I came across these pictures of the Milwaukee Road Roundhouse in Deer Lodge, MT. I have relative living there that worked for the Milwaukee Road and took numerous trips out of Deer Lodge riding with them. In the first picture I can pick up my uncles house in the upper left of the photo. I'm not sure when these were taken as there was no information available where I found the photos.
In the top photo, I see what could be lumber loaded center beams near lower left. I am thinking this is probably near the end of electrification years. About 1974-1975.
It's probably close to the end of electrification. I didn't get back to Montana until 1977 and looking at the neighborhood at the top left, it was still about the same size in '77. A few people had lost their jobs when electrification ended and things really got slow in town for a few years. My relatives were lucky as this did not effect their job at the railroad. I again rode with them occasionally after returning, but not as much as I would have liked. It was strange not seeing the overhead wires after growing up with them.
So true. Without the wires, it simply looked like something was wrong. When they'd yanked down the trolley, and all that remained was the messenger and hangers, everything looked really sad.
Any idea what the large rectangular building in the bottom left of picture #1 is? I'm thinking a repair shop would have more tracks, ? Bobby
Maybe a set of inlet tracks, or a transfer table? I'm always curious to know why things are built the way they are. Bobby, Plus I'm still working on my version of a smalltime roundhouse and how to "compress" the important features into a compact space. "A disease endemic to all of us working less than 1:1".
Well, it has already been forty years since they pulled the plug on their electrics. Memory on some things has faded. I've been sitting here, wracking my brains. Duh. Finally, the little light came on, reluctantly. That building was the electric shop.
I haven't had a chance to get back to trainboard, and Boxcab is correct, the electrical shop it is. You can see the power lines coming from the electrical sub station just south of the roundhouse. It was strange to get out on the rails again and not see the catenary after growing up with it. I also preferred the hum of the electric motors compared to the diesels. Progress I guess. Leave it to the management to know best and de-electrify right when fuel prices more than doubled. Guess that's why they made the big bucks.
I contributed to the fund years back when they were going to refurbish E-70. Have a nice T shirt with E-70 on it. Drive by it every time we go to visit relatives. there are a lot of memories of the Milwaukee Road all over not only in Deer Lodge, but all over the state. The railroads help build Montana.
Unlike steam, the electrics weren't tied to a water source, thus were more flexible, especially in that part of the country when so much money and resources had been tied up in electricity. I'm off my environmental soapbox,(Owens River, Feather River) and... what were "they" thinking? Bobby
The figures for those costs have been very often overstated. There is one particular person out there today, conducting a weird campaign to keep the myths and fairy tales alive. Whatever the motive is, nobody can understand what or why he's doing it. He never supports his wild claims with any data, (which those claims have been repeatedly refuted with actual company records, court records and more), but sadly people blindly believe him. Even before the shutdown out west, financial studies had brought out the actual figures The investment costs were very, very quickly repaid. Within just a few years, much of four yards and roundhouse/engine facilities were being phased out at a huge savings. Many dozens of train order offices were retired. As were those costs. Until the end of use, actually putting money into the company bank accounts.
Electric locomotives, when they first came out in the late teens, required a lot less maintenance than steam locomotives plus in the cold winters in Montana, were much more efficient the the sub freezing weather. Electric locomotives also had regenerative braking, which put power back into the catenary when trains were going down grade. This engineering from the early part of the century was still effective when the Milwaukee de-electrified. Unfortunately their timing was off as oil prices spiked in the early 70's and fuel costs was something else they had to deal with. Look at the rail systems in Europe. Most are electric. Maybe the Milwaukee had something right and didn't know it.
