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Colleagues,One of you mentioned acquiring the book, "Milwaukee under Wires" by Bill Marvel. It is a fairly recent, full color book, done in 1996. I acquired a copy this past winter at a local train show, when a good friend, going through a messy divorce, was selling all his toys to raise $$.It is an excellent reference book as to the shape of things, etc. but don't take the captions too seriously. There are some serious errors. For example, on the page labeled "Fish Creek", the upper image is said to be the eastbound OH, but if you examine a topo. map, and realize that this tunnel is on the south side of a ridge, This train is the westbound OH. Likewise, the bottom picture, the location of which is less than a mile west of the tunnel, and again examine a topo. map, this train is an eastbound.There are many such errors, but the pictures are excellent, and I find the ones that show the vegetation on the east & west slopes of Butte Hill to be very helpful. I must be more creatively accurate in doing the scenery on this sim. cause I can't hide my mistakes with trees-------???J. H. Sullivan
Jerry,That is a major downfall of the Morning Sun books I have. Especailly the one mentioned. Most of them are full of errors. (The one I have by Bill Stauss is pretty good. But then he is a known Milwaukee expert. I have no idea who Bill Marvel is.)Just buy them for the pics and you'll be happy.Milwaukee Electrics by Noel Holley is very good, but doesn't have as much pictorial coverage of the route. The second edition is better than the first however.Of course, Fred Hyde's "Milwaukee Road" is the standard of color picture books. Every Milwaukee fan needs a copy of this book. Unfortunately, it is out of print and good copies generally run over $150.Really unfortunate is the fact the book will not be reprinted as the plates were destroyed several years ago by Hyrail productions.Steinhiemer's "Electric Way Across the Mountains" is supposed to be reprinted in the near future, saving those that want a copy $300 or so for a used one.Todd
I have the 2nd edition of Holly's book, and it is an excellent treatise. Having worked with the motive power department at Southern, and some at CSX, the technical data in it was of great interest to me, but it might have bored a pure fan to death.As for Steinheimer's book, let us hope it is reprinted -- his coverage of many western subjects was excellent. While I don't have the Video by GreenFrog mentioned by some, I do have the full set from Pentrex. I also have a 8mm film from Sunday River that was done years ago. I also have an 8mm on the NCL, and Sunday RIver has just released a video of the NorthCoast Ltd., 2 or 3 in fact, which I imagine reuse some of that 8mm footage. I plan to order it. In the film, there was a very impressive shot of the NCL descending the west slope of Butte Hill, and crossing what I now know to have been Bridge 63.Someone mentioned that the BNSF was, or had, reacquired the line from Garrison to Butte, and I had heard rumors of that, but I guess I wonder "what for??". Both ends of the line connect to Montana Rail Link, if you include the segment over HomeStake.J. H. Sullivan
Another video, which IMHO really stinks but has some good shots of the Tacoma Eastern line in the later days, is called Milwaukee Road West by Charles Smiley Productions. The reason why I say it stinks is it really veers off the western lines and talks about all the mergers of the Chicago area railroads in the 50s-60s. The last 10 minutes probably have the only good shots of the Lines West portion, mainly after the electrics were cut, but there are a few scenes with the Joes and Boxcabs. The Pentrex DVD of the three RMD tapes is probably one of the best video purchases one can make for Milwaukee Road stuff. I only wish Pentrex could have found some footage of the Coast Div. during that same time period and included it with the DVD, that would make a large combo DVD for the Milwaukee fans!Jerry, BNSF has just reacquired the old NP line from Garrison to Butte in the last month and have been throwing around the idea of reopening Homestake Pass. I believe the main reason for this is to keep the MRL away from the UP interchange for there own good and to get back the Butte business. BNSF will operate the line fully and will have trackage rights (since they own a small portion in the MRL) on either side of Garrison/Logan if they do indeed reopen Homestake.Austin Moderator - Powder River Railroading http://groups.yahoo.com/group/powderriver/ My Milwaukee Road Website http://www.milwmsts.netfirms.com/
Well, that is neat -- maybe the Rocky Mtn. Daylight will someday operate over Homestake so we can relive the glory of those years with domes again--------. I have the book, "The Butte Shortline" by Bill and Jan Taylor, and they comment that it will take moving a lot of dirt (off the track, and back under it) to reopen Homestake.J. H. Sullivan