Re: "Also of note is the Milwaukee Road Catenary Wire"
Author: George Andrews
Date: 06-24-2020 - 20:06
Just to Muddy Up the Waters a Bit More -- The " Milwaukee Road " tracks shown were actually owned - at the time of the photos - by Burlington Northern !!!
The Milwaukee Road's Mantra was cheap - Cheaper - CHEAPEST. Why build their own tracks when they could obtain trackage rights ? In this case it was with small Puget Sound Shortline Pacific Coast RR., which MILW used between Maple Valley & Black River Jct., then PCRR again from Black River North to almost Seattle Union Station. ( The line from Black River Jct. South to Tacoma was built by Milwaukee, with EwePee obtaining trackage rights later. ) PCRR was actually the first permanent railroad built in Puget Sound, running from coal mines in Newcastle & Black Diamond to tidewater at Seattle's Elliott Bay ( about where the Coast Guard Base is today. ) In later years Milwaukee Road's traffic would dwarf the PCRR's minuscule daily freight from the Black Diamond mines and a clay pipe plant. Great Northern would buy PCRR in the 1950's, sooo BN would actually host their " Competitor " from March, 1970 till the sad end of Milwaukee Road Lines West in March,1980.