Columbia Basin Railroad
Great Run in Eastern Washington with Adrianne!

Columbia Basin Railroad logo

New Railroad in Eastern Washington

Dan and his sister Adrianne made a long road trip to attend this excursion in Eastern Washington in early April 2022.

A long two day drive each way!

Southern California geography forces those of us who live here to travel a long distance to be able to operate our railcars. The best runs are in Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and points east. This run is 1200 miles from Dan's home in southern Californa. Adrianne kindly flew out to join me on the trip and the excursion.

Seton was on Friday, 8 April at Warden, WA. This is a few miles from Moses Lake where we stayed. Our EC Mike Phelps did a great job organziing set on.

Day one, Saturday April 9, was cold and windy. After a detailed safety briefing, we were on our way to the nearby yard where we switched and backed on to the main. We went from Warden, Wheeler, Sieler and back to Warden. On Sunday we ran to Bruce and onward to the CBRR interchange with the BNSF at Connell. Total rail miles were about 178.

We enjoyed this run of about 20 cars, including our friends Wayne and Nancy Parsons, Robin Douglas, and Bob McCoy.

Columbia Basin Railroad route map
Columbia Basin Railroad route map

Adrianne ready to operate Rail Car 007 on the Columbia Basin Railroad
Adrianne ready to go!

Rail Car 007 switching onto the Columbia Basin Railroad main line
007 switches on to the main.

Rail Car 007 crossing an irrigation canal on the Columbia Basin Railroad
007 crosses an irrigation canal on the CBRR

Wide-open sky above the Columbia Basin Railroad in eastern Washington
Big sky country

Sunday Surprise!

We woke up Sunday to a late spring snow storm in western Washington! Arriving at Warden, we found our cars covered with snow and the excursion departure delayed until the visibility improved.

This was a good move by our EC since the weather got much better in just two hours. Some decided to set their cars off but we decided to stay. That was also a good decision, since we got to see some really great views going to Connell and back.

Railcars covered with snow on Sunday morning at Warden, Washington
Sunday morning surprise!

Adrianne operating Rail Car 007 while leaving Bruce on the Columbia Basin Railroad
Adrianne pilots 007 leaving Bruce on the CBRR