The Star Spangled Banner

This is an address I was blessed to prepare and present from the pulpit to my LDS Church congregation, the Duportail Ward, on September 14th, 2014:

The Star Spangled Banner Flying over Ft. McHenry During the Annual Defenders' Day Fireworks

I was about 8 years old when I first read how The Star Spangled Banner came to be written during the War of 1812 while the British Navy bombarded Ft. McHenry at the entrance to Baltimore Harbor.  The story fascinated me then, and every time since then when I sing or listen to The Star Spangled Banner, I try to visualize how it may have been to stand in the same spot as Francis Scott Key, and feel the same emotions that led him to write what later became our National Anthem.

Because we hear the Anthem so frequently, at sporting events, parades and many similar activities, we often overlook the meaning of the song.  And, because we usually only sing the first verse, I believe we miss out on some important and inspired ideas hidden in the later verses.  Those are the things I plan to speak on today, but first I’d like to present a little background.

We fought the War of 1812 with Great Britain over several issues that had not been fully settled during the Revolutionary War.  Some contributing factors were American sailors being forced to serve in the British Navy, various trade disagreements, and boundary disputes with British-controlled Canada.  When the war started, Britain was fighting Napoleon’s forces in Spain, so they were unable to commit all their strength to fight their former colonies.  But, the Americans were not fully prepared to fight either, so the war sputtered on in small engagements for the first two years.  In 1814, however, the British defeated Napoleon and began sending greater forces to the fight against America.

Part of the British strategy for compelling America to accept a truce included a land invasion of Washington DC, and they were successful in looting and burning the capitol while government leaders fled to Maryland.  Their next target was the busy port city of Baltimore, about 40 miles north of Washington.  As British ground troops advanced from the south, a naval flotilla sailed up Chesapeake Bay to provide artillery support for the invasion.

During these actions, the British arrested a prominent local physician, Doctor Beanes, whom they believed was harassing their soldiers.  When it became known the British were holding Dr. Beanes prisoner aboard one of their ships in Chesapeake Bay, his friend, an attorney named Francis Scott Key, sought permission from President Madison to meet with the British officers and try to arrange for Dr. Beanes’ release.

Key and a prisoner exchange agent took a small sloop and sailed down the bay to meet up with the British ship where Beanes was being held.  The ship’s officers were cordial, and eventually they agreed to release Dr. Beanes.  The Americans were returned to their boat, but because they had overheard British plans for the attack on Baltimore, they were placed under guard, their sails were removed and their boat was towed along with the British ship toward Baltimore.

On September 13th, 1814, the British began firing on Fort Mc Henry, which defended Baltimore Harbor.  The British soon learned that their guns had greater range than those of the fort, so they retreated far enough out in the harbor that they could continue their barrage without fear of any return fire.  The British ground troops encountered a significant force along the southern defenses of the city, and they were unable to advance, but the ships continued firing through the evening and late into the night.

This brings us to the flag.  At the time of the attack, Fort McHenry usually flew one of two American flags, a smaller storm flag, and a much larger version for use when weather conditions permitted.  Both of these followed what was then the standard pattern of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes.  It was the storm flag that flew from the mast during the night, and as Key and his friends watched the battle from the harbor, this was the one they “hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.”  And, until the shelling stopped, this was the one they could still see because of the “rockets' red glare [and] bombs bursting in air.”

When the fort’s defenders realized the next morning that they had largely withstood the barrage, the commander ordered that the larger display flag be hoisted up the mast to ensure the British knew they had not been successful in destroying the fort.  From Key’s vantage, the smoke from the night’s cannon and rocket fire still obscured the fort. As the breeze began to clear away the smoke that morning, September 14th, 1814, exactly two hundred years ago today, he could see that larger flag “catch[ing] the gleam of the morning’s first beam, [its] full glory reflected . . . shin[ing] on the stream.”

Being an amateur poet, Francis Scott Key began scribbling the first few lines of a poem on the back of a letter to capture his emotions during the “perilous fight” and again at the “dawn’s early light.”  He completed the poem later, after the British gave up on their planned invasion and after they released Key and his friends to return to Baltimore.  He entitled his poem “The Defense of Ft. McHenry” and showed it to his brother-in-law, who liked it so much he had it published for distribution in Baltimore.  The poem fit the tune of an existing song, and soon the words and suggested tune were printed in newspapers up and down the Atlantic Seaboard.  It became one of many standard patriotic tunes, but it took over a century for it to be formally adopted as our National Anthem in 1931.

Of course, if you’ve heard the Star-Spangled Banner sung at more than a few baseball or hockey games, you know that it can be very difficult to sing.  Sometimes even talented singers struggle with it because of its wide range.  That’s why some have humorously suggested that the poem and tune were first put together during the “perilous fight”, and that hearing it sung the first time was what actually caused the British to retreat in fear from Baltimore!

Ultimately, the flag that Francis Scott Key wrote about, and the updated version that we visualize when we sing his song today, are only pieces of fabric.  They can be torn or faded or soiled, and finally burned.  But flags can mean much more when we attach a specific meaning to them.  Sometimes, the image on a flag by itself conveys that flag’s meaning to those who see it.  Other times, that deeper meaning can be assigned to a flag through a poem, pledge or anthem that we associate with it.  For instance, when we say our Pledge of Allegiance, we swear loyalty to the flag as a symbol of our Republic and of liberty and justice.

