• Ft Lewis station?

  • A general discussion about shortlines, industrials, and military railroads
A general discussion about shortlines, industrials, and military railroads

Moderator: Aa3rt

  by p51
 
I was just thumbing through my copy of "NW Rail Pictorial Vol II" and it has a photo of a baldwin switcher taking a troop train past the "Ft Lewis station."
I was stationed there and still live nearby and I have no clue where the actual station was. Anyone know where the structure was at on the Fort?

  by Legio X
 
Speaking of Fort Lewis, is it served by a Class 1 or a shortline? I'm sure there are a lot of trains moving the resident Stryker armored car-equipped manuever units (brigades of the elite 2nd ID and 25th ID) and the I Corps, to and from training at Fort Irwin, CA's National Training Center and Fort Polk, LA's Joint Readiness Training Center or to and from deployment for combat in Iraq. A friend who was a member of the 3/47th Infantry in the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) in the mid-80's does'nt remember which railroad hauled their equipment (among other things, armed dune-buggies) to Fort Irwin for exercises against the OPFOR and Marines from Twentynine Palms, CA.

  by p51
 
The base up until about 2003 was served by BNSF, but Tacoma Rail took over that line and handles all interchange traffic to the BNSF main just South of the base. My old unit (3rd BDE, 2nd ID, just before it became the first Stryker Brigade) used to rail-load equipment all the time. We used to use the rail head nearest the Dupont area, but before I left active duty in 2001, we started to use the Logistics Center Railhead a lot more.
I now work for a compnay in Dupont and I see trains all the time there. I hardly ever see military loads going across the highway to the base at Dupont, and all the loads I see are heading to the logisitics Center...

  by Legio X
 
The Army probably opted to upgrade the railhead at the LOG Center, if they've done so yet. Perhaps Fort Lewis has'nt gotten the upgrades that Ft. Hood, Ft. Riley, Ft. Carson and most of the other CONUS manuever unit posts have gotten?

P51- good to meet a member of one of the Regular Army's elite, and oldest divisions. My grandfather operated with 2nd ID after it landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day+2, when it was attached to V Corps. He said they were a tough bunch, operating against German SS panzer troops and Luftwaffe paratroopers in Normandy and again in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge. In that vein, I have an uncle who was based in the RoK in 1969-70 as a member of the 1(M)/17 Infantry of the 7th ID. At that time the 7th ID was based in the RoK as a part of the Eigth Army with the 2nd ID. He concurs with my grandfather in that the 2nd ID was, and still is, a very tough bunch. You can't beat that Indianhead patch, although members of the other RA divisions, past and present, will diagree and say their's is the best. Thank you for your service, P51.

  by Rick
 
Good to hear about Ft. Lewis. I was there with the 4th Infantry Div. in 1966, prior to going to Vietnam with the 3rd Brigade.

  by wess
 
I outprocessed at Ft Lewis in 96 after eight years. I noticed that up til 95, they had used MRS-1's to switch both the Log Center and Main Post. Switching over to re-built GP-7/9's sometime after that year. I still go by there on occasion and have noticed that most if not all of the old warehouses along the Main post yards are slowly being demolished. I think they even ripped up some of the tracks too.
wess
170th MP CO
793d MP BN
1991-96
  by RailVet
 
The phase-out of old locomotives (such as MRS1s, FM H12-44s, and GP7Ls) took place for the most part between 1990 and 1992. Fort Lewis now has three GP10s (USA 1872, 1873 and 4621) and a Green Goat (GG20B) numbered USA 6000.
  by Richard
 
I did rail-head operations a couple times when I was with 2/60 IN, Motorized in 87/88. I don't recall seeing the engines, just the flat cars we had to put our vehicles on. I think the tracks went all the way back to where the horse stables are/ where 3/2 ID is now. There are also old tracks over on N-Fort that lead to nowhere and overgrown between Sequelichew Lake and Flora Rd. It's possible the old station was over there since N-fort was the main contonment area before the 70's. The guys at the museum will definately know.