This remains as one of my most favorite photos from The Milwaukee Road. Taken in the last days of the company's work in the Western US, the shot captures the essence of the MILW. Lonely. Quiet. Working hard despite scarce resources. Although The Road survived until the mid 1980s, my feeling is that the glory days were long over by the time Paul Greenfield snapped this photo outside of Tekoa WA in 1979.His backstory about the photo makes it even more interesting:
"The shot itself was an exercise in patience," Paul writes. "Myself and another railfan, Art Riordan, waited near Rosalia for about three hours in the late afternoon. We watched as the sun got lower and lower. We finally heard the Milwaukee dispatcher talking to this guy and he indicated that he was on his way to Rosalia. We then chased him eastward for as long as the light held. Chased being a relative word since the track was in such bad shape slow orders had him down to 15 or 20 mph. If he hadn't been so late we wouldn't have had this shot. Somehow it summarizes the lonely Milwaukee Road traveling off into the sunset."
I totally agree with Paul on this one. Chance, along with a lot of patience, captured this moment for history, and for that I'm eternally thankful.
Make sure to check out Paul's other railroading photos HERE!
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