Another flag we know about was Captain Moroni’s “Title of Liberty” that we read about in Alma 46:12.  As leader of the Nephite armies, Captain Moroni became angered when he learned of a rebellion among his people by a political faction that sought to take away their freedom.  To overthrow the rebellion, he knew he would need the assistance of as many able bodied citizens as he could gather on his march back to the capitol of Zarahemla.  To call them to arms, he also created a flag, one even simpler than our stars and stripes – his own coat.  He didn’t have time to write a song about it, so he wrote directly on it the words, “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children.”  This banner helped him inspire strong feelings of patriotism and love of family and freedom among his fellow citizens, and copies of it soon flew above their fortifications during the ensuing war with the rebellious Nephite faction.

Marching With the Title of Liberty - A Sacred Covenant

To Moroni, marching behind the Title of Liberty constituted a sacred covenant with God.  As he recruited patriots to his cause, he challenged them with these words:  “Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.” (Alma 46:20)

If we now go back to the song The Star Spangled Banner, the first two verses tell the story of Key’s experiences seeing the flag in place during the battle, his concern whether it was still flying over the fort after the bombardment ended, and his relief and joy to find it in “full glory reflected” the next morning.

It’s the final verse of his poem that I find to be the most powerful.  Here, Key looks forward to future conflicts, hoping they would end with the same result.  “Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand between their loved homes and the war's desolation!  Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!”  In essence, this verse is a prayer that Heavenly Father will always bless us with victory and peace.  But, just like Captain Moroni in his day, Key also recognized in the following stanza that those blessings would only come to a righteous nation, “Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,” and when this is, “our motto: ‘In God is our trust!’”

So fast forward to today; we’re fighting more wars than we can even count.  Some are military, some are political and even more are social in nature.  And, of course, each side believes their cause is just.  For me, and I think for many of us, it can difficult to know which side is right.  When we look to our living prophet, President Monson, and other church leaders for guidance, we can know where Heavenly Father wants us to stand.  For some of these conflicts there’s no question, and our leaders will emphatically plead with us to join them in standing up for what is right.  But, the Lord is also silent on many divisive issues, which to me indicates these may be battles we don’t need to fight, and more of our energy should be focused on the wars that must be won.

The most important and hazardous conflict we face today is the War on Sin, against the power and influence of Satan.  On this battlefront, there’s no question we are under attack as a society, as a church, as families, as individuals, and we must defend ourselves.  Like many fortifications, including Fort McHenry, where military engineers construct multiple lines of defense, we have enjoyed the protection of outer walls for many years.  Laws, moral codes and societal norms have kept most evil influences at bay, but over time these have all proven ineffective and the barbarians are now at the gate of our inner sanctuaries.  In many instances, the Church and our homes are the only defenses we have left.

So, what do we need to do to keep our families and freedoms safe?

The old adage that there's safety in numbers certainly applies when it comes to the Church.  We know that by following the Savior's true gospel, which is found here in His church, we can fend off many of Satan's attacks.  It is only here in Christ's true Church where we can find the full teachings of His gospel, His true priesthood power, and His appointed prophets and other leaders.  As we gather together to teach each other the gospel, bear our testimonies, and encourage each other to live by gospel precepts, we can stay safe.  I know I've mentioned this to many of you, but the Duportail Ward actually gets its name from Louis Duportail, a Frenchman who served as the Chief Military Engineer of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.  (In Richland, many LDS wards are named for prominent streets within their boundaries.  Having been constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers during the Cold War, most of Richland's streets were named for important US military engineers.)  Duportail designed many of the fortifications used by the American colonists to wear down the superior strength of the British during those battles.  So, I think it's fitting that for members of the Duportail Ward, our ward family can be an effective defense against Satan.

Our home as a fortress - flying our very own 15-star, 15-stripe version of Old Glory

As for keeping our homes safe from harmful influences, I'll quote from Elder Horacio A. Tenorio who spoke on the topic of families as fortresses in the October 1994 general conference:

"Our fortress consists of teaching our children the gospel through the scriptures, establishing the habit of reading them every day as a family, and basing a large part of our conversations on them. It means kneeling together daily to pray and to teach our children the importance of direct, personal communication with our Heavenly Father.

"Our fortress is erected by showing our children, through our example, that the principles and teachings of the gospel are a way of life which helps us find peace and happiness on this earth and provides the strength necessary to withstand the trials and tribulations that come into our lives."

And, as we strive to live righteously, we will be a strength and support to our neighbors and countrymen.  On his deathbed, the prophet Lehi gave this blessing to his son Joseph:  "may the Lord consecrate also unto thee this land, which is a most precious land, for thine inheritance and the inheritance of thy seed with thy brethren, for thy security forever, if it so be that ye shall keep the commandments of the Holy One of Israel."  Later, Lehi’s son Jacob taught his brethren that, “this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.  And I will fortify this land against all other nations.”  But again, these blessings would only come when the people were obedient.

Likewise, in the Book of Alma, Amulek taught his unrighteous neighbors that, "were [it] not for the prayers of the righteous, who are now in the land . . . ye would even now be visited with utter destruction . . . by famine, and by pestilence, and the sword.  But it is by the prayers of the righteous that ye are spared . . .” (Alma 10:22). Through our prayers and the example we set, we have the opportunity and responsibility to bless our fellow citizens with security and freedom.

We use a lot of symbols in the Church to remind us of our Savior and the blessings he has in store for us.  A couple examples I think of are the Sacrament, which reminds us of Christ’s Atonement, and our temples, which remind us of the eternal nature of our lives and families.  Because of the great blessings we enjoy because of our freedoms, I think we should view our nation’s flag with the same level of respect and reverence.

