McCue in the early 1980's

Train coming around bend on the downgrade nearing the old McCue Siding

Locomotives starting to cross bridge #10 which spans creeks that comes from McCue Spring in Pegg Canyon.




Tail end of train crossing bridge #10



BN EMD GP-9 Locomotives #1804 & #1767 on drowngrade leaving McCue and headed for the tunnel down by the falls.




Caboose having just passed through McCue



Up ahead the front end of the train ready to cross bridge #9 and enter the tunnel

Pictures taken by Alan Loebsack

Withrow, Wa

1984 photo

A difference of 24 years

Photo locations at the Kelly Davis Crossing about 1.75 miles south of Alstown, Wa. Upper photo showns GP-9 #1804 and #1805 crossing bridge #33 on the downgrade.  Lower photo shows only pilings remaining.

1984 photo (Taken by Alan Loebsack)

2008 photo

Douglas, WA

GP9 #1804 crossing Highway 2 at Douglas in the late winter of 1984. Picture taken by Alan Loebsack

Not ready for the torch just yet

Class E-13 Baldwin Locomotive built in 1896 for the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway as their #10. Acquired by Great Northern Railway, renumbered as #949 in June 1908, put out of service in 1932 and scheduled for the scrap yard in 1934. It sat in the Spokane’s Hillyard yard dead for 2 years before the Waterville Railway Co. purchased it in 1934 and saved it from the torch. The WRY Co. placed it into service for the next 13 years and in May 1947 it was eventually scrapped. This locomotive was replaced by a small diesel locomotive. One year later the WRY Co. Line would be washed out and never rebuilt. Top photo shows the locomovtive in 1932 covered in snow at the Hillyard yard and the bottom photo shows the locomotive in service in 1936 on the Waterville Line.

Great Northern AFE's

Info compiled from Great Northern Railway Historical Society Archives


Appledale

1912 Install standard mail crane one mile north of Appledale
1913 Place car body for depot
1936 Place riprap and straighten stream @ bridge #3 two miles north on main line ($145.00)
1938 Remove mail crane ($1.00)
1940 Remove 1785’ of side track ($320.00)

Palisades
1911 Install 4975’ of right of way fence ¼ mile west of Palisades
1911 Install wooden mail crane
1926 Between Palisades and Alstown, furnish and place 20,000 S.H. Tie Plates, replacing
Glendon Tie Plates on curves. ($3,390.00)

McCue
1935 Replace 5,000 No.G-58 Tie Plates with S.H. 5-58 plates on curves between McCue and Alstown ($724.00)
1963 Relay main line track with S.H. 112# rail ($30,900.00)

Alstown
1912 Install a private crossing ½ mile south of Alstown
1968 Renew bridge #37.5

Douglas
1910 Construct 48’ x 48’ one-pen stockyard ($200.00)
1912 Construct public highway 1,090’ long ($360.00)
Withrow
1915 Move water tank and 400 gallon gas tank to Bainville, Montana ($230.00)

Mansfield
1911 Place private crossing one mile southwest of Mansfield
1914 Place a portable incline unloading platform ($65.00)

Misc. AFE’s along line
1911 Install telephone in baggage car on Mansfield Branch Line ($23.00)
1928 Columbia River Siding to Mansfield, furnish and place 5,000 S.H. 5-58 Tie Plates on curves ($850.00)
1938 Columbia River Siding to Mansfield, place 6,309 S.H. Rail Anchors ($330.00)



Great Northern Railway AFE’s on the Waterville Railway Co.

Waterville
1909 Construct additional ten miles of telegraph line on the Waterville Extension
1910 Change four public road crossings on the Waterville Line as ordered by the State Railroad commission ($703.00)
1910 Place riprap, pipe culverts and build bridge trestles ($4,815.00)
1912 Install 15’ mail compartment in baggage car #1012 ($356.00)

Tunnel

1986 photo of the north tunnel portal entrance on the MB line at the Doulgas Creek Falls. This photo was taken a year after the line was offically abandoned by Burlington Northern. A couple of months after this photo was taken, the rails were torn up and shipped to Korea to be melted down.

