Milwaukee Road/Relics

The four locomotives up front--only a few years old and equipped with Locotrol radio equipment-- are the best the Milwaukee Road can afford. In fact, they’re the state-of-the-art North American mainline diesel-electric locomotive in 1977, purchased in batches of several hundred at a time by the much more profitable Union Pacific or Burlington Northern. Despite their modernity, however, on the Milwaukee Road these locomotives would soon be every bit the relics the Box Motors they replaced were, conforming to each of the three meanings for the word offered by Webster’s.

Of course, Milwaukee Road out west did have its share of other relics. Its branchlines south of Tacoma were a stronghold of General Electric Universal-series locomotion, the railroad concentrating its U25B, U28B, and U30B’s (those that were still operating, anyway) in the mild climate of the Coast Division, close to Tideflats shops. Pairs of U30B’s and a slug trailer were often found on the #963/964 Mineral turn from Tacoma. Having pulled the loads from the St. Regis sort yard and picked up the Morton Logger’s train, #964, with 5601/SG2/5604 and GP 9 284, cross the Nisqually River near Elbe on December 16, 1979, bound for Tacoma with 80 loads of logs. The four-motor GE’s were joined by a small fleet of U33C’s and U36Cs, often found working the trackage rights trains to Portland or Bellingham. The F-unit, always a rare creature on the Milwaukee Road west of Trans-Missouri division, returned to Tacoma in the early 1970s when traffic on the old Tacoma Eastern boomed following access over the BN to the Portland "gateway." Two sets of F7A’s, spliced by engineless "slugs," were assigned to trains up the 3.67% Tacoma Hill to Hillsdale, but near the end of operations, the F’s occasionally were found on the "WAM" (Weyerhaeuser and Milwaukee) log trains between Chehalis and Tacoma, where the 82C-SE1-81C split the semaphores protecting the triple-crossing with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern’s lines to Hoquaim at Blakslee Junction on the afternoon of October 6, 1978, returning cab-hop to Chehalis.

The paradox of Milwaukee’s motive power dilemma is crystallized in a chance encounter on June 24, 1978. Held by trackwork at Black River, trainman Mike Newsham (left, on locomotive) and fireman Dave Law discuss their future with the bankrupt railroad on the front platform of late-running train #200’s lead SD40-2, while the F-units of BN’s Auburn-Everett turn approach on the parallel BN doubletrack mainline. While Milwaukee operated ancient and decrepit locomotive soley because they did not have the financial wherewithal to get rid of ‘em, BN was stuck with obsolete Geeps and F’s because the business windfall of Powder River Basin coal traffic left its locomotive fleet stretched so thin it couldn’t buy new locomotives fast enough. Within weeks, both Newsham and Law had quit the Milwaukee for careers on the BN. They continued to ride old locomotives, but the ride was a bit more comfortable due to the security their new employer offered.

Train #964 departs Mineral, Washington, crossing Nisqually River bridge, December 16, 1979

WAM-1 logger passes semaphores at Blakeslee Junction, Washington, behind F's 82C/SE1/81C on October 6, 1979