Chasing the Past (Lame title, I know)

Creeping, not all that slowly, down the Deep Creek grade, former Great Northern SDP-40, now Montana Rail Link 290,  has just led its train of grain empties underneath the former GN mainline where it once led the Empire Builder and Western Star passenger trains.

Speaking of “over-railfanned” trains (see my previous blog), another rail operation receiving an increased, but not undue, amount of attention lately is the Eastern Washington Gateway.  The EWG is a shortline railroad offering service to wheat shippers located on the former Northern Pacific “Central Washington” branch from Cheney to Coulee City, WA.  The Washington State Dept. of Transportation owns the route itself, and EWG holds a contract with the State to operate the line.

I grew up in the Spokane area and spent a lot of time between there and Cheney, so I’m very familiar with the “CW” as it exits Cheney and heads west.  However, I always had rotten luck finding trains running that route during the BN era.  Plus, because my familiarity with the line did not extend west of Medical Lake, I never dared take much time seeking out rail activity there.

It wasn’t until I returned to the Northwest as an adult that I learned more.  By this time, the Palouse River & Coulee City RR had acquired the CW from BNSF, and I had become acquainted with some of the PCC staff.  They were willing to clue me in on when and where I could best see a train on the CW, and I tracked down (intended pun?  You be the judge) a couple trains heading out from Cheney.  I even wrote an article about the PCC that ran in the April, 2000 issue of Railfan & Railroad and included coverage of the CW.

More recently, a large number of Spokane-area rail enthusiasts have really latched onto the EWG and have posted their exploits, almost on a daily basis, to the Pacific Northwest Railfans Facebook group.  It also helps that two or more of the EWG crew members are self-avowed “foamers” and are willing to share information with fans on when and where trains will be running on a particular day.

As with many shortlines, a key attraction to the EWG is the “rag-tag fleet” of locomotives they use (see, I managed to fit in a Battlestar Galactica reference!).  When the EWG started up, their roster included a few SD-45 and SD-45-2 models, which was pretty exciting.  As these reached their end of usefulness, the EWG gradually replaced them with other oddball castoffs.

Oddest of the odd, a former Chesapeake & Ohio SD-18 on trade-in trucks from old Alcos, sits in the Western Rail, Inc. yard awaiting its fate.  Attempts had been made to use it on EWG trains, but a series of mechanical breakdowns made that impractical.

These “oddballs” have included GE B23-7, B40-8, C40-8, and EMD GP-7 and SD-40T-2 models in a variety of paint schemes.  The most interesting engine so far was a former C&O EMD SD-18 with a low nose (and trade-in trucks from old six-motor Alcos) still painted in Chessie System colors.  Unfortunately, this one only made one or two trips on the EWG before mechanical problems sidelined it for good.

The EWG does not appear to directly own any of the locomotives they use, as nearly all have carried reporting marks for lessors Northern Illinois & Wisconsin (NIWX) or Western Rail (WRIX).  Conveniently, Western Rail is located right on the EWG’s Geiger Spur and also performs nearly all maintenance on the EWG’s leased power.

I live in the Tri-Cities area now, and travel to Spokane frequently to visit family up there.  But, the usual family oriented one or two-day trips up there have not left much time for serious pursuit of EWG trains.  A couple weeks ago, however, the stars aligned and I found a likely opportunity to chase an EWG train.

I planned on driving up to Spokane on a Saturday morning to help my son with some car repairs he couldn’t complete on his own.  I only expected the work to take an hour or two, and I had commitments to be home in the TC by the evening.  This would leave a 3 to 4-hour period of potential “me” time.  If there happened to be an EWG train running anywhere on the line, I might be able to follow and photograph it.

A week before my chase of the EWG train, I had been through Cheney and had found MRL 290 idling with the other EWG power.  This encounter whetted my appetite for catching the engine in action.

An added level of anticipation came from the possible presence of a “celebrity guest” locomotive at the head end of EWG trains.  With most of its long-term leased locomotives down for a variety of reasons, the EWG had recently signed a short-term lease for a rare SDP-40, Montana Rail Link number 290.  The 290 had originally been built for the Great Northern Railway, in 1967, for use at the head end of the GN’s premier cross-country passenger trains.

Back then, passenger cars required a source of steam to run their heating and cooling equipment.  Steam locomotives provided a ready supply, but diesels for passenger trains needed a separate steam generator.  When the 290 was built, ridership had dropped drastically and very few railroads dared purchase brand new locomotives for passenger service.  EMD’s 3000 horsepower SD-40 model represented state-of-the-art when introduced the year before, and it certainly did not include room for a steam generator inside its narrow hood.