Palisades, WA

Great Northern Railway maintenance flat car, #X4125 resting on the Palisades Siding next to a fruit warehouse. This car was probably getting ready for use, since the line needed many repairs during the spring months. Photo taken by Mac McCulloch on March 18, 1968. Photo provided by Bob Kelly.


Great Northern Railway Wedge Plow, #X1584 parked at the Palisades Siding on March 18, 1968. This plow was probably assigned to the line to clear large snow drifts up on the plateau in late winter and early spring. Photo was taken by Mac McCulloch when he was just a kid. Photo provided by Bob Kelly.

Waterville Railway Co. Locomotive 949

1949 aerials of the Waterville Railway Co. Bridge locations

Locations of bridge #1 and #2 shown in the aerial are near the "s" curves along highway 2 between Watervlle and Doulgas.

Bridge #3 and #4 are located across Highway 2 from the old DOT rock quarry between Waterville and Douglas.



Bridge #5 is located just south of Douglas. In the photo you can see the engine wye and the Mansfield line that runs parallel to the Waterville Railway.

The Wenatchee Daily World: September 4, 1908

Bridge #21

Duffy Creek is in background.  Photos were taken by the Great Northern Railway looking on the down grade.

Bridge damage caused by 1948 flood

Bridge repaired

2007 photo of the same location as above

Withrow, Wash

1940's look at GN boxcars resting on the Withrow Siding.  View looking east.

Sept. 18, 2009 trip down through Douglas Creek

Snapped a few pictures of the old MB Line while riding my Honada XR650L motorcycle down through Douglas Creek. It was a beautiful hot afternoon with not a soul around. The following pictures are of the line between Slack Canyon and about 2 miles north of Palisades. Enjoy!

Down grade 2 miles north of Palisades near Airplane Canyon

Down grade about 1/2 mile south of the tunnel

Rock cut on the down grade about .25 miles south of the tunnel

Up grade view looking at the south tunnel portal entracne. You can still see a little bit of timber from the tunnel that is exposed out the the hillside.

Standing on top of the tunnel looking on the down grade at the south tunnel portal entrance. Notice the sink hole at the bottom of the picture.

Standing on the upper road looking down at the North tunnel portal entrance

Looking across bridge #9 on the down grade

Down grade view between bridge #10 and #9

Up grade view just after bridge #11

Looking on the down grade across bridge #11

Up grade view .25 mile up from bridge #11

Up grade view across the creek from Mohr Canyon

Aug 2009 photos on the MB Line

I when out for a nice ride on my Honda XR650L and snapped a few pictures of the old grade. These pictures were taken a few miles north and south of Alstown. Enjoy!

Bridge #36 looking on the upgrade south of Alstown

Looking on the down grade at the Kelly Davis Crossing

Standing on top of a rock cut just south of the elevators at Alstown

About a mile north of Alstown looking on the down grade

About a mile north of Alstown looking on the upgrade

looking on the down grade about 2.5 mile north of Alstown



Bridge #39 at Daling's Farm next to their cattle corrals. This would be almost in the middle of Douglas and Alstown.

Snow Plow Wreck

Frederick D. Kelsey (standing with his hand on the gondola car), a Great Northern Railway Superintendent on the Spokane Division from 1915 to 1917, inspects the wreckage of a train near Supplee, Washington. This photo shows a wrecked wedge snow plow, gondola full of coal and a steam locomotive. This train was plowing snow on Great Northern Railway's Mansfield Branch Line when it derailed. Date of photo c. 1915.   Bob Kelly provided photo.

GN Standard Pile Trestle for Branch Lines

These are some construction plans that I drew up in AutoCAD. I reproduced these plans from Great Northern plans dating back to 1921. Enjoy.....

1917 panorama of Great Northern operations in Mansfield, WA

This is a picture that I scanned in and stitched together using a free online program called Auto Stitch. I touched up the photo by using Photoshop. This picture was provided to me by Darold Wax of Wenatchee.