According to this article, The Port of Royal Slope wants to lease the old Milwaukee Road right-of-way from the State of Washington, to start moving freight once more between Royal City and Othello. The project has been on the Port's books now for at least three years, but at this point they have been getting no response from the state on how to proceed.
However this pans out, it will nice to see a transportation resource like this get reused in one of the more unique parts of our state. I'll be interested in comments from our readers in Eastern WA!
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It needs a lot of work. I believe only one or two trains have been over the line since the MILW pulled out. There is that poor old MRS1 sitting in Royal City. Its probably rusted to the rails.
ReplyDeleteThe problem for shippers there is the very round-about way for their shipments to get to the outside world. When the MILW was still going, they were just off the mainline. Now there is a long backhaul all the way to Connell, then to Pasco, before headed off to points east or west. Do you think that will be speedy compared to a truck, which would have the shipment to Seattle long before the railcar hits Connell?
I wish them well, but I don't think it will pass.
Dan
Hi Guys,
ReplyDeleteI wish them luck too - it would be neat to see something roll over that old piece of Milwaukee mainline again. Dan's probably right though - it's hard to make a good connection for time sensitive produce now that everything has to go through Pasco.
It's been my understanding that the reason the Milwaukee ended up with a good share of product coming out of the Moses Lake area was because of its very favorable schedules to the east. Cars could be moving toward Chicago before the BN could get them sorted in Pasco as I understand it.
-Leland
Wasn't that line run for a while by the Toppenish, Simcoe and Western? I remember hearing that in its last year of operation as a short line, it moved a grand total of 17 cars. So my question is why? I can't see where there would be enough traffic to justify the rebuilding.
ReplyDeleteGood question Anon - With the State looking at ways to streamline rail traffic in the Eastern WA, it also makes me wonder if that route along Highway 26 could once again carry more than just 17 cars.
ReplyDelete