Milwaukee Road Coast Division

Milwaukee Road Coast Division, 1976 to 1978 from Super 8mm Film by John Crosby

Take a Cab-Ride with Milwaukee Trainman John Crosby on Number 200, Engine 189 an SD-40, on the MILWAUKEE ROAD COAST DIVISION. Othello, 208 miles from Tacoma Washington is our goal. Number 200 is the hottest train on the railroad, timed freight tends to be carried in truck trailers and ocean containers on so called piggyback cars hauled by pig trains. 200 is a pig train, most of its freight comes out of the Port of Seattle, number 200 also tends to carry the import autos from the Port of Portland.

The Coast division was renamed Washington division in 1976, most of this Super 8mm footage is from 1978, the remainder in 1976. See where a million dollar reefer load of uninsured Bellingham originated king crab ended up in eighty degree weather, the Railroad hired every high school kid in kidacas county to transfer that load to u-hauls. Details of the fifteen car derailment which was caused by a hot box, can be seen in John Crosby’s thirty five millimeter slide collection of 343 Hi-Resolution Photos which are included in our Special Features on this Disc–Includes a 25 Minute Video Slideshow of these photos, also included are High Resolution photos of Maps and Timetables of this operation.

Follow along with Trainman John Crosby as he narrates all the details of his typical routes and workdays on the Railroad. You can also change the audio to hear a Brand New Green Frog narration track, and you can change the Soundtrack to Just the Train Sounds only! Notes from John Crosby – There is the scene of Engineer Grigsby talking on the phone/radio, to I think the section foreman or roadmaster. I think we see a white hat in position to inspect the train right after that conversation, track car off to the side. The conversation would have been something typical of any railroad, “number 200 to roadmaster, we’re out of Easton.”… Then a reply.

The Road-master by the way, was quite famous on the Coast Division, and was there until the end of Lines West. His name was Cecil Geelhart.

The mainline road engines were usually SD-40s, possibly SD40-2. Engine 189 was an SD-40. The work train was probably a GE. The meet at Tacoma Jct. with the arriving train was all SD-40s, including the famous Bicentennial Engine 156. The yard engine in the drag from Seattle to Black River was an MP-15. The MP-15s were purchased new in 1976. Locations Include: Mainlines, Tacoma roundhouse area, Tacoma Junction, Cle-town, Garcia, Columbia River, Hanford branch, Beverly Depot, 11th Sub, BN’s Brenton Depot, Othello, Tacoma, Black River, Kent Depot, Stacy Street Yard, Spokane Street Tower.

BonusPut this Disc in your computer to view 343 Hi-Resolution Photos, plus Hi-Resolution Maps & Timetables. Super-8 Color Film Transferred on a State of the Art Frame by Frame Transfer Machine into 1080 High Definition Video for the Ultimate Color, brightness and Detail. 3 Audio Tracks — Including John Crosby Original Narration