▚ The Milwaukee Road
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific — the Milwaukee Road — grew from an 1847 Wisconsin charter into a granger road serving the upper Midwest, then made the bold decision to build its own "Pacific Extension" all the way to Seattle and Tacoma, completed in 1909.
▚ Electrified over the mountains
The Pacific Extension crossed five mountain ranges, and the Milwaukee electrified long stretches of it — the road ran magnificent boxcab and "Little Joe" electrics over the Rockies and Cascades. Its Hiawatha streamliners were among the fastest steam-hauled trains in the world.
▚ Overbuilt and undone
The Pacific Extension never earned its keep; the Milwaukee abandoned it in 1980 and the weakened railroad was absorbed by the Soo Line (a Canadian Pacific subsidiary) in 1986.
▚ On this layout
The Milwaukee Road runs here in orange and maroon — an SD40-2 carrying the flag of the Hiawathas and the Lines West.