|
| |
The grasses on the slopes
of Lapwai Canyon are a brilliant green on the afternoon of June 21, 1991, as three Union
Pacific GP locomotives play hide and seek with fleeting cumulus clouds as they step
lightly onto Halfmoon Trestle, the signature landmark of Camas Prairie's 66-mile
"Grangeville Line". It's not yet harvest time, so this Friday-only train is
relatively light: 13 cars, mostly lumber from mills at Grangeville and Craigmont.
The Second
Sudbivision: Grangeville Line
"It's like the builders of this line sat in a tent one night drinking
whiskey and dreaming up the most ridiculous collection of superlatives they could think
of. . .and then went out and built it the next morning."—Mark Hemphill, CTC
Board, 1987Were those guys crazy?
You can't help but ask
that question the first time you see for yourself the most audacious mountain
railroad in the United States, Camas Prairie's climb up Lapwai Canyon on the Second
Subdivision line to Grangeville. The 12 miles of railroad between Culdesac and Reubens
defies description--amazing? stupendous? ballsy? You betcha. I'm not sure if I'm more
amazed, though, that someone was crazy enough to build such an alignment or that, in the
year 2000, it even exists at all.
The railroad climbed up Lapwai Creek on a three percent grade, crossed a couple of nice-sized wooden trestles,
THEN doubled back on itself in a tunnel on a 14 degree horseshoe curve, climbing back
above itself through a few more tunnels and more wooden bridges, each one bigger than the
next, climaxed by the near-million board feet of the bridge called Halfmoon:
685 feet long, 141 feet high, laid out on a 14 degree s-curve. It took your breath away.
Lapwai
Canyon made the
rest of the branch pale in comparison, which is a bit unfair, for the Second Subdivision
contained 23 bridges, including the railroad's largest, 1523' long, 280 foot high Lawyer's
Creek. That's the only one on the line constructed of steel, by the way.
Traffic on
the Second subdivision was largely agrarian, and before Snake River dams brought slackwater and big
barges to Lewiston in 1974, this railroad was the conduit for lots of grain. Into the
1990s, grain traffic off the prairie increasingly abandoned the railroad. CSP,
working with the Lewiston Grain Growers, had workedg to stem this traffic erosion; several
large LGG elevators atop the prairie still load covered hoppers for "shuttle"
service to a barge transloader in Lewiston. Even so, the Camas Prairie's new
operator couldn't cover maintenance expenses on the line with the traffic
that did move on it, and the branch was recently abandoned. The very
features that made the Grangeville line so amazing, unfortunately, also
ultimately spelled its demise.
|
| Lapwai
Canyon |
|
 |
Three Union Pacific Geeps lead
a 23 car Grangeville turn out of 883' Tunnel one and around the 14-degree horseshoe curve
at MP 20.3 at 1015am on June 21, 1991. At this point, the train is turning doubling back
on itself as it climbs a compensated 3% grade up Lapwai Canyon. U.S. 95 can be seen on the
right side of the frame; above it is the rear of the turn's train. |
 |
One mile up the grade, we get
this spectacular view as the caboose of June 28, 1991's 20 car Grangeville Turn crosses
Bridge 21.3. Below, deep in the canyon, is U.S. 95 and the railroad; ahead are visible
Halfmoon Trestle (Bridge 23) and the smaller Bridge 23.2. |
 |
Here's a view of 15-span Bridge
21.1, and a 23-car westbound turn descending at453pm on September 6, 1991. Power is all
Union Pacific: 907/914/867/2053. |
 |
From
across Lapwai Canyon, a vantage point off a power line access road from the
Winchester-Lewiston highway affords this model railroad-like view of a 19 car Grangeville
turn tiptoeing down the 3% grade. The head end of the train is on Bridge 21.2; the middle
of the train on Bridge 21.3; the rear end of the train in the deep cut that once was
Tunnel 2. It's 442pm on July 5, 1991. |
 |
Courtesy
of a hi-rail trip with Supervisor of Maintenance J. E. "Jim" Morefield, we have
this view from July 30, 1993 of the Grangeville Turn and BN caboose 12571 slowly crossing
Halfmoon Trestle, Bridge 23. You'll notice the tin decking on the bridge--it's laid
directly over the ties to prevent sparks (and in steam era days, cinders) from torching
the bridges. |
 |
I
made two efforts in the summer of 1991 to ge the "classic" Halfmoon trestle
photo; the one at the top of this page was made when the hillsides were still covered in
organic green carpet. Nearly a month later, on July 19, 1991, I made the four-mile round
trip hike again (I know: waaaaaa!) to photograph a 14 car turn descending at 421pm. The
green of the hills has just about burned away. I think I prefer the earlier photo. What do
you think? |
 |
Like clockwork
on the days it operated, the Grangeville turn would climb Lapwai Canyon around 10 to 1030.
