"A Study of Typical Puget Sound Shortline Railroads"
Doctoral Dissertation in Ferro-Equinolgy
Submitted to Rainier State University
by Richard P. Wightman
January 1983
The Ballard Southern Railroad
In the late 1880s, all of the cities on Puget Sound were eagerly awaiting word of where the western terminus for the first railroad in Washington State would be. Many of the cities thought that they had an excellent chance of becoming the railroad terminus. Achievement of this goal would mean great economic advantage to the city selected. When it was ultimately announced that Tacoma would be the western terminus, there was great shock up and down Puget Sound. Many of the cities, faced with possible loss of revenues due to lack of connection with shipping to the East, determined to build railroads of their own in order to provide linkage to the Tacoma terminus.
The City of Seattle decided to fund and build a railroad of its own. Seattle's railroad was centered in its downtown area and provided access to the south and to the east. The City of Everett also decided to build a railroad, which would provide access to the east and to the north.
Ballard was a small logging and fishing community to the immediate north of Seattle and somewhat more to the south of Everett, actually located between the City of Edmonds and Seattle. The Ballard city fathers didn't really give a damn about the effect of terminus status on their city's growth, but they were very concerned about their own ability to ship their products. As Mayor Axel Johanessen said, "City be big enuff now! Ya, but, by Yiminy, ve got to move fish an vood or ve got no city left!"
Being thrifty Scandahoovians, the city fathers plotted the best way to get the most shipping capacity for the fewest dollars. This turned out to be a short connecting railroad between Seattle's and Everett's proposed lines. This would permit Ballard to get raw materials in and products out as well as picking up some freight transfer business.
Seattle's railroad never was adequately funded and was given up when the Great Northern built into Seattle. Everett's railroad, the Everett and Monte Cristo, was built (see subsequent section) but was poorly engineered and ultimately failed in the 1930s.
Ballard's little road, which became the Ballard Southern Railroad, was planned on the basis of never undertaking risky expansion. No real engineering problems were present as the basic connecting route, from Fremont to Edmonds, is flat. Lars Sonderson, a popular and dynamic logging company owner, was in the process of retiring and selling his company . He was prevailed upon to manage the building and the initial operation of the Ballard Southern Railroad.
Sonderson very wisely determined that emphasis should be placed on high quality right of way and construction. Equipment was held to a minimum. As Sonderson said, 'Ve don't need to build cars, ve build vat goes in der cars,"
One pecularity of the Ballard Southern Railroad, which resulted from Sonderson's influence, was the motive power selected. Sonderson's only railroading experience was with his own logging railroad. He consequently selected and purchased for the Ballard Southern two two-truck geared Heisler locomotives, which served well into the early thirties. Sonderson justified the selection of these low speed locomotives on the basis that most of the Ballard Southern's right of way was in the town's business and residential areas and, as he put it, "Ve don't vant to run over der horses!"
In 1910, the city fathers, impressed with the ability of the Ballard Southern to serve the community, felt that additional motive power was justified. On Sonderson's recommendation, they purchased a used Climax locomotive as a package deal with an 0-8-0 Baldwin tank type. Everyone in town was used to the slow movement of the geared Heislers and there was reluctance to use the 0-8-0 for switching, but the thrifty minded board didn't want to lose the benefits of a locomotive they had gotten very cheaply. The solution was presented by then Mayor Thorvald Thorvald, who suggested that they get a coach and operate a passenger service to Everett and Edmonds on Monday morning and Friday afternoon for loggers who worked out of town during the week. It was pointed out that they could also offer an excursion service on Sundays to the popular Golden Gardens Park.
A used coach was obtained from the Gorre & Dapheted, and service on the "Pride of Ballard" was inaugurated. Unfortunately, the loggers were prodigious users of chewing tobacco, and it became a standing joke that it was very dangerous to stand near Ballard Southern right of way when the "Pride of Ballard" passed. In fact, the run was quickly dubbed the "Snoose Junction Flyer", Ballard having been locally called "Snoose Junction" for some years due to the common use of chewing tobacco by the loggers and fishermen. In a strange twist of civic pride, the Ballard Southern itself began to use this title for its passenger run in 1920.
By 1930, the Ballard Southern was a prosperous little railroad serving a mix of industries and providing a connecting service between Everett and Seattle. Motive power consisted of two aging but well maintained Heislers, a Climax and the 0-8-0 Baldwin, which was now used for excursion service only. The line owned very little rolling stock, two cabooses and three flat cars. The engines had been converted to oil firing in 1926. (1)
In late 1930, the railroad's board decided to try to branch out economically by contracting for the construction of a fleet of boxcars, not intended for use by the BSRR, but rather for lease and collection of user fees. This effort was moderately successful, and by the late 1930s it was not uncommon to see BSRR boxcars on roads around the country.
