Murphy's Law

on the

Milwaukee Road

Peter  Hoffman

    After our first nights' stay on the private business car “Abraham Lincoln” in Othello, Washington (see Abraham Lincoln article), we were excited about riding the last remaining stretch of the Milwaukee Road's  mainline and also Royal City's unique connecting railroad.

    A shopping stop and some adjustments to one of Arne’s bikes that suffered from derailing in the dark in Canada (read Candian Pacific article) and we were off to Royal City to meet Michael Conely who drove down from Spokane to join us.   The five of us, Arne, Morgan, John, Michael and myself headed for the rails at on the top of the plateau which lead down one of the steepest rail grades in the United States to the bottom of the deep canyon where the line originally joined the mainline of the Milwaukee Road.

Michael takes a break in the 100 degree heat.

    The Royal City line was built by the “Port of Royal City” at great expense as a means of getting produce from the warehouses and elevators on the high plateau to the Milwaukee Railroad which ran through the narrow valley below.  The line drops about 300 feet over its three and one half mile length.    Much of the grade is four percent!  Just a few years after the Royal City line was built the Milwaukee went into bankruptcy and the entire transcontinental line was dismantled in the early 1980s, except for the 22-mile segment between Othello and the junction with the Royal City line.  Thus The Port of Royal City  could continue to move freight through Othello on the Central Washington Railroad.  But  the light traffic could not sustain the operation which eventually shut down altogether.

   

  

   

    My historical facts here are very sketchy, but somewhere along the way the State of Washington purchased the old Milwaukee right-of-way and converted portions of the line for trail use.  Rumor has it that the last remaining section which we planned to ride may be removed in the next couple of  years.

    It was almost eleven a.m. when, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we unloaded our equipment and pushed our bikes toward the tracks just 30 feet away.  And this is where Mr. Murphy caught up with us.  Before even reaching the rails John noticed one of his tires had gone flat.  While we were debating repairs Arne realized he must have left a critical part to one of his bikes in the parking lot 25 miles back in Othello, or worse yet,  lost it when they disassembled the bikes in the dark in Canada.

About mid-way between Othello and the Royal City line several

rockslides blocked the rails for more than 100 feet.

     As we mulled over this new development John discovered his other tire had gone flat. Michael then realized we had dim-wittedly chosen to set-on at a spot infested with Goat Head Thorns, and we all had dozens of them stuck in out tires.  All of a sudden our day’s ride had gone all to hell, which, supported by the temperature approaching 100 degrees, brought  frustration, disappointment and a few unrepeatable expletives.

     We headed back to Othello to try to find Arne’s missing part and buy tubes and tire liners for John and  additional spares for the rest of us.  Very fortunately, we found Arne’s missing part, but no tubes to fit John’s bike.  It was now mid-afternoon and we still had not developed a plan to get us on the rails.

Morgan tries out Michael's bike, one of the most recent of Whitey's design, on the way back to the Taunton Power Plant.

   I had brought a spare bike which John could ride, so we back-tracked nine miles towards 

Royal City to where the Milwaukee had built an electrical station at Taunton.  This large brick structure contained transformers and generators to convert 115,000 volt AC power to 3000 volt DC to operate their electrified trains.  This historic structure, built in 1919, is the last railroad building in the area. A dirt road runs from the highway to the old power station which looks somewhat like an ancient castle up on the hillside.  It proved to be an excellent point to set-on.

  

    Finally we were on the rails and riding At last.   But Mr. Murphy was still tagging along.  About two miles down the line John was having trouble with the spare bike.  Something was binding and causing friction making pedaling difficult.  We couldn’t find the problem and John had to turn back.  Arne, Morgan and Michael had meanwhile ridden on, and rightly so, for we already had too many delays for one day.  Feeling guilty at leaving John to ride alone back to our cars and wait for us in the baking heat,  I pushed on to catch up with the others.  It never happened.  After another five miles my conscience got the best of me and I headed back to keep John company.  And only minutes after I arrived  the rest of the crew returned also.

    It had been a tough day.  Actually, after Canada,  it had been a couple to tough days. I was having serious concerns about  this Northwest Odyssey.  Could it possibly continue like this?  But after a few shots of excellent wiskey,  a wonderful barbeque at the beautiful Ranch of our host’s father and our second night on the plush, historic private car "Abraham Lincoln" we were all fully revitalized and ready for our next days outing on the Camas Prairie Railroad.