The Milwaukee Road: Rocky Mountain Division Between Harlowton, Mt And Avery Id

Discussion in 'Route Suggestions & Proposals' started by a.thomas.may, Feb 5, 2019.

  1. a.thomas.may

    a.thomas.may Member

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    I’d like to propose Dovetail Games takes a look at developing a section of the electrified Rocky Mountain Division which ran between Harlowton, MT and Avery, ID. I grew up in the area and have seen the abandoned rail bed and facilities, however, I’m too young to have seen the road in operation before it was torn up in 1980. At over 400 miles long, I realize this route cannot, in all practicality, be developed in full, however, there are many sections of the route that would make for fun train operation, I believe.



    I’ve been doing research on this route since initially proposing it and have found I needed to edit my formatting, so here goes.

    1. Brief History
    2. Route Profile and Points of Interest
    3. Traction

    1. Brief History

    The Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul) began life in 1847 as the Milwaukee and Waukesha. The next 50 years saw various mergers and buyouts which brought the CM&StP to a highly competitive state within the Upper Midwest region. Towards the end of the century, company officials were searching for a way to bring the railway out on top of an increasingly competitive market. The decision was made to push west for a link to the Pacific. In Nov 1905, the Western Extension was approved. In just three years of construction, in May 1909, the last spike was driven in and the route completed. Freight and passenger traffic was pushed on the line, but revenues weren’t living up to expectations.

    There were huge overhead costs through the Rocky Mountain region and Cascades as steam locomotives of the time needed to be double and even triple headed to make the grades Add to that the fact that steam locomotion's power drops substantially in cold temperatures. CM&StP looked to the developing electric technology, deciding to electrify those two sections, using power developed from many nearby hydroelectric dams and copper mined from Butte and Anaconda, MT. The result was increased reliability and reduced costs. For instance, GE estimated that regenerative braking saved $6000 a month alone in brake shoe and wheel wear www.northeast.railfan.net/classic/MILWdata5.html.

    The Milwaukee Road continued to run this line under electrification until 1974, finally ending operations on it entirely in 1980.

    Supplement: A well written magazine article written towards the end of electrical operations on the line provide a much fuller history, a fairly quick read here.


    2. Route Profile and Points of Interest

    The route has 438 track miles running through open prairie, river canyons, mountain curves, tunnels and trestles, grades of up 2.2% and is interspersed with electric substations roughly every 30 miles.

    View attachment 10490


    Here is a Google Earth file that overlays the Milwaukee route on your Google Earth App which is the source of the picture above.

    View attachment 10491
    Here is a great resource, a 248 pg employee handbook containing the track profile for the suggested route, the Rocky Mtn Div. for 1962.


    The electric substations, as previously mentioned, were spaced along the route about every 30 miles. They brought in AC power purchased from areas such as Great Falls’ Montana Power with their hydroelectric dams. The substations then turned the AC into DC using motor generators, ending up putting 3000 volts of DC onto the overhead trolley wire. Here, you can visit a well written article about part of the route and one of its many substations.





    3. Traction

    EF-1,2,3,5/EP-1 Boxcab
    View attachment 10492
    The Milwaukee Road originally took delivery of 42 EF-1 and EP-1 Boxcabs, pairing them up for a total of 21 locomotives. (EF delineating the locomotive was geared for freight vs. EP, those geared for passenger service.)

    Boxcabs on display:
    Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, MN http://lsrm.org/
    One on static display downtown Harlowton, MT

    EP-2 Bi-Polars

    EP-3 "Quill"
    [​IMG]

    EF-4/EP-4 Little Joe
    [​IMG]
    Little Joe:
    Static Display in Deer Lodge, MT
    There is an operational Little Joe from the South Shore RR held at the Illinois Railway Museum.



    [​IMG]

     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2021
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  2. jedi247

    jedi247 Well-Known Member

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    We can't forget the Bi-Polar electrics. They were really quiet because of the motor design. I think the route needs an electric engine, a Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Built, a GP9, and maybe an SD9 or F7. plus some freight equipment and the Hiawatha passenger train. It would be set in the 1950s. If DLC was made, we could get some 1960s-1970s equipment (an SD40 or SD45, an FP45, and maybe a GP38).
     
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  3. John Murphy

    John Murphy Well-Known Member

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    The old Milwaukee Road electric power would be really cool and it is a scenic route (I have it in Trainz). But to be honest, there's already too many mountain pass routes in TS. It just seems like every time they come out with an American route for TS, it's a mountain pass where you're just crawling through the woods at 20-30 mph for like 3 or 4 hours. It's a really good suggestion, but I think the focus for American routes should turn a bit more towards passenger routes for now and give the mountain passes a break.
     
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  4. andrew.umlauft1

    andrew.umlauft1 Member

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    I say TS needs a Milwaukee Road route with the correct colors for the locomotives. The orange in Trainz is way off than the actual paint scheme. TS needs to do this route in the 60's and 70's because than we can have older autoracks, new style of hoppers, and it's a good route for the Olympian Hiawatha.
     