I had the chance several years ago to visit Fort McHenry early on a Sunday morning, and to participate in the daily flag ceremony there.  As directed by law, Fort McHenry flies a small storm flag, also one with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, overnight every night, and then brings it down each morning to be replaced with a larger example.  I was able to help bring the storm flag down, hold it in my arms while waiting for others to raise the daytime flag, and then I was able to help fold it appropriately and hand it back to the Park Ranger.  For me, this was an extremely spiritual experience.  I felt many of the same feelings of gratitude and reverence as I have when visiting Church history sites or attending the temple.

With The Star Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry - August 1996

Before I close, we should also remember that there are many lands around the world whose citizens enjoy many of the same freedoms we do here in America.  I think it's important to recognize that as blessed as we are here, Heavenly Father is no respecter of persons, and he will always bless the righteous, no matter where they live.  We should respect that, to those living in other nations, their flags can represent the same ideals of freedom and peace to them.

So, the next time we fly our flags on national holidays, when we see one passing in a parade, and any time we sing or hear The Star-Spangled Banner, I hope we will take a moment to remember the ultimate source of our freedoms, our Heavenly Father.  And, that we can remember His Son who gave his life not just for his country, but for all of us, His brothers and sisters.  And I hope that we will remember to raise our own spiritual flags - our testimonies and obedient examples - for all to see, that our friends and neighbors will also be reminded to Whom they can look for true freedom.

When we finally come to recognize, as a nation and as individuals that Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, are the true source of our freedoms, only then can we truly expect that, “the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave, o’er the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.”

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

White Pine Thursday (Sequel to Pleasant Valley Wednesday)

Approaching Harvard.  Any better place to truly experience North Idaho? I don’t think so.

On Thursday, the first morning in my campsite, I awoke, put on clean clothes and heated some water for an easy breakfast of instant oatmeal. I was staying at Little Boulder campground; about 25 miles east of Moscow, ID, and this would be my base of operations for the next three days while attending the Milwaukee Road Historical Association convention in Moscow. I was too cheap to stay at the convention hotel, or any hotel for that matter, and besides, the campground was once a Potlatch
Lumber Co. logging camp.

Is there any better place to truly experience North Idaho? I don’t think so.

The reason the 2012 MRHA convention was held in Moscow was for Milwaukee Road fans to become more familiar with my favorite shortline railroad, the Washington, Idaho & Montana Ry. The Milwaukee operated the WI&M for almost two decades, from 1962 to 1980, but it was originally built and operated by the same Potlatch Lumber Co. whose former camp I now, temporarily, called home .

The convention would begin later that afternoon, and in making plans for this trip, I allowed myself to hope that a train would be running on the WI&M that morning. Only the westernmost 17 miles of the WI&M still exist as an operating railroad, and currently, trains of the Washington & Idaho Railroad (WIR) make a once-weekly trip out of the town of Palouse, WA to serve the Bennett Lumber Co. mill near the end of track at Harvard, ID. I had been successful the day before in photographing a train operating on former Union Pacific tracks in the Western Palouse region, and now I was hoping for equal success on the eastern fringes of the Palouse.

To eliminate most of my uncertainty, I had made a phone call to friends at the WIR office the day before who put me in touch with Joel King, the engineer assigned to make the WI&M run. In a short telephone conversation, Joel assured me he had just tied his train down in Palouse earlier that day, and was planning to be there again at 7 a.m. on Thursday to run out as far as the end-of-track at Harvard.

As I drove west toward Palouse, I felt both relief and surprise that the weather was perfect for chasing and photographing the train. Joel showed up right on time and invited me up into the locomotive cab to chat while he did a little switching on the ex-NP tracks in Palouse. He offered to let me ride all the way out to Harvard, and as great as that would be, I took a rain check. For me, having good photos of the train in action is just as important as the experience of a cab ride, and it’s kind of hard to photograph a train you’re riding. Instead I climbed down and took up a position to start snapping pictures as soon as he rolled onto the WI&M tracks.

A little switching on the ex-NP tracks in Palouse

Leading this day’s train was MRLX 6304, the Canadian built (and rebuilt) FP-9Au that the WIR leased from a private party.  The 6304 looked out of place on the WI&M for at least two reasons:  its Southern Pacific "Black Widow" paint scheme is clearly out of place in the Inland Northwest, and it really seemed odd to witness a streamlined former passenger unit hauling a lowly train of lumber flatcars. But, I did have to agree with another WIR engineer who once told me "she is easy on the eyes."  And, although its lines are much more angular, I found the trailing unit, GP-30m #20, to be almost as sleek as the F-unit.

The run east from Palouse was uneventful for Joel. He took it easy at the prescribed 10

mph with nine empty centerbeam flatcars bound for the Bennett mill and a single pole rack billed for Harvard. I followed along and shot photos from several of my usual locations, plus a few new ones. While waiting for the train to appear just west of Kennedy Ford, a small blue car pulled alongside. From its WI&M vanity plates, I knew immediately it was Dave Zuhn, my friend from Minnesota who had driven out for the convention!

