Bill Anderson
Well-Known Member
I posted a thread on 8-15-13 about a trip to my 45 year high school class reunion in Lewiston, ID. Included in the thread were photos I took of an old ALCo diesel that had been sitting forever on what appeared to be abandoned trackage at the end of the Milwaukee Road's Royal City (WA) branch. Bruce Butler responded with information about the branch's future including a link to a 2009 inspection report.
http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?44850-Class-Reunion-Trip
The line may be open. From the Port of Royal Slope's website:
The Port of Royal Slope acquired the Royal Slope Railroad in the fall of 2015 with the help of our legislators supporting a bill that was signed by Governor Inslee. We leased the railroad in February 2016, to Operator, Paul Didelius who has deemed it the WRL — Washington Royal Line. Paul has been contacting local businesses to see what their interest is in having rail service. Though this is a “start-up” situation, there have already been several trains bringing fertilizer in and shipping corn out!
http://www.portofroyal.com/all-about-rail/
Here is a link to a 2015 inspection report from the Port of Royal Slope website.
http://www.portofroyal.com/project/u...Inspection.pdf
I hope the "port" and railroad do well. Hopefully they will provide regional shipping alternatives to the Puget Sound ports of Seattle and Tacoma, both of which suffer from heavy automobile traffic congestion in the area. If anyone has more current info and/or photos, please post them to this thread. I'll stop by on my way to Lewiston for my 50 year high school reunion next year if I don't make it over before then.
For those not familiar with the area, Royal City is located on Hwy. 26 in central Washington. It is one of those small rural towns that you pass through on your way to somewhere else if you are not stopping for gas. In this case it is usually students of Washington State University (Go Cougs!) in transit between Pullman and the Puget Sound region. Aerial photo from the Port's homepage:
http://www.portofroyal.com/project/uploads/2016/06/Aerial-Detail16.pdf
http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?44850-Class-Reunion-Trip
The line may be open. From the Port of Royal Slope's website:
The Port of Royal Slope acquired the Royal Slope Railroad in the fall of 2015 with the help of our legislators supporting a bill that was signed by Governor Inslee. We leased the railroad in February 2016, to Operator, Paul Didelius who has deemed it the WRL — Washington Royal Line. Paul has been contacting local businesses to see what their interest is in having rail service. Though this is a “start-up” situation, there have already been several trains bringing fertilizer in and shipping corn out!
http://www.portofroyal.com/all-about-rail/
Here is a link to a 2015 inspection report from the Port of Royal Slope website.
http://www.portofroyal.com/project/u...Inspection.pdf
I hope the "port" and railroad do well. Hopefully they will provide regional shipping alternatives to the Puget Sound ports of Seattle and Tacoma, both of which suffer from heavy automobile traffic congestion in the area. If anyone has more current info and/or photos, please post them to this thread. I'll stop by on my way to Lewiston for my 50 year high school reunion next year if I don't make it over before then.
For those not familiar with the area, Royal City is located on Hwy. 26 in central Washington. It is one of those small rural towns that you pass through on your way to somewhere else if you are not stopping for gas. In this case it is usually students of Washington State University (Go Cougs!) in transit between Pullman and the Puget Sound region. Aerial photo from the Port's homepage:
http://www.portofroyal.com/project/uploads/2016/06/Aerial-Detail16.pdf
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