Harris film 095 - Stevens pass to Yakima Canyon
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2024
- Harris Film 095 - Steven Pass to Yakama Canyon. The video begins in the Stevens Pass area then progresses into the Yakama Canyon along the Yakama River. Harris left no notes as to dates or places. Viewers who are familiar with the area may be able to identify locations. I’m sure the time is mid 1970’s. BN and Milwaukee Road freight is shown as well as Amtrak. As far as I know, the Amtrak route that went through Yakama was eventually rerouted northward to the present route of the Empire Builder by 1981. I think the Amtraks in this film are the North Coast Hiawatha and Empire Builder but I’m not sure which is which.
The first reference to "Location Unknown" and "BN Local Yakima Canyon" are actually along the Columbia River track east of (south of) Wenatchee, WA. "Unknown" is just downriver of Rock Island Dam as well as the "Local". In that era it was known as Columbia Siding (now known as Albus).
Thanks for that info. I thought that looked like the Columbia. I couldn't see any place on the Yakima that looked like that.
I was going to post the location of that particular spot but then I read your comment. Yep, that's the place, Albus. There is a road further up 28 that is named Columbia Siding Rd. Takes you right down to the siding.
The Yakima Canyon is part of the Stampede Pass line, not Stevens Pass.
Thanks for uploading these old film videos! Trains from the 1970's were a little different, and rail fanning & filming the trains were much more carefree! I Couldn't believe the person was either sitting, or standing on top of the east portal of the Cascade tunnel filming the train entering the tunnel. You wouldn't dare do that today without the risk of being arrested.
The Milwaukee road trains on film were probably the last `good' days before they had many derailments in the late 70's which eventually caused them to defunct and literally disappear off the map.
Again, thanks for these rare you-tube videos. The're gems.
So glad you're enjoying them. Thanks for the comment. I wish some of these fallen flags were still around but at least we have images and film/video.
At 17:27 the "Location Unknown" and Milwaukee Road #22 shots are of the depot in Kittitas, WA. The train is running from East to West in the shot, crossing Main Street in the process. On the far side of the track the old power sub station (which has since been removed) is visible situated along Railroad Avenue at the south end of town.
Fantastic video! Thanks for posting this. A lot of great vintage film here.
Thanks for the comment. Glad you like it.
Lee, as always my gratitude for making these available. The scenes around 9:05 to 11:20 include the Trinidad Loop and then onto the plateau around Quincy that forms much of the Columbia Basin. The loop eases the long steady ascent from the Columbia River to Quincy, a climb of about 900 feet. At this time Amtrak was running the North Coast Hiawatha over the former GN Stevens Pass route and the Empire Builder over Stampede Pass. Stevens Pass generally had heavier traffic than Stampede account NP's route between Seattle and Spokane was longer and the summit tunnel had limited clearances. Harris shot these films during early summer when the days are very long. Eastbound passenger trains left Seattle around 3PM and Wenatchee around 7PM, so by the time the eastbound Amtrak passed through Quincy it was close to 8:30PM, yet that scene is fairly well lit. The six-hour drive from Everett and Spokane along the old GN main reveals more scenic variety in a short span than any other state of any size, everything from ocean to snow-covered mountains to deserts and scablands.
Thanks for the amazing details. I need to go back and review this video and edit the master.
@@LeeWitten You are more than welcome. You surmise correctly about the period. The North Coast Hiawatha shown on the ex-GN line ran only until 1979, at which time the Empire Builder switched back to its historical route. The Milwaukee's Pacific Extension was abandoned in 1980. All the BN merger partners' locomotives were repainted from GN, NP, SP&S, or CB&Q (or scrapped) by 1977, so I'm guessing 1976 or 1977. I'm not an Amtrak expert so don't know when they started painting rolling stock in the second scheme seen (Phase II?). I think we're up to about Phase XVII by now.
