| Current assignment: Puget Sound and Pacific. Seen here waiting quietly at Blakeslee JCT near Centralia, WA. It's only a matter of time before this former Rail America unit is repainted in Genesee and Wyoming's bright orange colors. The lineside signal box in the foreground no longer holds a telephone. That telephone once allowed train crews to talk to the local dispatcher in order to gain clearance to cross the Blakeslee JCT complex. The junction once featured 3 different tracks crossing each other along with something like 4 or 5 diamonds and 3 or 4 turnouts connecting the various lines. The Union Pacific line running due east/west between the north end of the Centralia yard and Galvin, ultimately leading to Hoquiam, out on the coast was abandoned and torn up in the early 1990's. In the spring and summer of 2012, the former Milwaukee line running roughly north/south between Chehalis to the south and Tacoma in the north was partly torn up, eliminating the last 2 diamonds, replacing them with a pair of turnouts connecting the line with PS&P's former BN (nee NP) Grays Harbor branch. Of the UP line, only a 2 mile section between Blakeslee JCT and the west edge of the Port of Centralia industrial district remains. |
| Date:
7/22/2013 |
Location:
Blakeslee Junction, WA Map  |
Views:
519 |
Collection Of:
 
Tom Redlion Walsh |
| Locomotives: |
Author: Tom Redlion Walsh
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| Picture Categories: Roster |
This picture is part of album: GP15's, GP30's |