Harris film 030 part 1

[@ejsayler1]

Used to sit in my high school math class and watch the Milwaukee trains in Alberton Montana!

[@LeeWitten]

I bet that evoked some great day dreams.

[@billanderson4619]

I love it when Harris' old Plymouth makes a cameo appearance. I wonder how many miles he put on that car. It was interesting to see the use of open auto rack cars as late as 1974.

[@LeeWitten]

Yes, seeing Harris' car now and then really personalizes it for me.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

I remember seeing open auto racks in 1980. photed a DTI southbound at St. Paris,Ohio with a load of brand new Cadillac's going under the Columbus-Chicago CR main. these were the Cadillac's(Seville) that had the appearance of someone taking a knife and slicing off the rear trunk at an angle. sadly, the CR main had less than 3 years left. One of the busiest on PC/CR by 1984 was abandoned.

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

@@jeffreymcfadden9403 I also saw them in 1981 on the Burlington Northern-along with ex-NP F-9’s and ex-CB&Q cabooses.

[@RantzBizGroup]

I was probably riding along side on I90 going back and forth between Seattle and Aberdeen, SD to see my family... I still model this era in HO - some of the best years of my life were sitting trackside and watching the Milwaukee Road. Thanks for these great videos, they are priceless!!!

[@LeeWitten]

Glad these videos are so meaningful to you. I can relate, though my memories are of the UP since my dad was a conductor up until 1974.

[@RantzBizGroup]

@@LeeWitten We have much in common - I helped my uncle in SD nail up box cars for grain loading before hoppers became all the rage. nothing like grain dust and 100 degrees inside a 40 foot standard brown boxcar!

[@LeeWitten]

@@RantzBizGroup My only experience close to that was helping to load cherries into refrigerator cars when I was a teenager. But it wasn't that hot or dusty!

[@RantzBizGroup]

@@LeeWitten All the same, and brought us to this point. To this day I still love standing by a set of tracks waiting to see the lights in the distance!

[@LeeWitten]

@@RantzBizGroup We are kindred spirits!

[@kevinfoster8685]

The lead unit looks like an EMD GP40-2 and the trailing unit an SD45. I didn't know that the Milwaukee Road had SD45s on its roster. Thanks for uploading this video! The Milwaukee is one of my favorite railroads to model.

[@anb740]

They had ten SD45s.

[@philipwegman972]

The MILW had the most striking paint scheme of any RR in the Northwest at the time IMHO. I remember it well. Obviously due to deferred maintenance the physical plant wasn't up to the challenge presented by firmly entrenched BN. But the MILW did a great job of looking fantastic trying!

[@geomodelrailroader]

may Milwaukee Road rest in peace.

[@stevechurch2222]

The Milwaukee Road sure had interesting latch ups GP 30's in Perry,Iowa,GP9M's SD7's SD9's SD10's GP35's main power on the Iowa-Illinois Division GP 40's FP 45's occationally,SD10,rarely did we see SSD40-2's on the line until 1977 we did see 156 the bi centennial unit in 1975 and 1976.Most trains I saw on the Milwaukee Road in Perry had everything on them one I saw SD40-2's in Perry in Des Moines I saw Milwaukee Road SD45's on the C&NW C&NW used SD 45's on the lead units on Milwaukee Road trains from Council Bluffs to Clinton when the C&NW had Milwaukee Road trains re routed to their tracks in December 1978 because of poor track on the Milwaukee Road.

[@jalilmuhammad8270]

The Milwaukee Road's Little Joes would go extinct in 1974.

[@mathuetax]

Interesting consist on the one train with the MOW baggage car and speeder on a flat car. Ahh, 1974, the wheels were falling off the Milwaukee, it just wasn't quite visible on the surface. I wonder what things would have looked like it the Milwaukee had managed in the late 1960's to get absorbed into what would become the BN?

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

The Milwaukee asked to be included in the BN merger and were laughed at. The Milwaukee was the mortal enemy of James J Hill for sticking their nose into his western domain and it was GN, NP and BN policy to keep any traffic from going to the Milwaukee. Even after the gateways were opened up as a condition of the BN merger the BN undercut the Milwaukee’s best rates and took the traffic back. At the end the Milwaukee was starved of traffic and destroyed by BN’s overwhelming competitive advantages.

[@jeroldcrawford3431]

Did this take place after the de-electrification of the line? I noticed the catenaries were still up. I was wondering why there were no electric engines. If so, it seems like such a waste and quite foresighted of management. I remember the open vehicle auto cars . they had to switch to the covered one because of vandalism to the vehicles, especially bullet damage from people taking pot shots at new vehicles. Saw a couple of old Griswold crossing signals with the rotating stop sigh mechanisms removed. When I was a kid in the 1960's, we had a set of intact ones in Seymour, IA on the Milwaukee which was a town in my Iowa County. Loved watching them.

[@LeeWitten]

In other Harris films, Little Joes are shown which were electrified so its right at the transition I suspect.

[@whiteknightcat]

The last electric-powered train operated on June 15, 1974, so a month prior to this video.

[@hansenfiet2539]

Yep, it had just ended. The catenary would be gone with a year.

[@AlikStansberry]

Ah, some nice Milwaukee Road action before they were no more. You can only imagine how different it could have been if they were still around, but BN was just too much for them to compete with.

[@LeeWitten]

I'm glad Harris got into the northwest to capture the last days of the Milwaukee Road.

[@peckelhaze6934]

What was the liquid ejected from the lead loco at 09:28, close to the fuel tank? Could it be water from brakes cylinders?

[@LeeWitten]

I can only see smoke from the exhaust stack.

[@peckelhaze6934]

It is liquid, water I suppose this side of the fuel tank, there is a spurt.

[@LeeWitten]

Oh, OK. I had to go over it several times but finally saw a little spurt. Don't know what it is, maybe a drain for condensation or something?

[@whiteknightcat]

Yes, condensate blowoff valve.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Not a brake cylinder, but a main reservoir air cylinder. Locomotive engineers are supposed to open the valve during their daily inspection to insure most of the water that collects in the cylinder is released. You'd sometimes be amazed at how much water would come out on a hot, humid day. It could take several minutes to drain as much as possible moisture from the cylinder.

[@MrZeldalove]

What were the reasons that the Milwaukee Road died? Bad tracks and subsequent wrecks did not help their cause. That was a beautiful orange and black paint scheme they had. Was it used on passenger units also?

[@billanderson4619]

Reasons the MILW died are subject to much discussion. The orange & black paint scheme was never used on passenger trains, but a close orange, black, and maroon scheme was used before switching to the UP passenger scheme after the MLW contracted to haul UP passenger trains between Omaha and Chicago in the 50's.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

the reason(S) can be summed up in two letters, BN.

[@rockguitarist931]

They de-electrified their railroad because GE said it was a good idea then the price of copper tanked and they lost a mountain of money in the whole ordeal. That probably had a lot to do with going under.

[@선규황-k5n]

한국철도 소속 디젤전기기관차 2대에 런닝맨 여자피디님이 샌디에고에서 탑승해서 LA를 경유해서 퀘벡주까지 가는 100마일이 넘는 장대 혼합화물열차를 이끈다.

[@LeeWitten]

Thanks for your comment. And thanks to Google translation so I could see what your wrote!