| Posted by SES on March 24, 2019 | |
What a find! By this date, I believe the roundhouse had been torn down. It was always a treat to cross over the nearby HWY 18 overpass to see what 1st generation EMD power might be parked around the engine house and also what would be setting on the roundhouse tracks. It was sad to see the roundhouse be torn down in the early '80's and all that classic power disappear. Some of it may have even been scrapped on site. BN proceeded to shut down the Stampede route, deeming it surplus trackage, leaving the rails to rust and the classic semaphores to fall in disrepair. Even the Auburn yard lay empty for several years until BNSF reopened the line again in the mid 1990's to relieve congestion in the Columbia Gorge route and lighten the load on Stevens Pass to let the 8 mile Cascade tunnel vent between trains. Thanks for sharing. A truly rare find for the time.
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I'll second SES there - amazing catch in 1982. Enjoyed what you've added, SES. That scene, the paint scheme and the location - just intrinsically "BN", long lost.
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| Posted by SES on March 26, 2019 | |
Thanks, Mr. Goldman. I was just 10 years old when this image was captured. We would pass by this location on our way to my dad's cousin's home up in Maple Valley. Judging from the image background, it looks like this equipment is on the old roundhouse track as the mainline looks to be perpendicular to these tracks. If this is the case, I think I vaguely remember seeing this equipment there once or twice when passing by. However, I recall being highly frustrated because those baggage/maintenance heavyweight passenger cars almost completely blocked the view of these gems. I can still remember, though when the F-units and GP9's were as common as the SD40-2 would soon be on the BN. They kept most of that 1st generation power out in Washington in the early days. I really missed them after the Milwaukee Road left. BN got rid of their old power almost at the same time the Milwaukee left the West- like a double whammy of disappointment.
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