Future years would see the demise of the Everett & Monte Cristo, dieselization of all Seattle area railroads and the eventual merger of the Great Northern and the Burlington into the Burlington Northern. In the late thirties, the City of Ballard ceased to exist when Ballard was absorbed into incorporated Seattle. The Ballard Southern presidency had passed from Sonderson to Hagar Thorvald, son of one-time Ballard Mayor Thorvald Thorvald. Hagar Thorvald was in charge until the road incorporated and went public on a share stock basis in 1934.
(1) Footnote:
An excellent model of the Ballard Soutern Railroad at this period is currently maintained by the Ballard Southern Railroad Historical Society, 15027 12th Ave. NW, Seattle, WA 98177.
For the most modern history of the Ballard Southern Railroad, see the final section of this dissertation, which will bring the history of all railroads mentioned up to the present day.
The Port Townsend Railway & Navigation Company
The Port Townsend Railway & Navigation Company (PTR&N) was founded by a group of Port Townsend businessmen in the mid-1880s. They believed that a major transcontinental railroad would be willing to build a line up from Shelton, Washington, to connect with Port Townsend due to the economic advantages of unloading sailing ships at the northern end of Puget Sound rather than trying to sail on down to Seattle or Tacoma. Prevailing winds were generally southerly, making the trip to Seattle somewhat difficult in the narrow waters of the Sound.
The businessmen's belief was based on poor economic analysis. The major railroads of that time were not interested in connecting with anyone else's line, but only in building their own. Furthermore, the use of steamships on the high seas did away with the advantage of off-loading ship cargo at the northern end of the Sound. Steamships could go down to Seattle or Tacoma with no trouble.
The PTR&N managed to get track to Sequim and Shelton by 1910, and thereby connected with the major lines of the Union Pacific coming out of Tacoma. However, since most traffic was centered in Seattle, the line was still very marginal in an investment sense. In order to get a connection into Seattle, the backers went into debt (perhaps further into debt would be more accurate) to finance a ferry operation to interconnect with the Everett & Monte Cristo, owned by the notably rapacious robber baron Colonel Brent Lambert.
The PTR&N experienced great difficulties with the car-ferry operation. The ferry barges contracted for were not delivered on time, and the dock space at Everett turned out to cost a great deal more than projected. By 1912, the PTR&N had to seek additional loans to complete the ferry operation. Finally, Colonel Lambert agreed to finance the remaining construction and barge acquisition on a loan basis, but with 30% of the PTR&N stock as security.
The ferry operation was put into full service in 1914, and proved very effective. However, in 1915 Colonel Lambert raised the lease fees on the interchange service trackage at the ferry dock in Everett, and also doubled the rate charge for handling PTR&N cars. This action, as the Colonel had anticipated, drove the shaky PTR&N to the brink of bankruptcy. PTR&N stock fell to 20% of normal price on the local market, and the Colonel easily bought up enough to seize control of the line. By continuing to operate the PTR&N at a loss, the Colonel drove the value to virtually nothing, until the line was placed in receivership. At the receiver's auction, the line was purchased in total by a holding company owned by Lambert. The holding company sold the PTR&N to the Everett & Monte Cristo in 1920.
The two railroads were operated as a joint company through the 1930s. In 1940, the old Colonel died, and operations were taken over by his son, also named Brent Lambert. Brent II inherited his father's lack of moral and ethical sense, but not his business acumen. The Everett & Monte Cristo was no longer a very profitable line, due to tremendous engineering costs brought on by cheap and shoddy route layout and efforts to keep maintenance costs to a minimum so that Brent II could support his gambling and womanizing.
World War II brought a brief period of prosperity to the railroad operation, mostly based on military shipments to the forts at Port Townsend and on Marrowstone Island. However, in his usual profligate manner, young Brent, who had avoided the service by claiming motorcycle injuries, spent all the money on women and cards.
With the end of the war came a serious reduction in traffic and the need to engage in a strong program of improved maintenance and equipment replacement, especially the introduction of diesel power. These programs were quite beyond the financial capability of the company, which had been drained nearly dry by the excesses of the completely irresponsible young Lambert.
As is commonly the case with those afflicted with the gambling disease, Lambert felt he might be able to win the money needed to keep the railroad going. He used the last of his available cash to get into a high stakes poker game in the back room of the International House of Pancakes in Everett. Unfortunately for his own future, he grossly overestimated the strength of two pair, as well as the apparent simple-mindedness of a stranger at the table. By the time he had realized that he might be in trouble, he was faced with the need to call an extremely large raise by the stranger, but didn't have the cash to back his play. In desperation, Lambert offered to put full title to the PTR&N portion of his holdings in the pot. The clever stranger accepted this as calling his raise, then exposed a royal flush in hearts!
Thus, in early 1947, Captain Dick Wightman, for such was the clever stranger's name, became the sole owner of a somewhat risky railroad venture on the Olympic Peninsula. Fortunately, between his own money and what he had won in the great poker pot from Lambert, Wightman was able to quickly proceed with the needed maintenance of the line from Port Townsend to Sequim, as well as the yard areas in both towns. He sold the line from Port Townsend to Shelton to the Milwaukee Road, and used the money to completely dieselize and update the equipment.
