Washington Eastern Railroad

The Washington Eastern Railroad is a shortline railroad located in Eastern Washington in the United States. It runs on the CW Branch built by the Northern Pacific Railway from 1889–1890 and was previously used by the Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad until 2018. The WER was owned by The Western Group; on November 1, 2020, it was acquired by Jaguar Transport Holdings of Joplin, Missouri.[1]

Washington Eastern Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersMedical Lake, Washington
Reporting markWER
LocaleEastern Washington
Dates of operation2018 (2018)–
PredecessorEastern Washington Gateway Railroad
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length114.8 miles (184.8 km)
Other
Websitewashingtoneasternrr.com

History

The Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad was established on June 1, 2007, after the purchase of the CW branch of the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad (PCC) by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).[2][3] The branch, which saw low traffic and high deferred maintenance costs, was slated to be abandoned by the railroad. The state purchased the line in February 2007 for $5.6 million, after lobbying from grain growers in the region.[4][5]

The Inland Northwest Rail Museum was constructed in 2016 in Reardan, Washington, adjacent to trackage owned by EWG. The museum is home to several pieces of historic railroad equipment from Eastern Washington.[6]

EWG went out of business on November 4, 2018, with operations assumed by Washington Eastern Railroad, a new entity operated by the Western Group.[7] The last EWG train ran on November 3, 2018.

The Western Group won the bid from WSDOT to operate the CW Branch on September 4, 2018.[8] In late 2018, WER began building an extension on the Geiger Spur to serve Spokane International Airport and surrounding industrial facilities.[9][10]

Jaguar Transport Holding acquired the line on November 1, 2020.[1]

Route
Washington Eastern Railroad[11]
Jct. BNSF Railway
Lakeside Subdivision
Cheney
Four Lakes
HighLine Grain Storage[12]
Geiger Spur
Airway Heights
[12]
Medical Lake
 Reardan
 Mondovi
 Davenport
 Rocklyn
 Creston
 Wilbur
 Govan
 Almira
 Hansen
 Hartline
 Cement
 Odair
 Coulee City

The WER operates on the state-owned CW Branch. The route runs starts in Cheney in a junction with the BNSF Railway line. The route then proceeds along SR 904 to Four Lakes. At Four Lakes, the tracks cross under I-90 and meet the grain elevator operated by HighLine Grain Growers.[13] From here, the tracks continue north where they connect with the Geiger Spur, owned by the Spokane County government, that connects with Airway Heights.[14] The tracks follow SR 902 to Medical Lake, then turn north again to US 2. The tracks follow US 2 for the remainder of the route to where it terminates in Coulee City.[15]

Operations

The WER currently hauls scoot trains one to four times a week depending on the time of year. It goes out to Coulee City dropping off empty cars at various communities and comes back one to two days later picking up those loaded cars and taking them to the grain storage operated by HighLine Grain Growers in Four Lakes. After the grain is unloaded, WER heads back out and repeats the process.[13] The company also runs a more infrequent train up the Geiger Spur that mainly transports steel.[13] Occasionally they will run a Davenport Turn which is a hospital train. It takes broken train cars to Davenport to be repaired and brings the fixed cars to their destination. When the HighLine grain storage is full, WER contacts BNSF, who will send a train via the WER trackage from Cheney and take it elsewhere.[16]

See also

References
  1. "Jaguar Transport Holdings Acquires 5 Shortline Railroads and a Railroad Construction Company from The Western Group". Cision PR Newswire. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  2. "Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad Company-Lease and Operation Exemption-Washington State Department of Transportation". Federal Register. June 1, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  3. "Palouse River and Coulee City Rail System" (PDF). Washington State Department of Transportation. June 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  4. "Washington State Rail Plan" (PDF). Washington State Department of Transportation. March 2014. p. 56. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  5. Buxton, Graham (February 8, 2007). "State agrees to buy railroad in Eastern Washington". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Associated Press. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  6. Prager, Mike (December 5, 2016). "Inland Northwest Rail Museum opens new digs near Reardan". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  7. "Washington Eastern Railroad, LLC-Change in Operators Exemption". Federal Register. Surface Transportation Board. October 11, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  8. "Washington Eastern Railroad LLC change in operators". Federal Register.
  9. "Spokane International Airport Receives Federal Grant to build Rail Line". Spokesman Review.
  10. "Mcmorris Rodgers announces $113 Million to fund train rail to Spokane International Airport". KXLY.
  11. "WER Railroad Route Map". Washington Eastern Railroad. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  12. Delaney, Paul (3 March 2016). "EW Gateway works behind the scenes". Cheney Free Press. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  13. Delaney, Paul (3 March 2016). "EW Gateway works behind the scenes". Cheney Free Press. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  14. "The Western Group Wins Bid to Operate Washington State Shortline". Progressive Railroading.
  15. "Washington Eastern Railroad Route Map". Washington Eastern Railroad. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  16. "It's the same tracks but a new operator". Cheney Free Press.
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