You know I'm gonna ask 20 questions by the time I figure this all out... I'll assume that tunnel was never finished before the MILW pulled up everything beyond Miles City? Tunnel #16 is Beavertail Tunnel, I thought.
The dam was built after the line was completed and caused the MILW to relocate the main and add this tunnel next to the dam. It is between Tunnels 16 (Beavertail) and 17 (Nine Mile) so the MILW called it #16 1/2.
Cool! Was it like the Reserve St. overpass in Missoula; built by or for MILW, but never used by its intended owner?
No, Tunnel 16 1/2 was built shortly after the MILW built west. So it had a long history of use by the railroad. I think the Reserve St. overpass did see a couple of MILW trains go underneath, but not many. BGM
More about odd numbers- Anything added after construction of the original transcon line, should carry a fractional number. Be it a tunnel, culvert, bridge. When more than one change was made within a short distance, they'd try to tie it with the closest part of a mile. You could see numbers such as 1/3, 1/4, 5/8, 7/8. BGM- I don't have my magazines handy. What was the TMR issue with your tunnel article? Perhaps Hemi could get a copy. Boxcab E50
The tunnel clearance article I wrote appeared in the 3rd Qtr 2003 issue of the Milwaukee Railroader. Brent
I need to correct my earlier description of the Milltown site. I rode the MRL biz cars out there yesterday and got to see the place first hand. The new spur track doesn't run tangent but follows the curves of the river almost to where the old MILW tunnel is. In a few months the Clark Fork will be re-routed to the north on the other side of the new track. The east portal of tunnel 16 1/2 is blocked by MRL 402 in the photo. The top of the dam is to the right of the rear biz car. BGM
Nice footage, thanks! While enroute to a remote ranch in WY to hunt antelope, I bagged the Ringling, MT depot: (looking east) (looking west) Adjacent the depot is this signal mast foundation (or so I think):
Adjacent? Hmmm. Was it straight out from the depot? Across where tracks would have been? If so, it's the old base for the train order signal. Boxcab E50
Precisely what I thought. As you look west from the east end of the depot, it sits about 15' or so from the depot proper.
Most depots had their train order signal within a couple of feet out from the operators bay. This one was actually located between the main line, and siding. Boxcab E50
Boy do I miss Montana. I never thought about it too much until I wasn't there anymore, and then I realized it was one of my favorite assignments ever. Spent 3 years there on Malmstrom AFB as part of the 819th RED HORSE unit there. Got out and explored a bit and got interested in the MILW while I was there. Love the depot there in Great Falls but I believe that was a Great Northern or was it? Great pics Hemi. Now if they will only make a Z scale version of a Boxcab and Little Joe I can model me some electrified territory.
John, The monster brick depor witht he tall steeple is the MILW depot. The long skinny one with a shorter depot is the GN. Both still stand.
Union Station - Seattle My best memories of the Milwaukee Road are my days spent at Union Station (and also King Street Station) in Seattle, watching the Olympian Hiawatha come in, obs first, pulled by a bi-polar. The "Bi" would come into the station, cut off, run around and set itself up for departure. And that observation car was something, maybe the most beautiful of any around. Union Station, also shared with the Union Pacific, had unusual consists included Erie Builts, the only time I ever saw FM's in action. Union Station serves another function these days but the days of electric traction won't be forgotten, nor will the smell of ozone and watching the pantographs arc when they made contact with the overhead. Now how does a diesel compare to that...?
That's tough to top... Just wish I coulda seen the trolley in operation.. The Joes, the Boxcabs; heck, the Quills too! For diesels to match that spectacle, it needs to be 10,000 tons of coal laboring up Tennessee Pass behind about 54,000 HP worth of 2nd-gen diesels throbbing through the canyon. I have a VHS that has 18 units on a coal train grinding up TP. 18 units! And several were SD45's, but all were at least 3000-hp varieties. Too bad one can never again recreate either scene...
This one was in Cleveland being moved? Caught it in the early 90's. I saw it in the late afternoon and the next morning it was gone.
