Nelson Bennett stood at the west portal of his mountain tunnel on the afternoon of May 3, 1888, waiting for something that had seemed impossible just 28 months earlier. A…… Continue reading Stampede Pass: The $1,000 Race Through the Mountain
Category: trains
White Death at Wellington: America’s Deadliest Avalanche
The Wellington avalanche wasn’t merely a natural disaster—it was a turning point in railroad safety practices.
Steel Dreams and Wooden Rails: The Birth of Washington’s Railroad Empire
In the summer of 1851, while most of America was still reeling from the California Gold Rush, a Wisconsin transplant named Francis A. Chenoweth was building something revolutionary along the…… Continue reading Steel Dreams and Wooden Rails: The Birth of Washington’s Railroad Empire
A Brief History of Handcars
– a fictional account – Earl Saarinen was a gandy dancer based in Astoria, Oregon. More specifically, he was a railroad track inspector. It was the summer of 1898 and…… Continue reading A Brief History of Handcars
The Great Hinckley Fire
Ah, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the trains. They were the devils and the angels that September day in 1894, weren’t they? Sure as my name’s McFly, I’ll tell you the…… Continue reading The Great Hinckley Fire