In the mid 1970’s rumors swirled around the railroad community that a catastrophic event may be on the horizon. The Chicago Minneapolis and Pacific Railroad aka the “Milwaukee Road” 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. Given recent experience with railroad management it seemed plausible that this indecency could possibly happen.was to be approved this would be the largest single abandonment of rail lines in the history of the world.
In order to make the best of a potentially bad situation, A.L. Freed jumped into action and formed a new company modestly named “The Great Northeastern Pacific South & Western Railroad Company” otherwise know as the Weedroute. and set off to ride the Pacific Extension before it would likely vanish from the face of the earth. Almost five years of extensive planning commenced.
After establishing and chartering the “Weed Route” the next project would be to find a suitable vehicle capable of riding the rails from Montana to Seattle. An executive decision was made to proceed immediately to find a light weight transportable machine that could ride on railroad tracks. The first idea was a velocipede but deemed impractical to pump one thousand miles. After much deliberation, the company decided on a small track speeder.
At the time Freed was an engineer on the Chesapeake Division of the Penn Central Railroad and made local inquires but soon found out that track speeders had long left the property. It was however rumored that a bunch of speeders had of recently been decommissioned by the Maine Central Railroad and with some luck be found in the yard in Waterville Maine. Quick call to the Yard Master indicated that yes, there were a bunch of derelict speeders in the lower forty of the railroad yard…
On March 23, 2014 Alan L. Freed gave the keynote presentation at the National Railroad Historical Society’s Annual Banquet in Washington DC. The speech was entitled “Last Ride on the Milwaukee Road Pacific Extension.”
The presentation detailed a Fairmont Speeder trip on the abandoned western main line of the Milwaukee Road. The trip took place in early August 1980. Alan was accompanied by Chuck Bothwell, a friend since high school. They both worked as Locomotive Firemen and Engineers on the Penn Central’s Chesapeake Division in the early and mid 1970’s.
A 1952 M-19 Fairmont Speeder was purchased for $400 from a scrap heap at the Maine Central Railroad Yard in Waterville, Maine, specifically to make this trip. A “new” railroad was formed–The Great Northeastern Pacific South and Western Railroad, affectionately known as the “Weedroute.”
This site features a photo essay of a what may be the final trip on the abandoned Milwaukee Road’s Pacific.
In 1983 the Weed Route accomplished a second expedition to check out and ride additional Milwaukee Road abandonments in the west. The following photos are on the abandoned route from Mitchell to Kadoka South Dakota.
After showing little interest in the initial 1980 Weed Route Pacific Extension Trip the Smithsonian magazine magically reconsidered and sent out a famous writer from New York City (James Traub) and also a famous NYC fashion photographer (Jorge Diaz) to come along.
The Weed Route snapped up a Tunisian exchange student (Ghazi Azabi) to deliver the rolling stock on the railroads state of the art 1957 Ford Falcon station wagon. The speeder was towed on our special 1955 Dilly custom boat trailer replete with original chrome half moon hubcaps – which were unfortunately stolen near Sioux City.
ROLLING STOCK
