Cascade Rail Foundation

09/23/2026

Rosalia Bridge Day, Sat. October 10
Photo presentation followed by history hike on iconic concrete arch bridge.

Cascade Rail Foundation and the Rosalia Branch of the Whitman County Library are pleased to present Bridge Day.

The event starts at 1:00pm in the Rosalia Community Center (106th W. Seventh St., next to the grocery store.

Mark Borleske will provide a photo tour of the Milwaukee Road route from Othello,Washington to the Idaho state line. This is an area of dramatically changing landscapes carved out by Ice Age Floods and the rolling hills of the Palouse. The presentation features then & now, historic locations and their present-day views, many of them on the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail.

After the presentation, we will caravan to access to the trail, where Mark will present a guided history hike over the concrete arch bridges and into a cut that was once a tunnel.

Welcome aboard for a unique tour and presentation and enjoy a Fall day in the heart of the Palouse region.

08/28/2026

Signal team volunteers are working on signal 53-4 at Ralston this week. Today we installed the cast footing for the ladder. We were a little surprised to find the old one cut off and buried a few inches below grade.

07/08/2026

07/03/2026

We are very pleased to welcome Division Point Coffee and Crepes to the South Cle Elum depot! Be sure to visit them the next time you're at the South Cle Elum Rail Yard.

06/29/2026

Check out the beautiful new roof on the depot! Washington State Parks just finished replacing it.

05/26/2026

Big thanks to our friends in Ralston for assembling the searchlight block signal. This has been a multi-year project and we couldn’t have done it without local participation.

Brian Bothun photo.

04/25/2026

It was a very good day yesterday, April 24, in Ralston as the signal team installed the new concrete base (2nd time’s a charm) for the US&S searchlight signal cabinet. Big help from our local friends. We couldn’t do it without you. Thank you! Thank you Randy Roth for another generous donation to the project!

Everything else is essentially done. We have transportation arranged to move the fully assembled signal from Tenino to Ralston, and we have several leads on crane service to set it in place. Now we are just coordinating schedules of all the participants.

02/22/2026

Two of our best, Cascade Rail Foundation President Paul Krueger and Treasurer Jonathan Fischer staff the CRF table at the United Northwest Model Railroad Club show at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. The show runs through 4pm tomorrow so come by and learn about what CRF is doing to preserve the history of the Milwaukee Road in Washington. More info on the train show here: https://unwclub.com/

12/10/2025

Thanks for spreading the word about our 5057 Project, Railfan & Railroad Magazine!

The Cascade Rail Foundation is presently working with Columbia Rail in Richland, Wash., to repaint MILW 5057 for eventual display in South Cle Elum.