Chehalis Western empty log train makes its way up the former Milwaukee Road 3.3% Tacoma Gulch grade. If you look closely you can see two crew members standing on the front pilot steps of the lead locomotive manually sanding the rail for much needed additional adhesion. When Milwaukee Road operated this line, normal practice added manned helpers in the form of 3 to 6 F-Units added at Tacoma Jct for the run to the top of the grade at Hillsdale. When Milwaukee Road retrenched from the west this line from Tacoma to Chehalis and several branch lines were sold to Weyerhaeuser who used them to move timber from the cascade foothills to the Tacoma Tideflats for local use and export overseas.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.