2009-05-23 #01Lewiston ID Speeder trip - Lewiston Yard to Transfer

On May 23rd through 25th Lewiston Idaho was the hub of speeder activity as Pacific Railcar Operators hosted the fourth annual Memorial Day Weekend motorcar excursion on three branches of the former Camas Prairie Railroad (CSP) on May 23, 24 and 25, 2009. This was in combination with a second excursion on the Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad on May 27 and 28.

The set-on location was at the headquarters of the Great Northwest Railroad in East Lewiston, Idaho.

The following videos are of Saturday where we ran the Great Northwest Riparia branch - Lewiston to Riparia and return, for a total of 144 miles. This video begins in the Lewiston Yard, travels through the storage tracks, across the large drawbridge across the Clearwater River near the confluence of the Clearwater and the Snake Rivers, then approaching the Idaho-Washington State line.

The drawbridge was originally constructed in 1906 by the Oregon-Washington Railway and Navigation Co. (now UP). It used to be a manually operated swing bridge until just after WWII. When the dams were constructed on the Snake River, the bridge was raised in place 9 feet, the swing span converted to a fixed span, two spans in the middle were removed and the current lift span and tower spans were constructed. The lift span was replaced in the mid-70's.

After exiting the drawbridge we turn west and will arrive shortly at Transfer.

Special thanks to Jim Morefield for providing some historical and technical data printed here.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• PRO
• Fairmont
• MT14
• Train
• Rail
• Great
• Northwest
• Railroad
• OWR&N
• Lewiston
• Yard
• Transfer
• Drawbridge
• Conley
• Joint
• Speeder
• Motorcar
• Jigger
• Putt-putt
• Trolley
• Motor
• Dressin
• Draisine
• Motordressin
• Motordraisine
• Dresine
• Inspection
• Car
• Ferrocar

[Lightwolf333]

truly nice catch on those speeder. are they still doing that?

[mrksvideos]

@Lightwolf333 Yes, we are out there once, maybe rarely twice a year, and enjoy every mile of it.....even with broken axles ;)

[MrYuk2oh6]

I was born and raised in Lewiston and this video is as slow as life in that town! =D

[pacnorthwesterner]

Nice video! I'm a Lewiston, Idaho, native, however no longer live in Lewiston. This video was very interesting in the fact that I've never been down in the area of the railroad tracks or been across the bridge over the Clearwater River, and thus parts of Lewiston area that I've never seen with my own eyes! Thank you for sharing the video! :)

[randomclick62]

Thanks for posting. Worked Lewiston yard as clerk 71 - 77. See the yard office was remodeled. Weigh shack is the same. May have taken the round house out. Old memories arise. As Rand said in Atlas Shrugged, it will all be blamed on clerks.

[Lightwolf333]

Speeder... lol



[NathansBackwoods]

Are you allowed to run speeders on that still? because id like to do it if i could.

[heiliner]

Outstanding, always wondered what those tracks were like in Lewiston. How come no horn signals at the crossings??? One of the best railroad videos I have seen.

[dashloc]

Nice bridge and looking good under the yard :)