In Cheney, WA today I spotted some activity around the SD45's in town for the EWG RR. They were preparing to leave town for a run up the CW line. They were using two MRL SD45's, blue 375 and gray 8924. I did not see the third SD45 and don't know where it was.

They left Cheney at 1202 with 26 empty covered hoppers and one tank car. Progress up the branch was slow but steady. There appeared to be 3 people in the cab and they were shadowed the whole trip by two more guys in a gold Jeep Grand Cherokee with New Mexico license plates. The vehicle guys drove ahead to road crossings and gave them a roll by on the radio. They were using 160.320.

They arrived in Reardan and pulled past the west switch and backed the whole train in the siding at the Reardan Grain Growers elevator. The ground men mentioned to the engineer about the poor condition of the ties at the switch. The sidings are not in very good shape. Fortunately they didn't have to back those big units too far into the siding. Then they swapped cabs and headed back to Cheney light engine.

Don't know what the deal with the tank car was. It appeared to be empty and I heard them on the scanner say to just leave it and they would deal with it tomorrow so maybe another run is in the cards for Monday.

Checking the rail on the line there is 112# around the spot where the line goes under the ex-GN but in Reardan the mainline is 85# rolled in 1905.

Bill Maltby