It was in the late 1970's and early 1980's when I realized these semaphores were on borrowed time and something to be recorded on film as much as possible. Living in Western Washington the signals between Auburn and Ravensdale, WA were the semaphores I photographed first and some of them looked pretty well worn. In the early 1980's Stampede Pass would be shut down and these semaphores removed forcing me to search elsewhere for active semaphores.

      Washington Central took over operations from the BN into Pasco from the west after Stampede was shut down making those semaphores hard to shoot with their nightime run from Yakima to Pasco. BN kept the semaphores between Pasco and Spokane until the 1980's when they too were removed. This left just Idaho and Western Montana with operating semaphores.

      In late 1987 MRL would take over operations on BN's ex-NP route from Sandpoint, ID to Jones Jct just east of Billings, MT. Replacing the many semaphores left by the BN was not a high priority with MRL. In 1995 the BN would itself disappear after merger with the Santa Fe to become the BNSF which continued to forward trains across the MRL as BN did. Over the years MRL slowly began the process of replacing the semaphores with new tri-light signals.

      As of this writing all of the semaphores installed by the NP are gone with the exception of five in Western Montana on the MRL which were installed in 1918 and scheduled to come down in the summer/fall of 2005. The fact that they lasted into the 21st Century should be a cause for celebration.

      My photography of the semaphores on this website will span a period of 25 years. From my first photos east of Auburn, WA in early 1980 to those last five between Paradise and St Regis, MT which will be gone by the end of 2005.

      Somehow, the MRL......the old Northern Pacific just won't be the same without them.