Stumbled across this clip at Youtube - Little Joes, Bi-Polars, Boxcabs, full length domes, rounded tail observations, all in color:
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Great video! Thanks for posting.
Art
That's just too cool.
Assume that route is no longer in existence - least part of it through Montana and Idaho. There's a ride I'd take just for the ride. Imagine if the line was still electrified today.
Nice find - thanks for sharing!
/Mitch
Originally Posted by Wyhog:
You can ride a bicycle on parts of the old Milwaukee Road from St Paul Pass down to near Avery, ID. The route takes you thru tunnels and over high steel trestles. Downhill all the way. A tourist outfit will pick you and your bike up and return you to your car.
In fact my girlfriend (now my wife) and I did just that! We biked the Route of Hiawatha Trail from Pearson ID (9 miles east of Avery) through St. Paul Pass Tunnel and into Montana. You cross under the state line part of the way through the tunnel.
The scenery is spectacular and the "authenticity" of this rail trail is superb. The many high trestles and tunnels make for an outstanding ride. The rugged terrain and lush green pine forest you traverse are truly spectacular. Yes, you can take a shuttle to the top and coast down hill all the way. However, the shuttle service ended the week before we got there. No problem, we did the 14 miles uphill one way and enjoyed the ride back down.
That night we stayed at a B&B in Idaho and the after describing our ride to the owner he said "I didn't know you could ride UP the trail!"
Below are some pics of the ride. The first five miles heading east from Pearson are in the trees. One you pass Falcon you get high enough to where you can see the trail and the many trestles across from you on the other side of the valley.
Andrew
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Say, now, I learned something by viewing this. I did not realize that the bi-polars had swinging bells.
Other interesting things:
- I wonder how long that Little Joe ran with the steam leak that was venting between the trucks. (leaking blowdown valve on the steam generator?) Seems to me like a good way to have a ground fault in the traction motors.
- Some condition had required protection to the rear over on the parallel NP, and the rear-end crew had dropped a lighted fusee, as required, nicely planting the end with the nail in a tie.
- The marginal Milwaukee Road track was lightly ballasted and had sagebrush growing right up to the tie ends, and the dome car was riding accordingly.
All in all, a very interesting video. Thanks for posting.
Rode this bad boy, the Hi-Olympian back in the summer of 1960. Cars were Armour Yellow, but all else the same. We had a double bedroom in the sky-top obs car, no less. 1960 was it for this grand affair !
Originally Posted by MTN:
Stumbled across this clip at Youtube - Little Joes, Bi-Polars, Boxcabs, full length domes, rounded tail observations, all in color:
Spectacular, thanks for posting!
Want someday to bike (motorcycle) out there and ride what can be ridden.
What beautiful railroading.
What an interesting subject. The video and photos tell me alot about the Milwaukee, a road I don't know much about. Really amazing. Thanks.
That is a great historic video. Really outstanding views of Little Joe. Love it.
Thank you for posting it.
Great Video! At 5:48, the Bipolar drops its pantograph as it appears to be pulling into the station. Was this standard procedure? Why was this done?
Loved this video. Having two Bi-Polars on our layout, it sure made the video more interesting. Thanks for posting the link.
"
- The marginal Milwaukee Road track was lightly ballasted and had sagebrush growing right up to the tie ends, and the dome car was riding accordingly."
i think the Milw was notorious for skimpy ballasting (even with what they used for ballast) and suffered many derailments because of it.
