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History<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In the mid 1970\u2019s rumors swirled around the railroad community that a catastrophic event may be on the horizon. The Chicago Minneapolis St. Paul and Pacific Railroad aka the \u201cMilwaukee Road\u201d was considering abandonment of all lines west of Montana to include the famous Pacific Extension – the main line railroad from Miles City, Montana to Seattle, Washington.<\/p>\n

By 1979 those fears became a reality. The largest single railroad abandonment of rail lines in history was approved, and by 1980 the legendary Milwaukee Road \u201cLines West\u201d were officially abandoned and all rail service to the west came to an end. To make the best of a very bad situation, A.L. Freed – a former locomotive engineer in the Chesapeake Division of the Penn Central RR, jumped into action and formed a new railroad.<\/p>\n

Striving for modesty the company was officially named \u201cThe Great Northeastern Pacific South & Western Railroad Company\u201d better known as the \u201cWeedroute\u201d. The nascent organization immediately formulated an elaborate plan to ride the Pacific Extension before it would likely vanish from the face of the earth.<\/p>\n

After establishing and chartering the \u201cWeedroute\u201d the next project would be to find a suitable vehicle capable of riding the rails from Montana to Seattle in a timely fashion. An executive decision was made to proceed immediately to find a lightweight transportable machine that is appropriate for riding on railroad tracks.<\/p>\n

The first idea was a velocipede, but it was deemed impractical to pump an essentially one hundred-year-old railroad bicycle one thousand miles. Even though physical stamina was not an issue, at five miles an hour the trip would take more than two hundred days. After much deliberation, and numerous board meetings, the company decided to pursue the acquisition of a small track speeder.<\/p>\n

Inquiries were made at the Penn Central Railroad, but we soon found out that track speeders had left the property years ago. It was, however, rumored that a bunch of speeders had recently been decommissioned by the Maine Central Railroad. A call to the Yard Master in Waterville, Maine indicated that, yes, there were a bunch of derelict speeders in the lower forty of the railroad yard.<\/p>\n

The rest is history.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Canadian Railroad Videos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Pontiac Hi Rail Gaspe (Barachois) to Port Daniel Quebec\/Restoration\/CBC Interview, November 201<\/strong>6<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We returned with Nina in November, on the night of the U.S. election, and rode the line from Barachois (just south of Gasp\u00e9) to Port-Daniel. There, I was asked to stop for an interview with CBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This video covers that trip, the CBC interview, and includes a few photos from the early 1990s restoration of the Pontiac by two remarkable craftsmen, Arthur and Bobby Pierce of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. We drove the car back to Massachusetts the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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