Dave was also out to see the train, so we teamed up for the rest of the morning, and I had a chance to share some favorite photo locations with him as the train rolled under US Highway 95 and through the town of Potlatch, where its namesake lumber company once operated a massive sawmill before dismantling it in 1983.  At least the old WI&M depot is still in place, freshly restored and right alongside the tracks where it belongs

Continuing east, we stopped a few miles beyond Princeton at a spot where the tracks and the highway are particularly close for another photo opportunity. Tom, the train’s conductor, pulled up behind us in his pickup truck, and we watched him approach the tracks just as the train appeared and came to a stop. We could see Tom and Joel talking to each other, and it became clear there was a concern about the track just ahead of the engine. Tom got down on his hands and knees with radio in hand, and watched closely as the locomotive began to inch ahead, talking Joel slowly across the bad spot. Once the engine was across, the speed increased slightly, but the concerned look on Tom’s face didn't go away until the entire train had passed without derailing. I learned later from Tom that the combination of a bad weld joint and weakened ties on a curve was the cause for their concern.

Talking Joel slowly across the bad spot

Another few miles down the line, the train rolled right past the switch leading into the Bennett Lumber complex. Four more miles past the mill, the train arrived at Harvard, staying on the main track while Tom cut the engines off. There were two pole loads waiting on the siding, and the engines promptly rolled forward past the switch, then backed onto the loaded cars. Tacking them onto the rest of the train, the crew next moved back on the siding to "run around" the rest of the train. Watching the train use this siding was a first for me.

Switching at Harvard - a first for me

They next cut the empty log rack off the rear of the train and pushed it ahead to a spot on the siding for loading the following week. Then, slowly backing off the siding again, the crew coupled the locomotive set onto the west end of the train. Joel performed the necessary steps to set GP-30m #20 up as the lead locomotive, then hollered down with another cab ride offer.  Since we were driving my car, I passed again, but pointed to Dave.  He hesitated at first, but the urge was too strong, and soon Dave was sitting in the fireman’s seat.  After a short delay, the train was underway back toward the Bennett mill.

Dave Zuhn in the fireman's seat - the urge was too strong

Right where the tracks cross Highway 9 just west of Harvard, a highway crew was out re-painting the road stripes at that intersection.  Backing off to let the train safely pass, the foreman asked me how come they were using an old Amtrak engine on the train.  He mentioned that he once worked for Burlington Northern, and this seemed pretty unusual to him.  I didn't bore him with too many details (that this was a former Canadian National engine, not Amtrak), but I explained the situation the best I could before heading off down the highway.

Once the train reached the spur to the Bennett mill, Dave hopped off.  Tom cut off the two pole cars at the train’s rear, and Joel pulled the train forward.  Tom threw the switch, and Joel then shoved the cut of centerbeams back into the mill’s loading areas.

At this point, the crew was almost done for the day, so Dave and I headed back toward Potlatch for him to grab his car, and to both head down to Moscow to check in at the convention desk.  I found the MHRA convention very enjoyable; I learned a lot and made several new friends.  Riding a caboose across Benewah Lake on the old Milwaukee mainline was exciting, too!  But for me, very little can beat the thrill of following a working freight train along the tracks of the old WI&M Railway through my favorite part of North Idaho.

Riding a caboose across Benewah Lake on the old Milwaukee mainline was exciting, too!

Epilogue:  I had another opportunity the following summer to chase the WI&M freight in both directions between Palouse and the Bennett mill.  This time, I was finally able to share the cab of GP-30m #20 with Joel on the westbound run from Kennedy Ford to Palouse!

Joel died unexpectedly a few months later.  The sense of loss I felt was nothing compared to that of his family and closer friends, but it was still real.  Joel was a great guy, and I wish I'd had more time to become better friends with him.

Trains still run on the WI&M, and I hope I'll have more chances to chase them.

Joel King at the controls of FP-9Au 6304

Pleasant Valley Wednesday

The former Union Pacific Pleasant Valley Branch in the Heart of the Palouse

In late June of 2012, I had the extremely rare opportunity (for me, at least) to spend several days in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington and North Idaho with the express purpose of “chasing trains”.  Normally, my paid vacation days are spent on family-related travel, so having a few days to my own devices is not that common and I intended to take full advantage of the situation.

The primary reason for my visit was to attend the Milwaukee Road Historical Association being held in Moscow, Idaho that year.  The convention was scheduled to begin on Thursday afternoon (June 28th), but I had arranged to leave my home in Richland, WA already Wednesday morning to maximize my time in the Palouse.  I had two primary targets in mind for the trip:  1) the former Union Pacific lines leading east out of Hooper, WA, now owned by the State of Washington and operated by the Palouse River & Coulee City RR (PCC), and 2) the former Washington, Idaho & Montana Ry (WI&M) line between Palouse, WA and Harvard, ID, which is currently operated by the Washington & Idaho RR (WIR).

I knew that both railroads operated these particular routes infrequently, usually only once per week.  I had done some prior intelligence gathering, and based on this and prior experience, I guessed the PCC train would be running its “Grain Shuttle” on Wednesday and the WIR would serve the WI&M on Thursday.  Still, there was no guarantee that I would be in the right place and time to follow either train.  Railfanning the Palouse always involves a great deal of uncertainty and calculated risk.

Sidebar:  The “Grain Shuttle” program helps ensure that local wheat farmers have access to enough State-owned (or leased) grain hoppers that they can move the bulk of their harvest to market with few interruptions.  And, by hauling full “grain blocks” of 26 or 52 cars, using Union Pacific trackage rights from Hooper to a barge loading facility on the Columbia River at Wallula, the railroad is able to charge farmers the lowest possible rates.  In operation, the shuttle runs on a weekly cycle; the empty hoppers run from Wallula to Hooper on Mondays and then are delivered to the loading elevators east of there on Tuesdays.  After the hoppers are loaded on Tuesday afternoon and evening, the Wednesday train gathers the loads and brings them down to Hooper for another mainline run on Thursday back to the barge elevators at Wallula.