So great to see some footage of railroading I didn't get to see as I was too young. The Milwaukee Road footage looks like it starts out just west of Ellensberg, WA and the depot and substation looks like Kittitas, WA. The old Northern Pacific line dipped south from Ellensberg and took the Yakima River thru Yakima then East to Pasco and northeast again to Spokane. The Milwaukee went directly east from Ellensberg over the Saddle Mountains and across the Columbia River. BN eventually spun off the old NP to Washington Central RR from Pasco to Cle Elum in the 1980's as they considered the "dip" south and back north to be too lengthy. The NP stampede pass remained dormant for about 15 years until BNSF deemed it necessary again as traffic levels in the Columbia Gorge and Stevens Pass became too much and Stampede was the solution to relieve that. I heard rumor around the early 2000's that BNSF looked into rebuilding over the old Milwaukee grade over Snoqualmie pass due to its easier gradient and over the Saddle range to bypass the "dip" but must have been deemed too expensive a venture. That footage of the Milwaukee is a real treasure as from what I've read in books, trains on the Milwaukee transcontinental usually ran at night thru Washington State.
Thanks for that. You seem to have a good grasp on the history of railroads in your area. I appreciate the contribution. Hope other viewers find it useful.
@@LeeWitten I no longer live up there but remember it well. My first 11 years of life we lived south of Tacoma. Our home was within eyesight of the Milwaukee Road Chehalis Sub. We moved west of Spokane in 1983 and farmed. We travelled a lot to the West side of the state after that and I always intently watched where the roadbed of the Milwaukee once ran adjacent to I-90 in the Ellensburg area. By that time I could only imagine what it looked like to see trains going over that bridge in the video. If it's the one I'm thinking, you could see it still from I-90 just west of Ellensburg. Not sure if it's still standing but likely as its now a trail.
Nice job again Mr. Witten. The sound dubbing of motorcycles in scene one and the bear getting his own theme music were particularly enjoyed.
Yes, I had fun with that motorcycle thing. Found a sound clip and decided to use it. The bear was a neat little diversion.
One of my favorites!
At the 9:45 mark Amtrak is descending the Trinidad Grade on the Former GN main (now BNSF) at Trinidad, WA. This area is a few miles east of the locations I mentioned in the previous comment. 😊
Very good job on digitizing and sound dubbing. Some of the locations could use correcting. Starting with the "unknown location" That was the eastbound North Coast Hi passing the Rock Island Dam at Rock Island, WA. Next scene was the westbound BN local leaving Columbia River Siding. After that was the westbound North Coast Hi at the west end of Quincy siding. The following scene was the NCH meeting a eastbound BN freight at Trinidad. You can see a cut on the original GN grade in the coulee in that scene above the train. After that was the BN freight at the west end of Quincy Siding.
Mr. Harris got to record scenes so grand that the scenery could make an entire train look tiny, and scenes of sadness such as a seemingly endless string of Milwaukee diesels roaring under powerless wires. The latter always makes me wonder how things may have been different had different (better?) decisions been made.
I've heard comments like that before about the Milwaukee. It was a good road.
@@LeeWitten I started life 30 miles south of Milwaukee, so the failure of that one hit me particularly hard. I now live in NW Indiana and see the remains of many other fallen flags (Wabash, Monon, Erie) on a regular basis. They all make me sad!
It is believed by some that some of the top brass back east in Milwaukee management sabotaged the railroad. Albeit management never did like the western extension because the Milwaukee was last to the West and had a difficult time keeping up traffic levels over its existence, the Milwaukee was given a tremendous opportunity in the early 1970's with the inception of the Burlington Northern merger. Complaining to the ICC that the merger would leave the Milwaukee out in the cold, the ICC awarded 11 gateways of traffic in the Northwest. They were given up to 80% of container traffic at Seattle, trackage rights into Portland, OR and connections with Canadian Pacific RR. Since the Milwaukee was the last one west, they were the first railroad with a direct line to Chicago and had the advantage of the shortest route over everyone else. The early 70's saw about 8 transcon trains daily. But oddly, management neglected making maintenance improvements, complaining traffic couldn't justify investing. Things got bad enough by the mid 1970's that shippers avoided the Milwaukee and they were down to 1 daily train each way daily over the western extension and plagued with derailment and slow orders and poor running equipment. It all seemed logical to embargo the West end after the 1977 bankruptcy. But the decision was made before they audited the books. Despite meager traffic levels, it was found that the expenditures for maintenance were doubled. They ran the audit twice because the trustee was surprised by this discovery. Had the numbers been entered correctly, a small profit would have been reflected. The trustee had already made its decision and was too late. Many believe BN sabotaged the Milwaukee as in the 1970's, several top brass positions were filled by people who came from BN. It may look like the Milwaukee was looking for visionaries but May have ended up with moles.
Well dubbed. Videos like this are hard to come by. Too bad Stephen didn't take a sound recorder with him as he took these videos. Those old EMDs sound great.
