1949 Report on Conditions on the W.I.&M.
The following document is a transcribed letter to Northern Pacific President McFarlane, written in February 1949, reporting on the status of the WI&M property. The NP was apparently considering Potlatch Forest Industry's offer to sell the WI&M. A Mr. C.H. Burgess of the NP and two associates visited the WI&M incognito to gather as much information as possible on the physical condition and traffic levels of the WI&M. Mr. Burgess' report gives a description of many aspects of the WI&M's general appearance and operations. It seems obvious from his descriptions that Mr. Burgess was not impressed with the overall condition of the WI&M.
REPORT OF CONDITIONS ON THE W.I.&M. RAILWAY
Inspection was made of the W.I.&M. Railway between Palouse and Bovill on February 1st to the extent that it was possible to do so without divulging the reason for the inspection. Messrs. Edgell and Dorfler accompanied me. The snow varied from 16” to 4’ in depth which made it impossible to check conditions very closely but I think the information given below is substantially correct. Many of the roads adjacent to the railroad between Potlatch and Bovill had not been cleared of snow and were impassable. I attach hereto a map which shows the W.I.&M. Railway colored in blue. I also attach a copy of the W.I.&M. Railway Company time table which was effective April 9, 1939, and is still in effect.
TRACK:
The rail is 70 pound with no tie plates except possibly on a few curves. There is considerable curvature, some as heavy as 12 degrees. All the ties are untreated. The switches are sub-standard, generally without plates. The track was last ballasted in 1931. I do not know the extent of this 1931 ballasting, but the entire main track has crushed rock ballast, rather small in size, and I understand is quite badly fouled in some locations. The surface of the track seems comparable with the condition on one of our own light traffic branch lines of light rail. I heard some conversation among section men to the effect that tie renewals had been skimped during the last two or three years and that renewals would be particularly heavy in 1949. Statement was also made that the ties are not seasoned and have a very short life of possibly five or six years on the sharp curves where it is difficult to hold the track to gauge in the absence of tie plates and frequent regauging shortens tie life.
There are seven section crews averaging about four men each on the 49.37 miles of track between the interchange tracks at Palouse and Purdue. The track between Purdue and Bovill, 2.05 miles, is used jointly by the Milwaukee and the W.I.&M. and both have separate yards at Bovill.
I was unable to secure any definite information about the grades except that between Harvard and Yale there is five miles of 1.75% grade, ascending eastbound. The grade on the opposite side of the summit at Yale is quite a bit less than this, possibly slightly in excess of 1.0%, although this last is a guess.
EQUIPMENT:
The W.I.&M. Railway have four oil burning locomotives. Two of these locomotives are referred to locally as freight locomotives and are of the 2-8-0 type, built by the American Locomotive Company in 1908. Two of the locomotives are referred to locally as passenger locomotives and are of the 4-6-0 type, built by the American Locomotive Company in 1906. The freight locomotives are probably slightly heavier than our own S-4 type and under good weather conditions, will take 28 loads of logs from Bovill to the top of the grade at Yale. The so-called passenger power will take about 18 log loads from Bovill to Yale. At the time I was at Bovill, the W.I.&M. was running a doubleheader train with one passenger and one freight locomotive with 40 loads of logs which is evidently the maximum that can be handled during this season of the year under the existing heavy snow conditions. One of the freight locomotives is temporarily tied up account damaged in a recent derailment and one passenger locomotive has not been used for some time and is probably unserviceable.
The W.I.&M. are supposed to have 300 log flats and the ones that I saw were full deck, wooden sill flats with arch bar trucks, 70,000 capacity. These log flats are equipped with cables and clamps which serve to hold logs in place. They are not equipped with log bunks. I have information that leads me to believe that the actual number of serviceable log flats is substantially less than 300 as I understand some have recently been scrapped and that there are a number of cars bad order which it is understood will not be repaired. The railway also has five box cars, 41’6” in length, 3127 cubic feet, 80,000 capacity. They appear to be in fair condition but are not used in interchange. I understand they also have two passenger cars, combination mail, passenger, baggage, which are sometimes used in their passenger service with steam power when motor car is out of service for repairs.
The W.I.&M. have one motor car, combination passenger, mail and express, with a passenger compartment for twelve persons. This motor car appears to be in fair condition and is operated by means of a gasoline engine.
At Potlatch I noticed five bunk cars which appear comparable to our own outfit cars. The railroad also has a homemade snowplow and I understand some sort of a crane which is used for wrecking and other purposes.
