Another classic, Bill- thanks for uploading.
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| Posted by SES on November 4, 2018 | |
When I was a youngster, our family began traversing this area beginning in 1978 when my dad's cousin built his home just the other side of Maple Valley. When we crossed this bridge, I always thought that jog in the track and spur track was so odd. I never knew until I was almost 20 that this was where the Milwaukee transitioned off the old Pacific Coast RR onto its own tracks. The straight track past the switch was only a spur I think even by this time as the coal source at Black Diamond that fed traffic on this line had long since run out. Burlington Northern purchased the Milwaukee track from Maple Valley to Easton, WA in 1980 when the reorganized Milwaukee left the West. They had hopes to use the much easier grade over Snoqualmie Pass and abandon Stampede with its much tougher grades. The transition to Milwaukee track would be easy at Easton as the two lines were just several hundred feet apart. This never came to be as BN stopped running regular freight over the Stampede line in favor of the much easier Columbia gorge route. This area saw BN locals to Weyerhauser's mill at North Bend / Snoqualmie until 1991. The switch and spur were removed not long after the BN takeover but that same odd jog in the main line remained. Thanks for these wonderful memories.
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