July 5, 1991 was no exception--at 1030am, UP GP38-2 2053, a veteran of Eastern
Washington/Idaho branchline service since delivered in 1974 to the railroad, leads the
turn out of 242' tunnel five and across Bridge 23.2. We're up around the corner from
Halfmoon Trestle, technically in Rock Creek Canyon. The top of the 3% grade is less than a
mile away. |
 |
True heroes of the Second
Subdivision were the bridge crews who maintained not only the 23 bridges on the Second
Subdivision but the other 100 bridges of CSP's 240 miles of track. Here's the CSP's last
bridge crew at work on July 30, 1993, changing out bridge stringers on Bridge 22. |
 |
A portrait--and salute
to--CSP's final bridge crew: posing at Halfmoon on July 30, 1993, from left to right, Jim
Cunningham, Ellis Hornya, Gene Harrington, Foreman Bob Miles and Bob Shaul. Thanks, guys,
for helping to keep our favorite railroad running! |
|
| On
The Prairie |
|
 |
On cloudy October 16, 1992
morning, the eastbound Grangeville turn crosses a fill near MP 32, near the old location
of Craig Junction, where the Craig Mountain Railroad once connected with the CSP. This is
at the actual summit of the climb between Spalding and Craigmont. |
 |
Same location, a couple of
weeks earlier, train headed westbound now--the old barn on the right of the photo is seen
in the view above. This time the turn is beginning its descent to Spalding behind mixed BN
and UP power. Note the classic Northern Pacific ballast cars on the rear of the train! |
 |
Westbound turn finishes picking
up ten cars of lumber (from Channel Lumber), and grain (from Stegner and Lewiston Grain
Growers at Craigmont on July 5, 1991. This shot may interest the modelers, with a good
view of the variety of grain elevators and storage building--and their non-parallel
alignment to the tracks. |
 |
At the east end of Craigmont on
October 16, 1992, the turn sets out to LGG; the rear of the cut is crossing the U.S. 95
bridge. LGG's new grain bins are visible on the left, an effort to generate more traffic
for the Second subdivision, keep the line viable, and reduce shipping costs for prairie
farmers. |
 |
Less than a mile after crossing
Lawyers Canyon bridge, the westbound turn is climbing towards Craigmont, sweeping through
curves near MP 36. June 28, 1991. Power is a mix of ex-Western Pacific GP40-2 914, ex-WP
GP40 655, and former Milwaukee Road GP40 875. |
 |
The same 14 car train,but a few
moments earlier, crossing the largest bridge on the CSP, 1523' long Lawyers Canyon bridge,
at 280' in height, the second-tallest bridge on the UP (only the Crooked River bridge on
the Oregon Trunk--also jointly UP/BN operated--is taller). |
 |
Two miles west of Cottonwood,
the westbound turn is down to 10mph to cross 634' long Bridge 48, a 43-span trestle. June
21, 1991. |
 |
Farm chores continue
uninterrupted as the eastbound turn crosses Bridge 46, a 43-span trestle between Ferdinand
and Cottonwood, in October 1992. |
|
| The
Rotary Gets A Call |
|
 |
Winter on the second
subdivision is often brutal; high winds and powdery snow conspire to fill in many of the
cuts atop the prairie. CSP is unique in it's the last shortline in the US to reply on
rotary snowplows to keep its line open in the winter. On January 7, 1993, former BN, nee'
GN rotary 26 was at MP33 west of Craigmont, chewing through drifts. |
\ |
An hour later, and my hands
have barely thawed out: now the rotary extra is just east of Craigmont at 1210pm. |
 |
Running for the next series of
snowed-in cuts, the plow extra crosses Bridge 47 east of Cottonwood. Power for the train
was UP2061, BN 3521, and BN 3046. |
Blair's World Camas Prairie Home Milltown
Second Subdivision Woods
Railroad Vintage Links, etc.
All photographs Copyright 2002
by Blair E. Kooistra, except as noted. Duplication, reproduction and use of images
without permission of photographer is prohibited
|