Washington State's "Grain Shuttle” program helps local wheat farmers move their harvest to market 

Since there are no other trains operating on the PCC’s Hooper lines any other time of the week, Wednesday would be my best shot for witnessing the shuttle train in action on the grain branches.  Rising ridiculously early that morning, I departed Richland about 3:30 am to try and arrive at Hooper close to 5 am.  Again from previous experience, I knew the PCC crew likes to get an early start, and I didn’t want to miss any of the action.  Once at Hooper, however, the next step is figuring out where to find the train.  The rails to the east run parallel with Highway 26 as far as the turnoff to La Crosse, and then country roads are sufficient to keep the line toward Winona in view for all but the last couple miles. 

Not seeing the train along this portion of the route was a good thing, since my main photography locations were farther to the east.  By the time I reached Winona, the sun was up and the crew was likely on their power, already working their way back from whichever elevator had been their last stop the day before.

The catch is that the line splits in two at Winona.  The southernmost of the two routes still has tracks in place as far as Colfax, but the only customers are the elevators at Endicott, Thera, Diamond and Mockonema (there’s also a fertilizer dealer at Mockonema that receives chemical tank cars).  This was once Union Pacific’s mainline to Spokane, but it has been downgraded and abandoned in sections over the years.  It’s been a long, long time since the last PCC train made its way down the hill into Colfax, and that’s too bad.

The more northerly route is the former Pleasant Valley branch, which once served as a low-grade bypass around the Palouse River canyon where Colfax lies.  The PV terminates now at Thornton and serves elevators there and at Sunset, St. John and Willada.  In addition, there are two elevators at Winona itself that ship via the grain shuttle.

So, with two possible lines the train could be running on, and the clock ticking, knowing which way to turn here required a quick bit of reasoning:  Since the crew probably spotted empty hoppers at one or more elevators on each of these two legs of the branch yesterday, there was a good chance I’d see the train on both routes at some point during the day.  The two or three locations where I most hoped to photograph the train were on the PV, and if I missed out on those shots because I was putzing along the Colfax line to find a train that’s not there, I would kick myself later.  However, if I missed out on photos along the Colfax line while searching for the train on the PV, it would not be as great a loss.  So, I headed along the PV toward St. John.

Reaching St. John with no sight of the train so far was a good thing, I hoped.  I have been fooled before.  I continued north toward Sunset and Thornton, when I spied a locomotive’s headlights heading toward me with another engine and a handful of loaded hoppers in its wake.  After a cautious U-turn, the chase was on!!

Of course, chase is a relative term.  With allowed speeds of about 15 mph on the rail line, it was not difficult to take a few photos as the train passed one location, and then move forward to the next potential photo site without any real hurry.  The first stop for the train was at St. John to add a few more hoppers to its train.  The track arrangement here was not easy for the crew to negotiate, and it required several moves that temporarily stopped traffic on Highway 23, right at the apex of the horseshoe curve the tracks form as they wind through town.

 Temporarily stopping traffic in St. John at the apex of a horseshoe curve

The Palouse River & Coulee City draws its locomotives from a fleet owned by its parent company, Watco.  These all carry the same WAMX initials, but otherwise have little family resemblance, wearing a wide variety of paint schemes from former owners, including Amtrak silver, BN Cascade Green, and Watco’s once-standard orange and black.  I was very pleased to find that the lead locomotive on today’s train still wore Union Pacific’s Armor Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray.  With all the possible color combinations the WAMX fleet could produce, it was very nice I could capture a little of the appropriate color on a former UP line.

I could easily see that the lead locomotive, now numbered WAMX 5012, was a former Chicago & Northwestern GP-50 that became part of the UP fleet when they absorbed the C&NW.  The signature bell mounted on the nose was a dead giveaway.  However, although I’ve often seen this type of bell referred to as a “gong” bell because of its shape, the tinging sound it made was decidedly less than gong-like.  For the record, the trailing engine, WAMX 3523, was a former Pennsylvania Railroad GP-35 that previously carried the number PCC 2353.  (“Fun Fact”:  In March of 2000, I had an article published on the PCC in Railfan & Railroad Magazine.  PCC 2353 was the lead locomotive on the cover photo of that issue.)

With the train all made up at St. John, the crew prepared to make its run out of the valley and over the modest-height hills surrounding St. John.  I moved on ahead to a choice vantage point overlooking the tracks as they form an S-curve near the summit of the climb.  I was very pleased with how the resulting photos turned out; I only wish the train had been long enough to really string out through the curve.

"I only wish the train had been long enough to really string out through the curve"

From there, I continued leapfrogging the train on its journey with only a brief pause while the crew switched the large elevator at Willada to fill out their train with additional grain loads.  Once they arrived at Winona, the crew dropped most of the train on the PV leg of the wye track, and then pulled a single shuttle car from the small elevator in Winona itself.

At this point, the crew tied down their locomotives and hopped in their highway vehicle.  Following typical shortline operations in this part of the country, the crew consists of an engineer and conductor.  However, the engineer is usually by himself in the locomotive cab while the conductor drives along the parallel highway, running ahead to set up switching moves and to perform frequent safety roll-bys at each road crossing.

