I know it’s been 25+ years since the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul and Pacific abandoned its Puget Sound Extension, but maybe some of you older readers of this space might be able to answer the question posed below.
During the post-WW2 era, did The Milwaukee Road enjoy any regular traffic movements over the broadest reaches of its network, i.e., between Louisville, KY and the Seattle/Tacoma area? Surely the railroad long-hauled a lot of traffic between Chicago and the western reaches of Washington state, but were there any regular movements that interchanged to the Milwaukee within the eastern time zone. Did The Milwaukee, for example, move a lot of Washington state lumber to eastern markets through the Louisville gateway?
Many Class 1’s have pooled cushioned boxcar equipment to protect shipments from the General Electric household appliance factory at a station called “Appliance Park, Kentucky.” I’m thinking that Appliance Park may be located near Louisville. Might this have been a source of traffic for The Milwaukee Road from Kentucky or southern Indiana all the way to Pacific Northwest?