Fire damage closes rail wheat shipping route
Courtesy photo/state Department of TransportationDamage to a 48-foot long railroad trestle and ties is expected to be repaired by Sept. 3 between Davenport and Creston. Until repairs are finished, farmers in Grant and Lincoln counties can't ship their wheat.
Repairs expected to be done by Sept. 3
CRESTON, Wash. - Damage from the Swanson Lake fire temporally closed a rail wheat shipping route for farmers in Grant and Lincoln counties.
The line was closed Aug. 26, said Mike Roswell, project manager with the state agency.
Repair work on the line between Davenport and Creston is expected to be done by Sept. 3, according to state Department of Transportation spokesperson Tonia Buell. A 48-foot long trestle was destroyed and about 1,600 ties were damaged.
Farmers depend on the Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad line to get their product to market, Buell noted.
It doesn't appear the closure will affect harvest because the halt doesn't appear lengthy, said Kevin Whitehall, CEO of Central Washington Grain Growers, Inc.
Also, WSDOT and the railroad responded quickly, he added.
"It's an inconvenience, no doubt, (there's) loaded cars on the other side of the fire," he said. "We have car orders on the books to load and we're just waiting for them to get back up and going."
There's enough storage to accommodate farmers for a short period of time, he said.
Whitehall said harvest is about 90 percent complete.
If the delay was long-term, they would be moving the wheat by truck, he said.
Central Washington Grain Growers haven't diverted rail wheat by truck to move it out, Whitehall said. If so, the grain would have been shipped by truck whether the line was operating or not, he added.
The four-mile long stretch of railroad track is operated by Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad through a lease with the state Department of Transportation, Buell stated.
Roswell said he didn't have a damage estimate available.
The state used rehabilitation money to install a fill for the trestle's replacement, he said.
The railroad has fire insurance, which will cover most of the ties that need replaced.
The company will handle the replacement of about 1,600 more damaged ties so the line will work through the winter.
It's expected the last of the ties will be laid on Friday, he said.
The Swanson Lake fire, which is now contained, started on Aug. 18, destroying two homes and killing livestock and wildlife.
Railroad President John Howell wasn't available for comment.