South Cle Elum Rail Yard

Yesterday we visited the South Cle Elum Rail Yard, part of the Iron Horse State Park along the former right-of-way of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). The rail yard, depot, roundhouse and other supporting structures were built in 1908–1909 as the railroad was pushing west toward Seattle, the third and last transcontinental railroad to cross the Cascades in Washington.

The depot was built in 1909 and was used until passenger service was discontinued in 1961. It is pretty substantial in size, 132 x 24 feet. Thanks to volunteers it was fully restored and reopened to the public in 2006. The east half of the building houses a restaurant that is open most days of the week, while the west half of the building houses the museum which is usually open a couple days per month between May and October, depending on volunteer availability.

When the Milwaukee Road ceased operations in Washington in 1980 it sold off some of its assets in South Cle Elum, including the bunkhouse which is now a B&B, and three operator houses built in 1920 which are now private residences. But the bulk of the land including the depot and the substation were transferred to the state in compensation for taxes owed. Most of the length of the main route through Washington went to the state as well and became known as Iron Horse State Park on the west side of the Columbia, and the John Wayne Pioneer Trail to the east of the Columbia. Today the entire length of the publicly accessible right-of-way is known as the Palouse to Cascades Trail. With some connecting trails, it is possible to walk the old railroad bed (or ride a bike, or a horse) from the Seattle area to the Idaho border.

The Milwaukee Road was using coal at the time the South Cle Elum yard was built in 1909. But they started converting to oil powered locomotives in 1910. And then started experimenting with electric powered locomotives in 1912. This section through the Cascades was fully electrified by 1920. The Milwaukee Road ended electrification along this section in 1972, and completely abandoned electric locomotives along its entire route in 1974. That year the Milwaukee Road also stopped using South Cle Elum as a division point and the yard was virtually abandoned. It was only a few years later that the Milwaukee Road, in bankruptcy, abandoned its Pacific route altogether.

Today, while the state owns the property and buildings, it heavily relies on local volunteers to tell the story. The Cascade Rail Foundation has been instrumental in ensuring the history of the Milwaukee Road in Washington is not forgotten. They have spent thousands of hours restoring structures, providing interpretation, and operating a museum in half of the restored depot. The yard and extant structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

The substation is normally closed to the public. But they occasionally open it for guided tours which is why we chose yesterday to visit. If you're interesting in seeing the inside, they'll likely have another tour day in August—check their website for details.

East end of the substation, built in 1919. The concrete structured angled out from the wall was the anchor for the incoming AC high power lines. In the lower left-hand corner you can also see concrete blocks that supported a steel tower for the power lines.

A view of the south side of the substation, showing where DC power would have left the building headed for the catenary over the tracks.

A view inside the north room of the building, looking east. In the lower center part of the building is where high power wires came in, and you can see the wall angled out.

A close-up view, showing original wires that are still in place!

These large doors allowed a railroad flat car to be pushed in, so heavy objects could be transferred directly from the flat car using an overhead crane. 

Both rooms are filled with all sorts of railroad equipment. In the center of the picture is an overhead crane, not original to this building but recovered from another Milwaukee Road substation. The plan is to install it where it would have originally been, in part to provide structural support for the brick walls.

This is a small transfer vehicle that could be pushed along rails between the two large rooms. It's shown on a small turntable allowing workers to rotate the vehicle to go around the corner.

The Milwaukee Road had 22 substations along its route. So why is this one number 24? The substations were numbered sequentially from east to west, and reflected the intent to electrify all the way from Two Dot, Montana to Tacoma, Washington. But there was a gap in eastern Washington that was never electrified, so substations 15–20 were never built.

The remains of the 85-foot turntable can be seen here, with the pivot foundation on the left, and part of the pit wall on the right.

And to the north of the turntable are the remains of the eight-stall roundhouse where locomotives would be serviced. What you see here were the tops of concrete pits where workers would inspect and work underneath locomotives.

These concrete footings are all that remains of the water tower. The wooden tank that sat above this foundation would have held about 50,000 gallons of water.

The only piece of rolling stock currently on site is this bay window caboose built in 1946. The siding is ribbed metal which is unusual and required less metal, creating a lighter car. The Cascade Rail Foundation plans to add more pieces of Milwaukee Road rolling stock over time.

A view inside the depot of the waiting room at the west end of the building and ticket office on the left.