Milwaukee Road Track Alive – Small Successes

It was March 1980, 35 years ago, when the Milwaukee Road left Washington State. On the far reaching end of the Milwaukee system was Centralia, Wash. Centralia and nearby Chehalis are locally known as the “Twin Cities." The rail route through Centralia was a part of its route south of Tacoma, Wash. At Chehalis, the Milwaukee left its own rails to use Burlington Northern to access Portland, Ore., and a new gateway that was opened in 1970 as a condition of the Burlington Northern merger.
 
During the 1970s the streets in Centralia were already being blocked due to the Burlington Northern route in town, but the Milwaukee Road added more traffic to test the patience of drivers with near 100 car freight trains and endless strings of log trains stepping through town. The Milwaukee withdrew from Lines West in 1980, and the railroad changed hands a few times finally landing with Tacoma Rail. In 2012, Western Washington Rail leased 19 miles of track from Tacoma Rail between Chehalis and Maytown for freight service and car storage. Since its start-up, Western Washington Rail has been quite a presence locally and has surprised the locals by seeing traffic again on the “other” railroad in town.
 
Utilizing an old SW9, Western Washington Rail works between its interchanges with BNSF Railway's main yard. In tow many times is a former SP bay window caboose. The iconic Milwaukee switch stands still dot the right of way. As the train ambles past and you squint just a little bit, you just might know what it was like back in the days of the Milwaukee in the western “Twin Cities.”