Camas Prairie train operations part 1: Connections with Union Pacific and Northern Pacific

Recently, one the readers asked some questions about how the Camas Prairie Railroad interchanged cars  and made connections to the parent railroads, Union Pacific and Northern Pacific.  I figured this was a good time to start discussing, in more detail, what trains operated, when and what their purpose was, in my modeling period of 1967. 

Riparia, the western most station on Camas Prairie Railroad's third subdivision,  was the point of interchange to both NP and UP in 1967.  When the Camas Prairie Railroad was created in 1909, the NP, who already had access from the east via Pullman,  gained access to Lewiston from the Riparia side. 

The NP had their own route from Pasco to Riparia, utilizing the Spokane, Portland and Seattle main line from just outside of Pasco to Snake River Jct, then their own "lowline", along the west or north bank of the Snake River to Riparia.  This "lowline" was abandoned in the mid 1960's due to construction of the Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River.  Following the lowline abandonment, the NP utilized trackage rights on the UP from Villard Jct to Riparia.

The Northern Pacific operated a daily except Saturday local form Pasco to Riparia and back called the Lowline Local.  By 1967, with the lowline abandoned, this local ran on the UP Washy main line from Villard Jct to Ayer Jct, then over the UP Pomeroy branch to Riparia.  

The NP would typically bring unassigned empty cars, such as 40 ft boxcars for grain or lumber loading; chemicals from the north pacific coast, such as chlorine and caustic soda for the PFI paper mill;  anhydrous ammonia for various fertilizer dealers; and fuel oil and gasoline from Portland for local distributors.

On the return trip to Pasco, the Lowline Local would handle most of the grain traffic for ports at Vancouver and Kalama; and some paper and lumber loads for local customers and for interchange to the SP at Portland.  

The Union Pacific's only connection to the Camas Prairie was at Riparia, so all loads and empties, to and from, were interchanged there.  UP through freights would set out and pick up cars for the Camas Prairie in the yard at Ayer, about 10 miles west of Riparia on the Hinkle, OR to Spokane, WA main line.  A local switch engine would then run to Riparia to deliver the interchange.  

UP's traffic to the Camas Prairie also consisted of empty cars for paper lumber and grain loading; chemical and petroleum products for Potlatch Forests; Empty reefers for fruit and frozen food loading; loads of heating coal for distributors in Lewiston and on the prairie; and other miscellaneous loads.

The Camas Prairie, in 1967, made its interchange to the west with a Riparia turn, trains 859 and 860.  Sometimes referred to as the Downriver train, 859 would depart East Lewiston Yard late in the evening, around 9:00 PM.  Running with a UP supplied crew, it would do what little station work existed along the third subdivision, then deliver the UP and NP interchange cars to Riparia.

Most of the westbound traffic destined for the NP at Riparia consisted of grain loads and some paper loads, however all commercial loads for the UP would be interchanged here, including all the paper and grain traffic, but also consigned and unconsigned "roller" lumber, some perishable traffic and other miscellaneous forest products.

The train schedules for the NP Lowline local and Camas Prairie's 859/860 train were coordinated so the two trains would be at Riparia at the same to trade cars to one another.  

Camas Praire train 860 would return to Lewiston with all the interchange from the two parent roads, predominantly empty cars for Potlatch and other unassigned empty cars to be distributed by the Camas Prairie's freight agents.  860 would generally arrive back in the East Lewiston yard early in the morning, around 3:00 AM.

In 1972, Union Pacific changed the operation somewhat by running a though train from Hinkle to Lewsiton and Lewiston to Hinkle.  This train would handle BN's traffic to and from Riparia, with the BN continuing to run its Lowline local into Riparia to make the connection.

The Lowline local continues to operate on BNSF in 2011, running over the UP, making the interchange connection with the contemporary Great Northwest Railway (shortline successor to the Camas Prairie Railroad) at Ayer instead of Riparia.

As mentioned above, the Northern Pacific had two routes into Lewiston.  Besides the connection to CSP at Riparia, they had a connection to Camas Prairie at Arrow, ID.  

Northern Pacific's Palouse and Lewiston Branch originally went to Lewsiton until the Camas Prairie railroad was created.  NP, and later BN, continued to run a train directly from Spokane to Lewiston until the early 1980's. 

In 1967, the NP ran a turnaround divisional train from Spokane to Lewiston and return to Spokane. Train 661 and 662 were operated by a single crew making the turn at Lewiston and was known as the Highball due to the crew making the run, approximately 250 miles, within their federal hours of service of 16 hours.

661 departed Spokane in the early evening, arriving in Lewiston about midnight.  Again, this train would bring mostly empty cars for distribution along the Camas Prairie Railroad's many stations.  The majority of traffic on the Camas Prairie by the late 60's was outbound loads, so most of the inbound interchange was empty cars supplied by the parent roads for loading.  The repair facility for Northern Pacific's mechanical reefer car fleet was at Yardley in Spokane, so many of the empty mechanical reefers bound for Seabrook Farms and Smith Frozen Foods came in on the highball.

There were also some loads, however, that came in by way of the Highball.  Searching through some NP train lists I found some interesting loads that were head to Camas Prairie from at least as far east as Jamestown, ND, where the lists were printed.  There were loads of potash for fertilizer, some machinery for Potlatch Forests, loads of wet pulp for the Clearwater tissue mill and a car load of beer.  There was one additional loading, however, that was more cars than all the others combined, and that was loads of flyash. The flyash as well as bulk loads of cement from Montana were for the Dworshak Dam project near Orofino, ID that started in the summer of 1967.

662 would depart Lewiston about 1:00 AM, with mostly loads of lumber, both consigned and unconsigned, paper, miscellaneous forest products such as poles.  Some perishable traffic, mainly frozen foods, pears and apples and the occasional grain load rounded out the loaded traffic headed back to Spokane.

In Part 2, we'll look at the operation of the Camas Prairie Railroad's lines to Grangeville, Kooskia and Headquarters.