Having a truck available increases the crew’s flexibility as evidenced by their next move.  I followed the crew vehicle east a few miles past Endicott to Thera, where two more locomotives were tied down with a string of freshly loaded hoppers on the elevator track.  I quickly realized the crew had brought four engines up from Hooper to Winona the day before, and then had split their power to drop empties along both branches.

Picking up more loaded hoppers at Endicott

Now following the same scheme in reverse, the crew started up these two motors and proceeded with coupling up to the loaded cars.  Trundling west now at the same 15mph pace, the crew stopped at Endicott to pick up more cars before completing this leg of their run at Winona.  As on the PV line, I found multiple locations to photograph this train due to its slow speed.

At Winona, the crew did not hesitate to couple up all four locomotives, with the 5012 still in the lead, and merge their two trains into one.  They moved so quickly, in fact, that before I knew it I had missed out on a chance to snap one of my desired photos.  There is a high bluff to the south of the wye track at Winona, and it’s from this vantage that another photographer, Blair Kooistra, shot a photo in 1992 that I admire greatly and had hoped to replicate during this trip.  But, by the time I found the right spot, the crew already had the full length of their train strung around the wye with the engines well past the spot where Blair shot the earlier train.  As a consolation, I got some good shots of the four engines heading up the Palouse River Valley, one of which was later printed in Trains Magazine.

"The crew already had the full length of their train strung around the wye..."

From here, I raced ahead to photograph the train approaching and cruising through La Crosse.  I really wanted to shoot photos on the route back to Hooper, but I also didn’t want to press my luck.  My plan for the rest of the weekend hinged on staying in a particular campground in the mountains east of Moscow, and there was some concern that if I didn’t head that way soon, I might miss out on a campsite.  So, as the train headed under Highway 26 and made a right turn toward Hooper, I made a left at the highway instead, hoping that all my other plans would go as smoothly as they had this day.  I was not to be disappointed.

To be continued . . .

A Railfan's "Bachelor Party" Road Trip

I don't even want to imagine what the phrase Bachelor Party Road Trip may mean to most other young men, but for a railfan it means putting as many miles behind you as possible and bagging as many train photos as possible before the realities of marriage, family and career crush your full railfan aspirations forever.

 

Magma Arizona Baldwins - the Real Purpose for My Trip

School was letting out in mid-April, 1990 and Nici and I were planning to marry the following July.  I’d been talking with James Bradley, who was now living in Phoenix and managing a sub shop for William, our old boss.  James had invited me down to stay with him for a week, and when I found out that Stan, one of my apartment mates, was also driving down to Phoenix when school let out, the plan came together.  There was a girl in our ward from Flagstaff, and the three of us agreed to caravan down that far with her, have dinner with her family, and then Stan and I would continue down to Phoenix.  I rode down with Stan as far as Panguitch or Kanab, and then I switched over to ride with the girl.  One thing I remember from that part of the trip was laughing when Stan got a speeding ticket just after crossing into Arizona at Page.  As planned, we had dinner with her family in Flagstaff, and then Stan and I headed south and he dropped me off at James’ apartment.

I don’t remember in exactly what order things happened.  There were some limitations on our activities in that James still had to be at the sub shop much of the time.  A couple times I was able to take his car and look around Phoenix a little, including checking out a couple hobby shops.  I remember there being Circle Ks on nearly every corner, it seemed.  James had a girlfriend, and she spent some time with us.  One time we went out to a dance club with her, and afterward she and James got into an argument about something.  He was really PO’d about it after she left, so I suggested that maybe this was a good time to get out of town and go chase some trains.  Phoenix is a lot like Boise in that the freight mainline (SP, in the case of Phoenix) bypasses the city several miles to the south, with a secondary passenger line looping up into the city.  We did watch Amtrak run on that line once in the dark (with two GE P-30CH’s – the usual power for the Sunset Limited at the time), but for mainline freight action, we would need to go down to the small town of Maricopa.

One problem was that the radiator in James’ Chevette was leaking pretty badly, and he had to keep topping it off when he drove.  We went to the sub shop and filled an empty 5-gallon salad oil container with water, and after topping off the radiator, we headed south.  About half way to Maricopa (16 total miles away), the engine started to overheat and we used half of our water jug to re-fill it.  Of course, by the time we got to Maricopa, we had lost all that water and would not be able to go any farther without water.  It was too late to get any that night, so we parked in a lot alongside the tracks, and crashed in the back of his car where we had placed a thin mattress for that purpose before we left Phoenix.

The next morning, we woke up knowing we had to figure out how to get out of town.  Fortunately, there was a small repair shop just opening up down the highway.  We drove in there, explained our predicament to the guy, and he was all over getting us taken care of.  He pulled the radiator right there and proceeded to locate and solder the leak.   I walked over to the small convenience store and bought a box of doughnuts, a quart of milk, and a bottle of Pepsi for my breakfast.  Good thing I had the Pepsi, because I needed it to rinse out my mouth when the milk turned out to be sour!  By the time I had the sour milk taste out of my mouth, the radiator was back in the car and we were ready to go.   Best part – they guy only charged James $10 for the fix!  Don’t know if he ever did, but James promised himself he would always take his car down to this guy for any future repairs.

