, north to Sumas) for decades. BNSF still runs from Sumas to Lynden but access to Sumas is through the SR 9 corridor, not Bellingham. The line from Sumas to Limestone Junction, Maple Falls, etc is long gone. <br /><br />I drive about the county for my work and always look for the ROW. I often daydream of it in place and what it was like to see it run. I see that Deer Lodge yard as a boy playing in the desolation. I think of my grandfather and all the other employees who were let down by a company that just couldn't keep its act together. - Ben WoodAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14456380.post-83937266739887862532007-12-04T10:03:00.000-08:002007-12-04T10:03:00.000-08:00Yes, you were.Yes, you were.LinesWesthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05256267359329575594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14456380.post-13092988892453032742007-12-03T16:05:00.000-08:002007-12-03T16:05:00.000-08:00I was there!I was there!Cupcakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10702334223544102386noreply@blogger.com