Inspectors Went Looking for Faults and Found a Model Railroad
State railway commissioners ride the new Idaho & Washington Northern out of Newport expecting to file complaints, and come home praising everything down to the telephone box at every switch.
'It is absolutely a model,' said J. C. Lawrence, one of the commissioners.
The state railway commission and officials of the Great Northern Railroad, who accompanied them over the Great Northern line from Spokane to Newport, Wash., returned Wednesday night over the Blackwell line.
'Its grades and curves are all that engineers can make them. The equipment is the latest and best product of the Pullman shops. Each car has its own dynamo and storage battery that lights it with electricity while it is running and for eight hours afterward. The engines are the latest model and shine like new coin.
'The grade is several feet wider than the ordinary railroad grade. In constructing the grade Mr. Blackwell simply brought in enough dirt and gravel to allow for settling and shrinkage, while other roads keep hauling in dirt on work trains until the grade is settled.
'The stations are modern. Each one has two waiting rooms and modern toilet facilities. Separate buildings are provided for passenger and freight depots. The buildings have roofs that extend far out at each side, so that when a teamster drives up to unload freight he can drive under cover. At Spirit Lake the general offices of the company and the shops are models of neatness and perfect equipment.
'A very small portion of the line of the Idaho & Washington Northern is in Washington, but on that part the commission not only found nothing for which it could suggest a change for the better, but it was surprised by the equipment. At every switch along the line is a telephone box, so that any patron of the road can call up the dispatcher's office and order a car for freight and find when it will be placed.'
“At every switch along the line is a telephone box, so that any patron of the road can call up the dispatcher's office and order a car for freight and find when it will be placed.”
In 1909 an electric-lighted coach and a telephone at every switch were marvels worth a regulator's tour; a through rail line from Spokane to the Pend Oreille country was Newport's lifeline. Today the corridor that carried those inspection trains is largely gone as a through route, and the cutting-edge conveniences the commissioners admired are the minimum a traveler assumes. Then as now, though, the town's fortunes rose and fell with who was willing to lay track to it.
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