Stephen Harris must have loved the Yakima River Canyon between Ellensburg and Yakima. Can't say as I blame him. Trains, goats, deer, and other wildlife, and a great place to raft the river. Done that a few times.
Thanks for commenting. Yes, Stephen ranged around the Northwest as well as Utah.
Gorgeous! Miss the mars light so much! Thank you for posting
You're welcome. Yes mars lights are great!
Wow, that is some of the rarest and best footage I have ever seen. Love the Yakima canyon stuff. Stevens pass also great. But the Milwaukee is so rare. I have never seen any video of the Milwaukee in Kittitas. Extremely rare. If you have any NP and Milwaukee stuff along the Yakima river upper canyon above Ellensburg with the tunnels, and any Milwaukee footage in the saddle mountains with Boylston and Beverly, and also Snoqualmie pass, this footage might be the only in existence. SO COOL! Ive been looking for this so long!!!! Also any footage of Maple valley.I have seen maybe only five or six pictures of Milwaukee action there (NO VIDEO). Renton, the Denny brickyards and Maple Valley with the silver bridges over the cedar river, does not even exist. If you have it people will go nuts!!!! THANKS FOR POSTING!!!!!
Thanks for these comments. I know what you mean about seeing rare scenes that are of a bygone era. I'm glad to have found these. Not being familiar with the area, I don't realize their significance until people like you comment.
Keep searching You Tube. I have seen a series of home movies taken by a MLW employee in the Kittitas-Ellensburg area back when the MLW still ran passenger trains. One of the videos was taken from the engine or caboose of an east bound passing over the Saddle Mountains between Kittitas and Boylston tunnel.
@@billanderson4619 Ooooh really. Do you know what it was called?
@@scottclark7439 I don't know the titles of the videos, but I'm sure you can find them the same way i did by searching key words such as Millwaukee Road, Kittitas, etc.
@@billanderson4619 Yes, I have found that video on youtube and I believe it was shot in 1954. A must-see. Also check for videos posted by Mike Dunham-Wilkie, shot by his late father David Wilkie. Many scenes of the Pacific Northwest c. 1956, including GN electrics (their last year of operation), and some Milwaukee, including the bridge at Cyr MT, Nine Mile Curve at Soudan MT, and the Beverly WA bridge. th-cam.com/video/2-2eJzdrIJE/w-d-xo.html
Nice video. Loved the Amtrak scenes.
Thanks.
Lee Witten @ 6:20 theres a goof that SDP40F has a K5LA instead of a SL4T
Like the Milwaukee road shots
Surprised to see Milwaukee road briefly return in this one, pretty sad how they fell apart and became one of the many fallen flags.
I love the horn and scene at 15:47!
Yes, the sound clip kind of worked there.
The passenger train(s) between 4:53 and 10:00 is/are the Empire Builder, not the North Coast Hiawatha. The Builder runs on the former GN Stevens Pass line while the NCH ran on the former NP Stampede Pass line. There is no connection between the two lines between Seattle and Spokane.
For a while both the Builder and the NCH were in service at the same time, but the NCH was eventually dropped.
Footage of the NCH begins at 11:26 in the Yakima Canyon south/east of Ellensburg and north/west of Yakima. Desert bighorn sheep spend the winter in the canyon and are sometimes hit by passing trains as they run across the tracks.
Spelling note: the river, city, and county are spelled "Yakima" while the Indian tribe and reservation are spelled "Yakama."
Bill, not so sure about that being the Builder. For a while Amtrak oddly switched the routes through Washington: NCH ran over Stevens and the EB over Stampede. In fact I think that routing persisted until the end of the NCH in 1979.
Douglas is right, When both trains were around, the EB went via Yakima and the NCH went via Wenatchee.
@@douglaspolinder9232 Correct!
@@funnelfan Correct!
love the hodge podge of power they were running back then
Yes, that made train spotting a lot more fun!
For Stevens Pass/Highline scenes:
Scene 1 @1:08 near Berne, WA. WB BN is going over US-2, and then immediately over Nason Creek, less than a mile away from entering the Cascade Tunnel.
Scene 2 @1:30 Same freight rounding the last curve before entering the East Portal of the Cascade Tunnel
Scene 3 @2:30 Clearly that's a Bigfoot.