  5. granttozier

    granttozier New Member

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    yes yes this rout would be a very awesome route to have in TS2020 mainly because of its beauty but also it would be a very challenging but fun route i hope this route come to the game in the near future.
     
  6. andoprime87

    andoprime87 Member

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    Heck. I'd take the same equipment over Snoqualmie Pass in Washington. Just gimme the Milwaukee Road <3
     
  7. prrsteamfan

    prrsteamfan Member

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    I haven't liked a route idea this much in quite a while, I'm interested! The Milwaukee's become the stuff of legend, and it'll be interesting to see if this progresses further.
     
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  8. Mich

    Mich Well-Known Member

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    I'd rather see it stick in the 40's & 50's, not a era that's been heavily explored in TS. Also you can put 70's EMD engines in many other routes, what you can't put in other routes is MILW steam locos. It would also still give plenty of opportunity for the older diesels, like the F7 & SD9, plus you'd still get the really interesting abnormality's like the Erie-Built.
     
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  9. DTG Jamie

    DTG Jamie Staff Member

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    Rocky Mountain Division certainly used some interesting and different locomotives, nice suggestion a.thomas.may. What locomotives would you include? what makes you like this route in particular?
     
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  10. andoprime87

    andoprime87 Member

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  11. andrew.umlauft1

    andrew.umlauft1 Member

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    Little joe's, boxcabs, and steeple cabs for electrics. Sd40-2s and sd45s for Diesel s.
     
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  12. trainboyerik

    trainboyerik Member

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    i want to drive a Milwaukee Road little joe in TS 2021 so badly!
     
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  13. a.thomas.may

    a.thomas.may Member

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    A bit of an update on this. I’ve never made a route before in TS. However, I’ve been researching it and I think I could start developing it. I’d probably focus more on the Harlowton to Butte section. There is more opportunities for spur freight activity and switching operations in Butte itself. What I’m not at all able to do is create the traction or rolling stock.
     
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  14. a.thomas.may

    a.thomas.may Member

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    I like this route because of the early electrification and the magnitude of the electrification project. Also, I grew up in Montana and this brings something different to the table as compared to GN and NP. They have their place, definitely, but the Milwaukee Road, while being far from perfect, has a sort of romanticized nature about it.

    As far as traction, I’d definitely like to see the Boxcabs and the Little Joes. Maybe a Quill. The BiPolars are cool, but those were mostly kept on the western seaboard.
     
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  15. a.thomas.may

    a.thomas.may Member

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    I have begun building the route. The plan is to build the section from Harlowton to Three Forks, MT as it was around 1962. It’s a little over 100 rail miles with a couple of yards, a number of passenger stations spread out every 7-14 miles, and a couple of spurs with industry pick ups/drop offs. I’m super excited, though I know this is going to be a long project. My issue is I have never done any asset model construction. I’d like to make a couple of the stations, electric substations, named sign boards, and of course the locomotives and rolling stock, but I’m nowhere near being able to build these things. Basically, I’m looking for help with those items. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Thanks, I’ll be updating this with progress as things progress.
     
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  16. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    Just a word of advice, I'd recommend doing scenery at the same pace with track, that way, if (God forbid) you burn out (don't worry, it can happen to anyone) you'll have a playable chunk of the route that you can release and take a break.

    I for one am excited to see what'll come out of this, as for base assets, I'd recommend the backdated G-trax routes (most notably Sacremento Interurban and Springfield line, maybe even Cascadian if you want to go third party), since they have the most appropriate assets for the era.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2021
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  17. a.thomas.may

    a.thomas.may Member

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    Thanks for the advice! That makes a lot of sense.
     
  18. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    Excellent idea added to the game because this will be the first time and train Sim 21 to which you're going to use 3kv DC OHLE on an American Main Line. Because American electrification railway lines in the game use 11kv 25hz upgraded to 12.5kv 25-60hz in the 1970s-1980s like the Northeast Corridor Washington to New Haven. The question is then can you operate a Little Joe like a NJ Transit ALP-45DP ALP-46 Amtrak ACS-64 & AEM-7?
     
  19. NEC Railfan

    NEC Railfan Well-Known Member

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    Voltage differences mean nothing to the game.
     
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  20. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    Ok then since I was under the impression that a 3kv Dc Milwaukee Road Little Joe will play differently from the 11kv 25hz locomotives in the Northeastern US.
     
  21. AndTheBest

    AndTheBest Active Member

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    Interesting route, I will hope to see it in game.
     
  22. steammaster4449

    steammaster4449 Well-Known Member

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    Well it is on the way.
     
  23. mikeov1985

    mikeov1985 Member

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    This is a great route idea. I look forward to seeing some Milwaukee Road action in TS. :)
     

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