My mother's Dad was a conductor on the Milwaukee Road out of Spokane when I knew him and we spent frequent prolonged visits with him between my father's military postings. (My Dad had spent several high school summers working on railroads around the Twin Cities, too -- storekeeper's clerk on the DM&IR, roundhouse hostler on the NP, brakeman on transfers between Minneapolis and Pigs Eye.) Once in a while Granddad would take a break from the Hiawathas and take the freight run from Dishman to Coeur d'Alene. Twice he took Mom and me along (I was three the first time, only hazy recollections) and later when I was old enough to remember riding in the caboose and watching the work. They turned the train on the wye at the Diamond Match plant and backed several miles down into Coeur d'Alene to work the mills. When I was seven, he took me on the Hiawatha (#16) through Avery and Drexel to Deer Lodge. We laid over overnight and brought #15 West to Spokane next day. When I got Trainz 2010 (mainly for Avery-Drexel) and made the run, Tume's scenery took me right back! We crawled down the hill from Adair about 15 MPH and I asked him "Why so slow?" He said, "For safety!" Operating now on the route makes me appreciate that!
:B~)