Scene 4 @2:45 I believe this is Winton siding, although it looks nothing like this today. Has to be further down the hill, at the rate that WB is moving. Harris needs to jump in his car after the train passes and hightail it up the Hill! (fun fact, Stevens Pass was always "the Hill", and crews would refer to Stampede Pass as "the Mountain")
Scene 5 @3:15 Same train entering Cascade tunnel
Scene 6 @4:00 Same train at Baring siding, downgrade from the Cascade Tunnel's west portal
Scene 7 @4:25 East of Gold Bar, near what today is the Big Bend neighborhood. Bridge is over the Skykomish, and was formerly used upriver in the town of Index - but whole bridge was moved here during GN's Gold Bar-Index realignment in the 60's.
Scene 8 @4:50 Previous freight is in the hole for the EB N Coast Hiawatha at Gold Bar (And no, it's not the Empire Builder! Amtrak kept the Empire Builder at its birth, but its route was moved to BN's former NP/SP&S tracks west of Spokane in order to serve the bigger population of the Tri-Cities and Yakima. There was quite an uproar in Montana over the death of NP's North Coast Limited, so Amtrak brought it back as the North Coast Hiawatha the next year (71), and it used the GN route over Stevens since the Empire Builder already used the other route. When the NCH was killed off in 79, the Empire Builder kept going over Stampede Pass for a few years until it was moved back to Stevens Pass, as the gods intended.)
Scene 9 @5:25 Yep - back in Baring.
Scene 10 @5:55 Now over the pass and headed downgrade, this is the former Gaynor siding, now pulled up, between Berne and Merritt. NCH crosses the often photographed Nason Creek bridge before it hits the signal.
Scene 11 @6:15 Same location as #4 - now I'm positive it's Winton.
Scene 12 @7:00 Wenatchee River at Dryden, WA
Scene 13 @7:45 As noted by Kevin Dellinger, this is just downstream of Rock Island Dam, and south of Appleyard.
Scene 14 @8:45 Same location - pretty sure this is the Wenatchee-Mansfield Turn. During grain season this job would be 80+ cars long.
Scene 15 @9:05 Different day - NCH now has a trailing F40PH, and is wb. This is just west of Quincy, at the top of Trinidad Hill.
9:25 - 10:20 Trinidad Hill, as noted by Kevin Dellinger.
@10:20 Freight in the hole now at the top of Trinidad, west of Quincy, with Wenatchee Valley fruit in the front!
Love this video so much! Thanks Lee!
Wow Greg, you seem to be kinda familiar with this area! Thanks for all that info. I hope viewers will read your comments. They'll get more out of the video. Thanks for taking the time to fill us in on details I would never have known. Wish Harris had kept more notes. Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@LeeWitten No problem - glad to help! I grew up in Spokane from 1972 on, and lived there into the mid-90's. Now live in the Seattle area close to the Scenic sub in Monroe/Sultan - I've trainwatched over Stevens Pass many many times, and have pictures from many of the sites that Harris used here.
If you ever put together film of trains in the Spokane area/Idaho Panhandle, I'll gladly help there too! Well... after I calm my heart, at least.
Very nice job on sound dubbing.
Thank you. I enjoy doing it.
What's with the rotating amber beacons on the Geeps? Too bad they didn't invest in tripods back then.
BN used those as additional warning light of approaching train. The bright rotating light is supposed to be more noticeable.
Was the EB running on the Stampede/Yakama line back then?
I'm not familiar with the history of that area so can't answer. Maybe another viewer will see your comment and provide an answer.
yes
Hi. I was wondering if I could use this video for a project that I am making. I will, of course, give credit but I just wanted to ask permission first.
Yes, just please give credit to the Ogden Union Station Archives
Will do!
Btw is it fine if I can use other videos? I will give credit of course
@@HotShotDesigns3D Yes, just use the credit. And if you are creating something, I'd be interested to see the result.
I came here for 16:11 and I was not let down.
Sorry it was so dark. What made this special to you?
Haha, that awesome orange and black motive power! In all seriousness, though I like 70's BN and Amtrak also. This video hits on all cylinders for me.
@@milwaukeetrainman9880 Well I'm delighted. If you haven't allready, check out my videos Harris 002, 003, 007, 020, 021, 022, 030, 031, 032, and 034. BN, Milw, and Amtrak can be found in these.
@@LeeWitten Holy smokes he captured so much material! Very good, will do!
Amtrak got Mars lights! Who knew?
Harris