Milwaukee Road Photography by Blair Kooistra

[wazzou]

This was from a presentation last week at Winterail in Corvallis, OR by Blair called Remembering Milwaukee Road’s Coast Division: Scenes from a Dying Transcontinental
Blair has been gracious enough to post it to Vimeo for those that could not be there in person.

Well worth the 29 minutes for Milwaukee fans

[C855B]

Thank you, and thanks to Blair for the presence of mind to post it online. There are so many fantastic Winterail presentations that become lost to the ether. Sure, maybe Vic's attendance numbers would suffer from knowledge that shows were going to eventually end up on video social media, but it's been such a shame that really good stuff is seen once and then gone.

Haven't viewed the entire video yet, but there were many of us who made the trek from California to witness the last days of the Western Extension. Ah, memories. Unfortunately, my trip around the same time as Blair's was cut short due to domestic discord as her patience for trains (and me) had exhausted and we were, shall we say, "done". It was a long, quiet and tense drive back home.

[sirenwerks]

What org sponsored this presentation? I wish I would have known, I would have been there. Of course, in reality I was out in Vale last week, so I wouldn't have been able to go, but I'd like to keep tabs for more of these.

[wazzou]

http://www.winterail.com/

[Dave Schneider]

I have always admired his photography. The Wallace Abbey of our time. That is a fabulous video.

Best wishes,
Dave

[p51]

I was at Winterail to see this in person, sitting right behind Blair at the time. The entire auditorium was filled and I don't think anyone left early. It was the final show of the event and people went nuts. It was a very good show.
I've heard him tell people that he became a 'has been' as a teenager, within the hobby for the photos he got on the end of the MILW.
I really hope he puts out a book of his b/w MILW work someday.

[x600]

Thanks for posting that, Bryan.
As a transplant from Pa., I never got a connection to the MILW. Over the last 30 years I have grown to understand the connection PNW natives have with
the NP, GN and the logging roads, but only caught a passing glance at locals connection to the MILW. I could only fill my feeble mind with so much
RR history, as it is already to the brim with my NEPA home road stuff.
Watching that presentation just cleared a spot and gave me a new look at all the old ROW I have passed by here over the years.
I get it now. I only wish that I had paid more attention when I was stationed at Ft Lewis 77 to 80, but trains were low on my list at that time.
That was extremely well done.
Thanks again, time to add some MILW stuff to the train boxes, thanks again.
Greg O

[nkalanaga]

Part of the MILW's mystique, and anonymity, are due to its location in the Northwest.  Much of the route was either inaccessible, or almost uninhabited.  It tried to avoid going where the GN and NP already were, but there wasn't much reason for anybody to be where they weren't, usually too dry, or too rocky, to farm.  Economically, there really wasn't much reason for the Pacific Extension.

That said, if it had survived another 10 years, it could have done very well hauling double stacks and oil trains, for the same reason it died.  With no major cities, and few smaller ones, there would have been few locals to get in the way of the through trains.

[tom mann]

Great stuff, thanks for posting.

[p51]

I grew up in Florida and didn't even know the MILW went that far west until I was in my mid 20s (a good decade after it was all pulled up). I didn't really 'get' it until I moved out to WA state for the Army in 1998. I was at Yakima several times at the firing center and one day my driver and I took my Humvee out to where the line split at the massive bridge over the Columbia. We looked at the road bed and bridge abutments for the line going to Hanford (but didn't know what it was at the time). Looking at the map, neither of us could believe anyone would build a RR up through there. Only a year or two later did I learn what we'd been looking at.
I used to say that if I had a time machine and could only go to 5 places, one would be seeing the ET&WNC before the war. But now, I must admit right behind that would be the MILW between Aberdeen, WA, through Tacoma and to the east side of Montana.

Part of the MILW's mystique, and anonymity, are due to its location in the Northwest.  Much of the route was either inaccessible, or almost uninhabited.  It tried to avoid going where the GN and NP already were, but there wasn't much reason for anybody to be where they weren't, usually too dry, or too rocky, to farm.  Economically, there really wasn't much reason for the Pacific Extension.

Yep, a Midwest grainer line with electrification, among towering mountains and trees, across vast deserts and most of it in the middle of nowhere.
It had great appeal to those aware of it at the time. But that was part of it, I think; so few people even had a clue about the majesty of the route until it was over. A special club of insiders who were there to see it as so few ever did.

if it had survived another 10 years, it could have done very well hauling double stacks and oil trains, for the same reason it died.  With no major cities, and few smaller ones, there would have been few locals to get in the way of the through trains.

Yep, I've talked with some people who worked with BN and also BNSF in the years after the MILW died and many have said a huge regret that BN had was not buying the route through Snoqualmie for that tunnel.

[wazzou]

Before getting married in the late 90's, my fiancé and I followed the route of the MILW from Washington through Idaho beyond Miles City, MT to the Missouri River. 
We hit all the attractions on the entire route using a book called "Guide to the Milwaukee Road in Montana", camping along the way.
On our way back we went North through Great Falls to Helena then Shelby, MT, to Essex and the Isaac Walton beside the former GN Transcon. 
We then continued back West through Glacier and Kalispell and then Sand Point on the NP before returning to Washington through Spokane.
I took many, many pictures, film back then.  It was a great trip.

[Bendtracker1]

Thanks for posting and sharing that Bryan!

[eja]

Best half hour I spent today.   Beautiful pictures and a well put together "video".   Thanks for posting it and thanks to Blair for creating it.


eja

[Caleb Austin]

Wonderful video, best thing I've seen in while. Mr Kooistra is one of my greatest photographic inspirations.

He has a Flickr page that I would encourage anyone who enjoyed this video to check out as well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/120320833@N02/

Thanks for posting!

Caleb.

[coldriver]

Blair is indeed working on a book.  I've known him for quite some time going back to the late 80's (he's currently a semi-regular operator on the Oregon Joint Line) and I'm still amazed that while most of us were chasing girls and working dead end jobs as teenagers he was out there intensively photographing the MILW at a very young age with the photography skills of a professional.