used to the height. Before the caboose was in view, I was
on my way to the next trestle I wanted to shoot (there was so many to choose from) and found myself at milepost 46 where a 21-span, 330-foot-long trestle crossed over Reservation Road on a 3-degree curve. The Grangeville Local arrived exactly 30 minutes after cross- ing Lawyer’s Creek viaduct. Another 15 minutes later, the train was crossing Front Street in Cottonwood on a 34-span trestle reaching 51 feet high and 540 feet long. A few miles from Grangeville, a group
of farm kids was throwing a party next to the highway — it was the strang- est thing I had ever seen. If I was not dead set on capturing the last pictures of the day, I think would have joined in because I was having the time of my life. At 5:15 p.m., the Grangeville Local finally drifted into its namesake station and the power ran around the train.
Oddly enough, the elevation at Gran-
geville is 320 feet lower than the high point two miles west of Craigmont, yet feels like the top of the world and as isolated as a place can be. As I took my final pictures, I finally understood the wondrous nature of the Camas Prairie. The 2nd Subdivision had won me over. By fluke, I returned to Lewiston on June 22 and photographed the same power at East Lewiston I had seen two weeks earlier. In all, I spent 37 hours on the railroad. Alas, my fear of change that prompted
the trip came to pass all too soon. BNSF and UP sold the Camas Prairie to North American RailNet of Bedford, Texas. On April 18, 1998, Camas Prairie RailNet took over operations and ran the railroad with former Southern Railway B23-7s. Permission was granted to abandon the Grangeville Branch on September 12, 2000, and the final run to Grangeville took place on November 29. Today, the
remainder of the railroad is operated by the Great Northwestern west of Lewis- ton, and Bountiful Grain & Craig Moun- tain east of Lewiston. Some 20 years have passed since my wonderful two-day trip to the Camas Prairie. As it turned out, that was the only time I documented the operations, and even then I was not able to see the Headquarters or Kamiah Branches. Other interests always kept a return trip just out of reach. With a long and rich history, the Camas Prairie has come to mean different things to differ- ent people. To me, it means 37 incredible hours spent in June 1996.
RYAN REED, 48, works as a freelance writer and photographer, and is a native of eastern Washington. He began photographing a changing rail scene in 1981 with a 110-format Instamatic camera. This is his first byline in RAILFAN & RAILROAD.
ABOVE: Tied down at Culdesac, an old Great Northern 40-foot boxcar lives out its final days before meeting a cutting torch at Lewiston. By June 1996, not many of these steam-era relics werre left. LEFT: Situated three miles from Spalding, Lapwai is the first station on the 2nd Subdivision. With no work to do here on June 7, 1996, the Grangeville Local powers by without stopping. BELOW: With a long day’s work nearly done, the log train from Jaype rolls through Spalding at 7:10 p.m. on June 6, 1996, with rebuilt caboose BN 12571 bringing up the markers in classic style.
47
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
