Nostalgia & History > MILW 533 at Bellingham, Washington

MILW 533 is seen inside the Bellingham, Washington roundhouse in April of 1972

Jonathan Fischer
West Seattle, WA

---

A true piece of history Thanks for posting this. It is a scene that was seen many times but most likely rarely photographed.
Bob

Like how they notched the door frame to clear the spark arresters.

Definitely like this photo. Very unusual perspective.
Thanks for posting.
ALLEN

Thanks for sharing these. The MILW was gone from Bellingham by the time we moved there so love seeing photos like these.

Certainly no clearance for a man riding the side of that boxcar. Instant death.
Where was the roundhouse in relation to the BN main track?

Charlie

cewherry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Certainly no clearance for a man riding the side
> of that boxcar. Instant death.
> Where was the roundhouse in relation to the BN
> main track?
>

In the center of the image is a lace called Laurel Village, at the corner of Laurel and Railroad

https://goo.gl/maps/iWNgbfyu9Un

That's where the roundhouse was. The NP line was in the alley that is now called South Bay Trail, just south of the roundhouse.

TAW

Following TAW's map, I found the roundhouse on the 1959 Bellingham South USGS topo map.

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#15/48.7455/-122.4850

I've never really understood the Milwaukee's layout on the Fraser River delta, they obviously came after the GN and NP, but seem to have tied things together pretty well, covering the whole Bellingham waterfront, and running up at least as far as Lynden, if I recall correctly. All served by ferry from Seattle, right?

Ted in OR

---

Originally by car ferry but in the modern era by trackage rights.

I'm late to the party, lived in the area but never successfully chased the Milwaukee. But I'm eating up photos of the north south Milwaukee branches. Post'em if ya got'em.

Interesting info about the Milwaukee fleet in this link, tough to search but lots of good info in the site:

http://www.oil-electric.com/2010/08/sir-freight-train-dead-ahead.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/18 14:06 by TCnR.

I just noticed the wooden wooden smokejacks.

-LD

That notch is often used on airplane hangars for vertical stabilizers.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

> I've never really understood the Milwaukee's
> layout on the Fraser River delta, they obviously
> came after the GN and NP, but seem to have tied
> things together pretty well, covering the whole
> Bellingham waterfront, and running up at least as
> far as Lynden, if I recall correctly. All served
> by ferry from Seattle, right?
>

Abbreviated history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingham_Bay_and_British_Columbia_Railroad

The original line ran between The Bellingham waterfront just west of Wharf St https://goo.gl/maps/8MSZ8Ey3ux52 at Sumas via the roundhouse location and in the middle of Railroad Ave to the east side of the city then north.

The line along the waterfront between Wharf Street past Bellingham Cold Storage and Mt Baker Plywood and a junction with the original line about here https://goo.gl/maps/mhAX6vryenk was built some time later. The original line also had a branch to the Larson Mill on the shore of Lake Whatcom. That wasn't in service when I worked there in 1974-1975, but the day switch crew would go out there to hide from the agent. The line between the I-5 crossing and the junction with the waterfront line was gone long before I got there.

There were two bridges over I-5 when I lived there and into the 90s. https://goo.gl/maps/wDzTgjKQgSR2 , the NP line to Wickersham was on the existing bridge. The MILW bridge was just north of it. www.historicaerials.com search https://goo.gl/maps/wDzTgjKQgSR2 and see the 1972 or 1998 aerials.

TAW

While looking for something else another Bellingham Bay and British Columbia RR page showed up in the search. It has a couple more photos of the roundhouse and some info:

http://www.oil-electric.com/2008/03/shoebox-3-bellingham-bay-british.html