Details, details, details...

If you're interested in the mechanical details of the 5057, here is the page from the Milwaukee Road diesel diagram book that describes the U25B locomotives on the railroad.  Click the image to see the full size version.

Click to enlarge.

Adopt-a-Mile: We're more than half the way to Bieber from Keddie

We've raised a bit more than $275 (55 miles) since our last update, which puts us near Lodgepole, CA.  This is more than half of the $500 needed to get us 100 miles to Bieber, CA.  From there, our next goal will be Klamath Falls, OR.

Looking at the big picture, people have sponsored 105 miles of the 890 mile trip between Portola and the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad.

Please pitch in to keep us moving toward the interchange with the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad by making a contribution today!

Adopt-a-Mile: We're past Keddie, CA... now on to Bieber, CA!

Since we've started the Adopt-a-Mile campaign, we've raised a little more than $250.  This puts us about 10 miles past Keddie, CA, home of the famous Keddie Wye (seen below).

Photo by Adrian Studer, Wikimedia Commons

Our next intermediate goal is for people to adopt the remaining miles to Bieber, CA.  It's 150 miles from Portola, CA so we need to raise another $500 to get there.  Contribute today!

Adopt-a-Mile (or More)!

We are planning to move the 5057 from Portola, CA to the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad in Usk, WA later this year, where we will have the locomotive cosmetically restored in their shop.

We’ll be asking the UP and BNSF to donate all or part of the transportation costs ($8,000-$12,000, depending on where the railroads are willing to interchange the locomotive).   While we hope for the best from our requests to UP and BNSF, we want to ensure we can pay for the trip even if we need to pay the full amount.   Help us make sure we can cover the cost of moving the 5057 by sponsoring part of the trip at $5.00/mile.  

$5.00 =1 mile

Our goal is to have the 890 rail miles between Portola and POVA sponsored by July 1, 2014.  All donations made between February 1 and July 1 will be applied toward this goal.  Any funds not needed for the move will be applied to the restoration work.

Go to the project web site to make a donation today!

First trip to Washington?

We've been trying to determine when the 5057 made its first trip to Washington by looking through dispatcher train sheets in our archival collections.  These documents were the official 'diary' of what happened within the train dispatcher's territory during a particular day.

Cascade Rail Foundation has an extensive collection of these documents for the Pacific Coast Railroad (later part of the Burlington Northern), which the Milwaukee Road used as part of its transcontinental mainline between Maple Valley, WA and Black River (south of Seattle).

Knowing that the 5057 was originally number 388 when it was built and delivered to the Milwaukee Road during the summer of 1965, we went through the dispatcher train sheets for that period.  The earliest sheet we've found that shows the 388 on a train was from July 31, 1965.  An excerpt can be seen below, with the entry for the 388 highlighted in orange.

Click to enlarge.

According to this train sheet, the 388 passed Maple Valley, WA at 12:23 a.m. pulling 2,915 tons (25 loads and 58 empty cars) with three other U25B locomotives.  It then passed Black River at 12:50 a.m. on the way to Tacoma. It would have passed through Cle Elum sometime on July 30.

Unless new information becomes available, we consider this to be the first trip of the 5057 to Washington.

Welcome!

Welcome to the 5057 Project blog!

We've started this blog as a way to provide you additional news and information about the 5057 Project.