SERVICE:
The W.I.&M. operate a passenger train daily except Wunday From Potlatch to Palouse, Palouse to Bovill, Bovill to Palouse and Palouse to Potlatch. The equipment used is the motor car which has been mentioned above. They also operate a freight train from Potlatch to Palouse and return three times a week and this train delivers cars to both the Northern Pacific and Great Northern at Palouse. I saw the Agent’s interchange report which indicated that from July 1, 1948 to February 1, 1949, W.I.&M. had delivered to the Northern Pacific 469 cars of lumber and 94 cars of grain and a few cars of peas. The railroad runs a local and log train from Potlatch to Bovill and return daily, except Sunday. The logs either come from Elk River on the Milwaukee or are trucked into Bovill and loaded on cars at that point. The Elk River logs are handled on Milwaukee log flats.
There are agents at Palouse, Potlatch and Bovill and there is telephone communications along the entire line.
BRIDGES:
I was unable to examine the bridges very closely but I did notice two Howe trusses of rather light construction and I imagine that they would not be good for an engine much exceeding in weight our own Class S-4 locomotive. The balance of the bridges, of which there are quite a few, are pile bridges, five piles per bent, and appear to be well maintained.
BUILDINGS & STRUCTURES:
Attached time card shows the location of wye tracks, scales, fuel oil tanks, turntables and water tanks, and I checked these facilities sufficiently close to indicate that the information shown in the time table is substantially correct. In addition to these facilities there is a one-story frame depot at Palouse about 24’ x 60’, in fair condition. A very large depot building is located at Potlatch. This building is a two-story building, 24’ x 100’ approximately, has steam heat, concrete platform and the second story is used for living quarters and contains four apartments. The building is in fair condition. There is also a six stall brick roundhouse and machine shop at Potlatch. At Bovill there is also a fairly large frame depot in rather poor condition and evidently used jointly by the Milwaukee. I noticed also a small frame depot partially boarded up and apparently abandoned at the station known as Deary. Small stations have shelter sheds open on track side where passenger stop is made and any mail and express handled.
INDUSTRIES:
As a matter of information I made a note of some of the industries served by the W.I.&M. At Palouse there are two large grain elevators and several small warehouses. There is also a grain elevator at Kennedy Ford and I believe one at Wellesley. At Potlatch, in addition to the large Potlatch mill with its extensive trackage, there is an oil station, grain elevator and two grain warehouses served by trackage. At Princeton there is one medium sized grain warehouse and a small sawmill east of the station, and between Princeton and Harvard there is a fair sized sawmill with a short spur adjacent thereto. I was informed that the output of this mill is trucked. At Harvard there is a small warehouse and loading platform. At Deary there are two grain elevators and two grain warehouses. At Bovill there is not much industry except the logging operations.
MISCELLANEOUS:
While it was obviously impossible to check the track conditions very closely by reason of the heavy snow, am satisfied that if the Northern Pacific Railway Company took over this branch line it would be necessary to retie completely in a period of about eight years. Some of the turnouts appear quite sharp and show considerable wear. The rail on some of the sharp curves is reaching a point where replacement will soon be necessary. The maintenance force appears more than adequate according to our standards but these short sections are no doubt necessary by reason of the untreated ties, heavy tie renewals, absence of tie plates and similar factors which necessitate more intensive maintenance than is required on our average branch line. The W.I.&M. suffers some high water trouble at times according to my understanding but I believe have not been very seriously damaged on this account during recent years. I note that many of the cuts are narrow and have an idea that quite extensive ditching operations are necessary during the summer months. I am informed that the labor rate applying on the sections is $1.30 per hour.
The train and engine crews are guaranteed a 10 hour straight time day whenever they are called for service, but apparently there is some provision which permits working less than would be termed a full crew on our railroad. They receive overtime after 10 hours. The passenger motor car is operated by one man who serves as engineer, conductor and baggageman and this of course would not be possible under our schedule.
Incidentally while I was looking through one of Mr. Tremaine’s files I found a reference to the effect that in 1943 the I.C.C. approved liquidation or the W.I.&M. Railway on the basis of an estimated remaining life of nine years.
I understand that Mr. Edgell and Mr. Kopp will make reports on the agricultural and timber resources and traffic prospects.
C. H. Burgess.
Seattle, Washington
February 2, 1949.
Special thanks to Tom Hillebrant for making an electronic version of this document available for use here. Comments, corrections, additional information, or feedback related to this Web page are always welcome!