What happen to Milwaukee Road?

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 10:17am

Guys,

While I was going to school in Bozeman, Montana, came across the old Milwaukee Railroad lines that had been discontinued and the tracks had been pulled. My question is: were they part of the BN deal or what? What happened to Milwaukee Road?

chad_thomas · April 26, 2006, 10:23am

I don’t know about exact dates. They abandoned the whole pacific coast line around 79’. Some segments remain and are operated by shortlines or BNSF / UP like the St. Maries River RR in Idaho.

Anonymous · April 26, 2006, 10:27am

Parts of it got sucked up (in a roundabout fashion) by one of the Canadian roads too, didn’t it?

chad_thomas · April 26, 2006, 10:31am

Yes, SOO line (Canadian Pacific’s American subsidiary) bought the eastern part of the Milwakee Road in 85’.

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 10:36am

So, did they were losing money bigtime and pulled out, huh? Then if they pulled up there track, then they didn’t have anything to do with BN then? And I guess that goes the same for MRL too?

Anonymous · April 26, 2006, 10:44am

There was a ginormous heated, but very informative discussion about this a while back. Unfornately the thread was either locked and/or removed.

chad_thomas · April 26, 2006, 10:46am

Milwakee Road has been discussed here before. You might want to do a search. There was a 16 page discussion recently. I think the Pacific Coast Extention abandonment was a bad move. They should have abandoned there Wisconsin lines and focused on transcon traffic. The lack of feeder lines and a route that bypassed a lot of population centers hurt them in the early years. But today those factors would have helped them in the intermodal era. I think it’s demise was due to bad management decisions. I’m sure others on here can answer this better then I can.

The MRL is basicly the old NP main through Montana. After the BN merger the MRL was formed to run the ex NP line. It was basicly a union busting move. MRL only runs a few of there own trains, the rest is all BN (now BNSF) overhead traffic.

chad_thomas · April 26, 2006, 10:49am

I think farmer is right. I can’t find that thread either.

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 10:49am

Oh, well I just joined up not too long ago, or I would have read that and not asked the question. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here. Sorry guys, just trying to pick your minds to gain something for myself.

Thanks for the incite, though

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 10:53am

Ya, I found that out when I lived up there. Someone once told me that BN regrets giving MRL that line and BNSF would love nothing more to have it back.

chad_thomas · April 26, 2006, 10:59am

The Milwakee Road was an interesting railroad and a worthy subject. It was gone (PCE anyway) before I ever got up that way. The thought of electrics hauling tonnage in the mountains always intriged me. I have followed the Milw right of way across Eastern Washington-Idaho-Montana and everywhere they went it seemed they had the least desireable route. It was kind of a joke between me and my dad that everytime we see a old right of way half way up a mountain that “It must be the Milwakee Road”.

Anonymous · April 26, 2006, 11:01am

To be honest, it wasn’t until a couple years ago that I figured out the Milwaukee Road even made it to the Pacific Ocean. I found a book my dad bought which focuses on the last 10-15 years of operation and covers the whole railroad but devotes a big portion to the PCE.

Its ok, laugh and snicker at me for my ignorance. [:P]

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 11:09am

Ya, I couldn’t agree with you more. I think that is was Milwaukee Road that had tracks out of Butte towards Bozeman, along the I-90 that look to go strait up the mountain: A mountain that no train should go up. The tracks were just sitting there: sure would make for a great rail excursion like Durango-Silverton Railroad.

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 11:37am

Actually, I’m not sure if those tracks were Milwaukee’s or NPs, still they were something else.

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 11:43am

I just found a website that says that they were first NP then they were Milwaukee Road’s. So they were both.

http://www.milwest.org/dlzphotos.htm

chad_thomas · April 26, 2006, 11:51am

Interesting pictures. Any idea when they were taken? That tunnel looks too small for a train.

nanaimo73 · April 26, 2006, 12:04pm

Most of the Milwaukie Road’s track is still in use. BNSF and IC&E each have over 1100 miles of it. CN (200 miles), CP (600 miles) and Wisconsin and Southern (500 miles) and about 20 other railroads use CMSP&P track as well.

The Milwaukee Road east from Butte used Pipestone Pass and the rails are gone. The NP used Homestake and the rails are still in place and the line is railbanked.

Milwaukee Road thread-
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22066

The other one-
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22188

Milwaukee remains in Montana-
http://webhome.idirect.com/~helmutw/milwrd/xmont/montmain/montmain.html

Coast Division-
http://www.wwvrailway.com/milwauke.htm

zgardner18 · April 26, 2006, 12:26pm

Did Milwaukee Road then use Homestake Pass because that website shows a Milwaukee train on those tracks? What does “railbanked” mean?

Chad, I took those pictures about this time last year.

chad_thomas · April 26, 2006, 12:33pm

Interesting that the rails were not pulled years ago. Was this segment operated by another railroad after Milw pulled out?

nanaimo73 · April 26, 2006, 1:01pm

The Milwaukee would have used Homestake when their own line was blocked with derailments.
BNSF still owns the line over the pass and is keeping it in case they want to reopen it, like they did with Stampede Pass, although this is highly unlikely. Railbanking is keeping an embargoed (closed) line in case you might want to use it later.
MRL uses the east side of the Pass to a ballast pit at Spire Rock, and BNSF has the west side to Butte. BNSF owns about 5 miles of the Milwaukee Roads from Butte east to Newcomb.