Anyway, now that the car was drivable, we decided to continue south and try to visit Mexico.  We got on the freeway, turned south at Tucson and were soon in Nogales, AZ, and then across the border to Nogales, Mexico.  It was funny how obvious the differences were in the look of the two neighboring cities.  We drove through town, found the railroad station and engine servicing facility.  We took photos of a few odd-ball locomotives (I’m still not sure exactly what they were – probably home-shop rebuilds with EMD and Alco parts intermixed).  We tried to continue south to a rail junction we saw on the map named Benjamin Hill, but it was too much of a hassle to figure out the auto insurance we would need to buy, so we just looked around Nogales a little before crossing the border again.

At the check-in station on the US side of the border, we ran into a little trouble.  The Border Patrol agent wasn’t much older than we were, and the exchange went something like this:

“Are you both US citizens?”

“Yes.”

“How long were you in Mexico?”

“About an hour.”

“Did you buy anything?”

“No.”

“What was the purpose of your trip?”

“Watching trains.”

Pause . . .

“Pull over there!”

It seems that two guys in their early twenties driving all the way down to Nogales just to watch trains for an hour didn’t quite fit into his idea of normal behavior.  Of course, the mattress and blankets in the back of the car would’ve made a great hiding place for whatever contraband we could be smuggling across the border, so I really don’t blame the guy for flagging us for further inspection.  The more experienced agent that searched the car and questioned us more in depth could easily see that we were what we said we were.  He accepted our story about watching trains, and the presence of some copies of Trains and Model Railroader that we also had in the car reinforced our explanation.  He did look through our things, checked under the mattress, and peeked in a couple of the obvious hiding locations in the body of the car.  Then he wished us luck, waved us through, and got on with the business of busting real smugglers.

On the way back, between Tucson and Phoenix, we saw several trains on the SP mainline, and we even made a cab visit with a crew who was waiting in the siding.

Mainline Power on the SP Between Tucson and Maricopa

Another important side-trip we made, and the real purpose for my trip to Arizona, was to go up toward Superior to see if we could witness the Magma Arizona Railroad operating any of their Baldwin diesels.  We went up there one day in the middle of the week.  We drove up all the way to Superior first, and went into the office at the copper mine.  James tried to bluff his way into the shop for pictures, and that attempt failed, but they were helpful enough to let us know the train had headed downhill earlier and could still be down at Magma Junction, their connection with the SP.

 

We scurried back down there, and somehow found the right road to get to the junction.  I was hoping to see their big six-axle road switcher (DRS-6-6-1500 number 10), but instead the train had their two S-8 switchers (numbers 8 and 9), MU’ed in “elephant style”.  They did some switching to put their train together, and then they headed back up the hill to Superior.  We photographed them at several locations, and followed the dirt road that paralleled the tracks up a desert canyon on their approach to Superior.  I wish I’d had a video camera to record the spectacle, because the engines had been “shotgunned” (or whatever they called it), with one exhaust stack for each cylinder, and as they ran, you could see individual puffs of exhaust over the stacks as each cylinder fired in its correct order.  The sound was pretty good too.  We took lots of photos, and most of mine turned out as well as could be expected.  Although I was disappointed at not seeing the DRS running that day, in retrospect, watching two Baldwin switchers working in tandem like that was probably an even more rare experience.

Dodging Cactus and Cattle

Making a Run for the Superstitions

At the end of the week, and per our original plan, James and I left Phoenix in his car and drove up through Kingman, Hoover Dam, and Las Vegas to get to Provo.  We stopped at Kingman to photograph a Santa Fe GP-20/GP-30 power set in the yard, and to watch an ATSF train climb eastbound up through the canyon west of there.  At Henderson, NV, we passed Railroad Pass Casino, which we took as a positive omen.  However, we ended up losing several dollars at the blackjack table.  Finally, early the next morning, we pulled into Provo.  I bought James one last tank of gas, and he dropped me at my apartment where my car was waiting, before he took off.

One problem with my trip to Phoenix was that I financed the whole thing on my new Discover credit card.  It had a $1000 limit, and I hadn’t kept very close track of my finances.  At one point, I even loaned James som cash, because he couldn’t afford to drive me up to Provo.  My first order of business before leaving Provo was to withdraw some more cash against my card to pay for gas and food.  Guess what…the card was now maxed out and I couldn’t get any cash!!

Knowing I may be stranded without some gas money, I headed up to the BYU Bookstore to commit a crime.  Sort of.  The bookstore had a policy of cashing students’ checks up to a $75 maximum.  I knew my Zion’s Bank checking account was empty, but I went ahead and cashed a check against that account, hoping I’d find some way to cover it later before the check cleared.  This was on a Friday, so I knew that would give me time.  Fortunately, this was in the day when you could still drive from Provo to Spokane in a ’72 Galaxie for less than $75.  Good luck doing that today!  Even then, I probably didn’t have much left for food, but I don’t remember what I did to avoid starvation on my trip.

On my way north through Utah, I took a side trip out to the Golden Spike Monument at Promontory (my first time – I’ve been back at least twice since then), but otherwise the trip to Nampa was uneventful and I found Shad Roe’s house without any real trouble.  Shad was a former missionary companion, and he was also in the process of courting a Danish girl he’d met on his mission.  (They ended up getting married, too – I visited them in ’93 while they lived near Aarhus – and then they divorced.  But that came a lot later.)  Shad and I stayed up and chatted for a while before I went to sleep.  When I woke up there the next day, Shad had already left for work.  But, his mom fed me breakfast and saw me on my way.