So, when the GN surprisingly sought a passenger version of the SD-40, EMD designers quickly stretched the SD-40 frame slightly, and extended the rear hood to make room for the steam generator.  They designed the hood extension with a flat end, instead of a tapered one, which made the SDP-40 unique among its freight-only sisters.

Only six SDP-40s were built for use in the US, all for the Great Northern.  Only two of these remain in revenue service today, although I can’t immediately confirm the status of the other, so the 290 may truly be the last of the breed.  At some point, probably during BN ownership, the 290 had its steam generator removed, and the related intakes and vents capped.  Also, Livingston Rebuild Center took a cut at rebuilding the 290 to more modern electrical standards after its transfer to MRL.  So, effectively the 290 is just like any other upgraded SD on many other railroads.

But the 290 still stands out in a crowd, thanks as well to its spiffy new coat of MRL blue paint.

So, hoping the 290 would be out on the line running with an EWG train during my available timeslot, I posted a question to the Facebook group the day before, hoping to hear exactly that.  Instead, I heard the opposite.  An EWG crewman replied that a string of loads had just come into Cheney Friday evening, and they did not expect BNSF to deliver more empties until late on Saturday.  The earliest possible EWG train wouldn’t run until Sunday or Monday.

But, within minutes, another group member injected some new info; they had just spotted BNSF dropping that cut of empties at Cheney.  So, my hopes were still alive, but I would have to wait until sometime Saturday to know for sure.

Two BNSF "geeps" lead the Lind Turn through Tokio WA on its return to Spokane.  Both rebuilt engines are old enough to have been Great Northern units, which would be fitting considering the inspiration for the paint scheme they now wear.  However, the leading GP-30 is ex-CB&Q and the trailing GP-35 is ex-ATSF.

 Perhaps it was a good omen that on my drive to Spokane that morning I caught up with BNSF’s eastbound Lind Turn following hot on the FRED of an eastbound stack train.  The power for the Lind Turn was a two unit set of early 2^nd generation GP-models, resplendent in nearly new versions of BNSF’s latest “swoosh” scheme.  I was kind of hoping the leading GP-30 would be of GN heritage, but it turned out to be a former CB&Q unit.  Still no room for complaint.

A few hours later, with my son’s brakes functioning properly again, I was ready to head back.  I looked to the Facebook group again and found good news: a report that the EWG crew was currently assembling their train at Cheney, using the 290 as hoped, preparing to head west within the hour!  Plus, the weather was extremely cooperative with blue skies and lots of sunlight coming from the southwest.  I made my way to Cheney directly.

Arriving at the yard, there was the 290 shuffling the last couple grain cars onto its train.  My timing couldn’t have been better.  Within minutes of my arrival, the train began rolling out of the yard and onto the CW line.  I photographed one run-by of the train as it passed through the commercial area north and east of Cheney, and then headed north (the tracks run almost due north between Cheney and Four Lakes, before bending toward the west) to get ahead of the train for another run-by.

At my next selected photo spot, I noticed I wasn’t the only “foamer” out to catch the action.  I saw at least two guys with cameras, and it turned out I recognized both of them, Charlie Mutschler and Ryan Reed.  I’d make both their acquaintances in the past (although I doubt Charlie remembered me as my 14-year-old self, hanging out in the train department of Columbia Cycle) and had recently corresponded with both.  That was a cool coincidence.

A prototype for everything.  I never thought I would see an SDP-40 pulling a freight train all by itself, but here it is.  Ryan Reed is driving the Subaru - he worried he had "ruined" this shot, but a car on the highway just adds context, I think.

At this point on its journey, 290 was doing the work all by itself.  Probably my favorite photo from the day was one I shot just north of Four Lakes as the train wrapped around a slight curve with only the 290 at the head of the train.  It reminded me I had once considered buying an Athearn “blue box” HO-scale SDP-40, but had refrained because I thought a single six-axle passenger locomotive pulling a freight train by itself around my 4x8 layout would not appear realistic.  As they say, there’s a prototype for everything!

My next encounter with the train turned out much less than I’d hoped.  One thing I remember about the CW line from my youth was it skirting the north edge of North Silver Lake as it approaches the community of Medical Lake.  I’d fished there with Dad many times, so I thought a shot across the lake would be pretty cool.  I parked along the road and walked out onto the causeway that separates Silver Lake from North Silver.  It hadn’t been that long since I’d seen the train at Four Lakes, so I expected it to roll through my viewfinder within minutes.

Much less than I'd hoped.  There are train tracks on the opposite shore of North Silver Lake, but not knowing the crew had work to do before reaching this spot, I lost patience and went looking for the train.  I found it just fine, but not with enough time to return to this vantage.  Hopefully I'll get another chance someday.

For 5 minutes, I waited.  After 10, I wondered.  After 15, I worried.  With no train yet in sight, had I missed something?  Was the train not going out as far west as I’d expected?  Were the tracks not visible from this vantage point, as I believed, and had the train slipped past me?  Finally, after nearly a half-hour, I gave up and headed into Medical Lake.

From there, I doubled back along the other highway, only to find the train calmly rolling toward me.  With some sense of relief that the rest of the chase would continue, I set up for my next shot.  As the train rolled past me again, I realized what had caused the delay.  Ex-UP C40-8 9129 was now coupled behind the 290.  The train had stopped to pick up the 9129 off the Geiger Spur, where it had returned from some down time at Western Rail.

As I stopped north of Medical Lake to get another series of shots, Ryan Reed pulled up alongside me in his Subaru (full of furry companions, as I’ve come to expect from previous communications with Ryan).  Not recognizing me at first, he introduced himself, and after I assured him we already knew each other, we talked trains.  He planned to shoot the EWG train as it crossed under the BNSF mainline a short distance from where we now stood.

The shot he planned to take is one many Spokane-area train chasers attempt, but in this case would be particularly fitting.  The BNSF mainline at this location, the Columbia River Subdivision, is a former Great Northern property.  When the 290 was new, it had crossed the CW line at this location many times at the head of the Empire Builder and Western Star.  Now, a photo of it crossing underneath its former stomping grounds would be a neat memento.

I declined to follow him, though.  I believed it would take considerable time getting into, and out of, the location for that shot.  I see there now are roads permitting better access to that overpass than there were in my Spokane days.  So maybe I’ll try for that shot next time.

Instead, I continued north to US Highway 2, then west to Espanola Rd.  Between Medical Lake and Reardan, the next town of note on the CW route, the tracks drop off the West Plains into a trough formed by Deep Creek, before regaining elevation onto the rolling wheat fields that form the northern edge of the Columbia Plateau.  I was always curious about the loop of track visible just south of US 2, and had decided to check it out for myself.

Climbing up out of Deep Creek

Although it turned out it is nearly impossible to photograph the loop from the sunlit south side without trespassing on someone’s property, I did find an interesting location where the tracks cross MacFarlane Rd. on their way down toward the creek (see top photo).  Again, I’m pretty sure this road crossing wasn’t here when I was younger.  Taking the shot here gave me time to get back to the Espanola Rd. crossing and shoot the train as it worked its way upgrade toward my location.

After ducking under US Highway 2, the EWG train enters the wheat country of Lincoln and Douglas counties.

By the time the train reached this point and ducked under US 2, my available time was running out.  I figured I could follow the train as far as Reardan before heading home.  I took another series of shots at Hite – I stuck to the south side of the tracks, while Ryan showed up and positioned himself on the north side while talking to the train's conductor.  Turns out he was right, my side of the train was in shadow because of the sun’s position.  That was OK, I told him, one bad run-by would only be fair after all the other kick-butt photos I’d taken so far.

Stopping at Reardan, without their grain cars, it appeared the EWG crew would spend some time shuffling the stored well cars there.  I'd been hoping to grab a couple last shots as the train rolled through and out of Reardan, but with this unexpected stop, it was time for me to head home.

On to Reardan, I set up for a classic shot of the train splitting the town’s grain elevators and passing where the old depot used to stand.  Once more, the train seemed to take longer than expected arriving here, and once it did, my hopes for one last great photo came to naught.  To accomplish a little bit of work in Reardan, possibly having to re-position some stored well cars, the crew had dropped their train just east of town and come in light – locomotives only.  I still took a few shots of the 290 with the elevators in the background, but the scene was not what I’d hoped for:  a solid string of grain cars behind the engines.

At this point, I headed south for home.  This particular trip had been more than I had hoped for, despite a few glitches, and there was no way I could complain.  The 290 is still hanging around the EWG until its lease runs out, and whether or not it stays there much longer, I plan to go back.  Based on past performance, the motive power mix will always be interesting.  Also, I have never spent time on the CW east of Wilbur, so maybe I’ll find an opportunity sometime soon to chase a train back from Coulee City.