Lost Rail

There are a few pictures that didn't make the " Railfan Five Challenge " that I thought would be nice to share nonetheless.  In my quest to find 5 pictures for the 'Challenge,' I unconvered these as well.  Though time has compressed these events and days into a blur, there was a time, many years ago, when a young man just wandered with a few trusty companions: an old Pentax LX, Velvia film, and the Lord. In the middle of the Iowa countryside, a few memories of yesteryear can still be found.  Here, not far from the abandoned M&St.L railroad line, the single room school house rises above the browns of mid-winter and into the blue skies of cold, Canadian high pressure: There have been a few times when I have been awoken from slumber suddenly and without immediate cause.  Still, more often than not, it seems my wakefulness has been just at the right time, for the right reason.  It can be something like a phone call that needs to be answered, as th...

As 16 Mile Creek meanders down the canyon that bears its name, some 1400+ miles from Chicago's Union Station, the give and take between the water and the Milwaukee Road right of way continues its graceful play.  While the creek wanders back and forth between the canyon walls, the railroad transcon lofts itself over and across again and again.  The surveyors and engineers laid a smooth path down this canyon, evident even 100 years after the line was plotted. Today the canyon and the old railroad through it are likely best known for fly fishing.   Fishermen can be seen gracefully placing their flies in and amongst the eddies and pools that dot the flowing stream.  Instead of Thunderhawk freight trains, bridges like the one above play host to rubber waders and fishing tackle - especially in beautiful Montana summer weather.   Like many places the line traverses, modern amenities seem woefully out of sorts.  The texting of a touch phone or the ...

Location: 16 Mile Creek MP: ~1416 Miles from Chicago Union Station 16 Mile Creek and Canyon were favorite spots for Milwaukee Road photographers to capture some of the best "varnish" the Resourceful Railroad had to offer.  Along with all of the dramatic photos of Eagles Nest tunnel, are images of Little Joes pulling Olympian Hiawathas resplendent in crimson and orange, Super Domes, and Creek series observation cars.  Of course, over the years even while the railroad was operating, contrasts were stark. As orange gave way to armour yellow, passenger Joes gave way to poorly suited Bi-Polars relocated from the Cascade Division.  These would run out their final miles across the Rockies.  Then the passenger trains stopped running altogether followed by the Joes, Boxcabs, and then the front-line power.  Finally the trains and then the rails were gone as a final pull-back was completed.   Each December 19th that passes notes the last bankruptcy of the railroad...

The path back to 16 Mile Creek and America's final transcon has led south out of the small town of Ringling and up and over small passes where cattle roam and the road is single track.  On this little path, it is easy to feel alone and lost - even if just for a moment.  The mountains that climb around a sole traveler seem too high, the dirt road too infrequently passed, and there are none of the sounds that mark civilization: no car horns, no cell phone coverage, no slamming doors - just all-encompasing quiet. In some ways this makes it easy to see the land the Milwaukee built through in its push west. Pushing on and through the doubts, past little pieces of Americana along the way, the road empties into a wider valley where, once again, the Resourceful Railroad lies in pieces.  Far across the valley floor, a brace of wooden trestle bridges loft the smooth right of way between fills on timbers that seem too spindly for the likes of a Little Joe.  At their feet i...

The challenge was first posed by Mr. Eric Gagnon, over at Trackside Treasure .  It was taken up by several others, that include some other Lost Rail friends: Oil-Electric and Confessions of a Train Geek .  Robert over at Oil-electric passed the challenge directly to me. The challenge :  share five photos that visualize my introduction to and development as a ferroequinologist.    This is a difficult challenge: actually choose 5 photos (I have included 5.5) that show my journey as a rail "enthusiast."  Perhaps this is made easier for me only because many of the formative pictures are still kept by my parents so I am left with a smaller selection.  My choice of 5 spans the decades and leads to a future second installment, picking up where this series leaves off.  Picture 1:  CPR 374, Vancouver BC ~1982 CPR 374 was the first locomotive to pull a train into Vancouver.  The date is pre-1983 when she was removed from her park sett...

In the days before the Milwaukee's retrenchment to the Midwest, small roads like this Maudlow Road were the connections from one isolated outpost on the transcon to another.  Over modest passes, through fields where cattle wander aimlessly without fencing, and beneath the big skies above.  In good weather the roads were passable, in more difficult times of year they were treacherous.  The Milwaukee Road itself must have been the preferred means of access to the lost places like Francis that exist west of Ringling and within the traces of 16 Mile Creek. This is the American West in many respects: isolated, alone, dangerous, and indescribably beautiful.  On this June day, in a picture now well dated, the little road from Maudlow continues to survive and meander its way from one small settlement to the next.  If there are specific times or places where one can fall in love with the West, this must be one of them for me.  ps - Speaking of the West, th...

Most often, this site considers the "real" Milwaukee Road in images that record what it left behind.  On occasion, however, the focus drifts to the world of a re-created Milwaukee Road in the form of models that bear the Resourceful Railroad insignias. Recently, my own Wheat Line (Warden, WA to Marcellus, WA) hosted its final run because of an imminent move to a larger scale.  The outbound run out to Marcellus is just a caboose hop, with the final cars being pulled from the line as the train works its way back to the transcon at Warden (all locations simulated ... poorly). Unlike the real Wheat Line, 100 ton hoppers were allowed as far as Ruff, WA in this version.  For the most part, however, the 40 foot grain boxcars still ruled the branch line, resplendent with rib sides and Billboard lettering. For your enjoyment, the documented final run of the Wheat Line: Milwaukee 534 and 5054 leave the mainline at Warden and head north and east out along light rail: ...