From there, I drove north toward Horseshoe Bend and continued along the Payette and Salmon River canyons, up over White Bird Pass, across the Camas Prairie, down to the Clearwater at Lapwai, then back up the Potlatch River to Kendrick, over to Moscow, and then across the Palouse to Spokane.  Being a Saturday, I didn’t see any trains running this day, but I did observe the route of the UP branch to Cascade, and speculated how that line could have connected to the Camas Prairie RR to form a direct Spokane to Boise rail link.  I don’t think it could really have worked, but it was fun to think about.  Also, driving from Lewiston to Moscow through Juliaetta and Kendrick let me see the embargoed P&L line before it was pulled up.  At Colfax, I managed to photograph a pair of UP (ex-WP) locomotives idling with a former MoPac caboose.  Although it was possible the crew was eating lunch somewhere and that if I waited longer, they  may have returned to complete their run to Spokane.  But it had already been a long, eventful day, and I was ready to go home and get some rest!

UP in Colfax

The next morning, I had to explain to Mom and Dad my financial predicament.  They advanced me $75, and on Monday, I drove over to Coeur d’Alene to the nearest branch of Zion’s Bank to see if I could cover my “bad” check.  Although the teller there couldn’t place the funds into my account directly (we still hadn’t figured out true interstate banking by then), she did forward them to ZB in Utah right away, and somehow flagged my account to let it know the funds were on the way.  Either way, it must have worked, because I never heard any more about it.

Paradise Paved

This is from an editorial piece I wrote in November, 2009, in my capacity as editor of "White Pine Route Quarterly" a publication of the Washington, Idaho & Montana Ry. History Preservation Group.

“They paved paradise, and put in a parking lot.”  These lyrics from the classic Joni Mitchell tune “Big Yellow Taxi” came to mind as I drove home from a mid-September railfan excursion to North Idaho.  For railroad enthusiasts, this sentiment usually applies when a favorite rail line has been abandoned.  Of course, railroad abandonment has been going on nationwide over the last half century, so you’d think we’d have gotten used to it by now.  Hardly.



Paradise Paved Over - Former Milwaukee Road Elk River Branch near Bovill, ID

The cover story for my trip to North Idaho was to meet with Don Somers and discuss some HPG business.  Our real motive, however, was to photograph the log trains that the St. Maries River RR has operated for many years between the log yard at Clarkia, ID and the Potlatch Corp. mill at St. Maries.  The STMA’s log traffic on this northern remnant of the former Milwaukee Road Elk River Branch represented the last vestige of common carrier railroad logging in North Idaho, if not in the entire nation.

I’d heard rumors that this traffic might end soon, possibly late this year, so Don and I hoped to see a train on that line before it was too late.  But, even before I left home, we learned it was already too late.  A news report, and corroboration from local STMA fans, indicated that Potlatch Corp. closed the Clarkia log yard on August 25^th.  The mill remains open, but logs are now delivered directly from the harvesting areas by truck.  The STMA continues to run trains of finished lumber 2-3 days a week from St. Maries to the UP interchange at Plummer Jct., but there will be no more “road trains” south to Clarkia.  Ever, according to STMA management.

Despite this bad news, I went anyway, and together with Don and Jack Coyner, drove the length of the Clarkia branch to see what was left to see.  Not much.  We did see evidence of a “cleanup” train that ran earlier in the week, and I understand that the final cleanup train ran the week after our trip.  Bad timing all around on our part!  We understand that the tracks between Clarkia and Bovill will soon be removed completely, while the future of the rest of the line looks pretty bleak.

Fortunately, this trip was not all doom and gloom.  One item that caught my attention was that the former WI&M depot site at Palouse, WA has been made over into an RV park.  Under different circumstances, this could also be a big disappointment.  However, the depot has been gone for many years, and only a patch of weeds has occupied the space since then, so an RV park is quite an improvement.  If I ever own an RV, I will certainly reserve a site right on top of the actual depot location when I visit Palouse.

Another positive point I took home from my trip is that I was able to photograph trains from four different railroads still serving the region:  a Palouse River & Coulee City RR train parked on the ex-UP line at Hooper, WA; a W&I RR train parked at Palouse (Both the W&I and PCC are currently running trains at night due to daytime track maintenance. Both will likely resume normal hours when winter sets in.); a STMA switch engine at St. Maries assembling the next day’s train to Plummer Jct.; and a UP train switching the Stimson mill and STMA interchange at Plummer before heading north to Spokane.  Railroading in the Palouse may not be what it once was, but it ain’t dead yet!




Palouse River & Coulee City RR train parked on the ex-UP line at Hooper, ID

Washtinton & Idaho RR train parked at Palouse, WA



STMA crew assembling the next day’s train at St. Maries, ID

Not all doom and gloom:  Union Pacific at Plummer Jct, ID

Thinking about the Clarkia line again, I did see a train on those tracks once, back in 1996.  It was my first visit to the area after several years living in Michigan, and I was intent on reacquainting myself with the WI&M.  While following Highway 3 south toward Bovill, I saw the headlight of a northbound STMA train approaching Fernwood.  I stopped for a moment, shot a short video of the passing train, and then drove back to the Fernwood depot to photograph the train as it rumbled past.  Then, stupidly, I continued south on the highway toward Bovill, even though I knew there were no trains running there.  I can still hear the voice in my head telling me that it would be OK to let this one go; I could always come back and chase another of these log trains on a later trip.

 

Fernwood, ID, June 1996:  Northbound Clarkia Logger



Logs by Rail, a Rare Sight Anywhere But North Idaho



Two Anachronisms in 1996 - a Caboose and a Railroad Depot

This is where Joni Mitchell chimes in again, “. . . you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone . . .”