Western Railroad Discussion > St Paul & Pacific Northwest RR

Monday I made my first visit to Kettle Falls, WA since Progressive Rail took over. Progressive Rail is operating under the name St Paul & Pacific Northwest RR and includes the line north from Chewelah through Kettle Falls and Northport to Canada and ends at Columbia Gardens, BC. The Grand Forks line starting at the Columbia River still appears to be owned by OmniTrax, and I'm not sure what the operations there are like. The train from Waneta, BC seems to run about the same routine as it did under Kettle Falls International. Departing the border around 2~3pm and gets to Kettle Falls around 5~6pm. Adds cars from the two Boise Cascade sawmills and the Grand Forks Line that were tied down on the Grand Forks mainline. Then it adds cars to the head end in the Kettle Falls Yard (while the tail of the train blocks the main crossing downtown). Those head end cars are destined for Vaagen Brothers sawmill in Colville, WA. It included rough cut lumber for finishing and empty A-frames to load. Train departed Kettle Falls after 6:30 and arrived in Colville about 7pm.
Didn't have the best of luck as I missed the southbound train south of Northport and by the time I backtracked and found it, it had already passed all the good photo spots. I had to get to a meeting with a old friend of mine. I later found the train switching in Kettle Falls and chased it to Colville. But someone left a vehicle fouling the tracks in Colville which delayed the switching there long enough the train didn't depart Colville until after the sun had set.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Captions are on the photos.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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All the power appears to be leased, with a variety of reporting marks. Below are the locomotives I saw.

FURX 4225 GP40
JEBX 3895 GP40 w/Airbox
FURX 4221 GP40
LTEX 5155 GP38-2
FURX 5538 GP38
LTEX 3010 GP40
LTEX 3910 GP35 Rebuilt
HLCX 3845 GP38-2
HLCX 4204 GP40
HLCX 4205 GP40
OMLX 3600 GP35 Rebuilt, but looking dead. Probably ex-SP, left over from KFI
There are at least two more LTEX units, and possibly another FURX unit that I couldn't get the numbers of.

The HLCX power might be used by OmniTrax on the Grand Forks line, but I'm not certain.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/19 09:56 by funnelfan.

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A few other sights to see.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Ted -
Thanks for the report. What are the little red diamond logos on the lower portions of some of the cabs, on some of the units?
Dave in Msla

Very NICE and interesting series Ted! I've seen the 5155 and a few of the red FURX units roll thru the backyard at times.

Larry

The red diamonds are the compamy's logo with the name "St Paul & Pacific Northwest" in white in the diamond.
Gonut

That's the Progressive Rail logo.

monaddave Wrote:
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> Ted -
> Thanks for the report. What are the little red
> diamond logos on the lower portions of some of the
> cabs, on some of the units?
> Dave in Msla

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Nice coverage Ted. A very scenic area for sure.

BB

Nice pics!!  I like Pic 2!!

Those LTEX units remind me of a Q paint scheme. Nice chase and pics Ted.

Ed