Chug-a-chug-a-choo-choo. The train began to roll out of the Ione, Washington station on a beautiful October day on a short trip to Metaline Falls. Through the rolling countryside and next to the Pend Oreille River, the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad train chugged.
The North Pend Oreille Valley Lions Club train prepares to leave the Ione, Washington station
Glimpses of the river could be seen through the trees beginning to show their brilliant shades of autumn. A brief stop on the Box Canyon trestle bridge showed the full width of the Pend Oreille River. On the upstream side, nature’s forces had carved the steep walls of Box Canyon. On the downstream side, Box Canyon dam captures the water’s power to create electricity.
As the train chugged onward, the forest closed in around the railroad until closer to Metaline Falls where the forest gave way to pastures and homesteads. Two tunnels shortened the route for workers building the railroad in 1910.
At Metaline Falls, the engine reconnected to the rear end of the train and pulled it back to Ione. The 90-minute, 20-mile round trip was a novelty for the riders awed by the beauty of the Pend Oreille Valley but for the original riders and railroad engineers, the railroad was a necessity–a means of transportation of people and goods. Apple trees along the route are a reminder of the apple cores railroad workers and passengers discarded along the tracks.
For more information on the train ride hosted by the North Pend Oreille Valley Lions Club through October, visit www.lionstrainrides.com. For more photos, visit http://goexploreit.blogspot.com.
Box Canyon dam was built between rocky islands in the Pend Oreille River and completed in 1956
Seen from the Box Canyon trestle bridge, the Pend Oreille River flows north into Canada to join the Columbia River (the Kootenai River in Idaho does the same)
The Box Canyon trestle bridge and the railroad were completed in 1910
The train consists of three classic railroad coaches, three open-air coaches, one caboose and an engine
During the winter, train cars are kept under the silos of the Inland Portland Cement Plant in Metaline Falls
The Port of Pend Oreille was created to operate the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad in 1979 after the railroad was deemed no longer economically feasible by private businesses