By the late 1940s, the logging industry on the Olympic Peninsula was in full operation, and the PTR&N was doing a very profitable business in getting the logs to the shipping docks and mills of Port Townsend. The logging operations also promoted many small companies supplying machine parts and using wood in their operations, and these businesses also used the PTR&N, both for shipping and receipt of needed raw materials. The PTR&N maintained a good relationship with the Milwaukee Road and profited greatly from interchange traffic.
You may wonder what became of young Brent Lambert. After the shock of his loss at the poker table of the International House of Pancakes, he was a ruined man. He no longer had any money to save the Everett & Monte Cristo, and the line was allowed to fall into ruin. Eventually, Lambert was married by a wealthy young beauty who took pity on him, for he had now completely lost his mind and believed that he was his father. Even with all of her money, his new wife was unable to cure his terrible mental affliction. She finally decided that the best thing to do was to humor him, and used her fortune to restore the Everett & Monte Cristo line in the area around Everett. Young Lambert, now called the "Colonel" by everyone just to humor him, operates his railroad totally with steam power and truly believes that it is the 1930s, the heyday of the Everett & Monte Cristo. His wife makes up his operating losses, and, occasionally, just as a kind gesture, the President of the PTR&N ships over a ferry load of boxcars to the old ferry dock interchange.
Modern History of the Ballard Southern Railroad
&
The Port Townsend Railway and Navigation Company
It is difficult to trace the modern financial history of the Ballard Southern Railroad and the Port Townsend Railway and Navigation Company. Richard Wightman, the financial and management genius who saved the Port Townsend Railway and Navigation Company from financial ruin at the hands of Brent Lambert, became involved in a wide variety of investments in the Puget Sound area in the late 1970's and early 1980's. These included ownership of the vessels "Sunday Morning" and "Isle of Wight", as well as involvement to varying degrees in several radio stations, marine related businesses, public relations and management consulting firms and other interests to numerous to identify, let alone list.
It has been established that Wightman moved in on the Ballard Southern Railroad by first becoming involved with Isle of Wight Shipping and Charter Services and Windrose Enterprises, as well as Off-the-Wall Consulting Services. These three companies among them held sufficient BSRR stock to provide control when combined through proxy voting.
It appears that Wightman may have sold the Port Townsend Railway and Navigation Company to the Milwaukee Railroad, which subsequently went bankrupt. However, the old PTR&N section was locally refunded and established as the Seattle and North Coast Railroad. There are rumors that Wightman may have re-obtained control of the PTR&N section of the Milwaukee Road just prior to its bankruptcy and may, in fact, be the controlling influence behind the Seattle and North Coast. This cannot be confirmed, although it has been fairly well established that there is no truth to the rumor that Wightman is/was the power behind the Burlington Northern Railroad, or that he engineered the recent merger between that line and the Sante Fe Railroad, creating the current Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad.
In any event, it is known that Wightman, as the head of Engulf and Devour Investments, controls at least the Ballard Southern Railroad and the Port Townsend Railway & Navigation Co., as well as other holdings previously mentioned. The organization chart below shows the best available guesses as to the real structure of Wightman's financial holdings:
Organizational Chart of Engulf & Devour Investments
The Everett & Monte Cristo, which played such a major role in the history of both of the lines covered in this dissertation, continues to operate as a rail-fan excursion line. It is fully funded by the Patricia Lambert Foundation. (See Footnote 2)
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(2) A model of the Everett & Monte Cristo in its period of prosperity is maintained by Brent Lambert, who still goes down to the basement to operate it, in the deluded belief that it is real. Visitors are welcome by appointment. The address is 5440 - 48th Avenue S.W., Seattle, WA 98136. Please remember to address the owner as "Colonel", as he becomes upset and occasionally violent if his delusion is challenged.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Early Days in Ballard", Thorvald Family Historical Fund, 1931.
"Heislers on the Waterfront", Percival MacNulty, Sooperier Press, 1963.
"A Study of Obsessive Behavior - The Lambert Case", Dr. Helen Gurdy Green, U.S. Journal of Psychiatry, March 1968.
"The Lambert Paternal Identity Syndrome", Dr. Sigfried Fruend, Journal of Irreproducible Results, January 1981.
"Creative Accounting and Its Significance to the Legal Profession - A Study of Railroad Holding Companies ", Phineas T. Pettifogg, Today's Law, December 1979.
"Richard P. Wightman - Man of the Year", Time Magazine, January 3, 1980.
"Hearing of the Congressional Committee on Corporate Gigantism: Engulf and Devour Investments - Testimony of Phineas T. Pettifogg", July 7-8-9, 1981.
"Refinancing a Railroad - A Study of the E&MCII", Albert Einstein, Journal of Scientific Accounting, October 1937.
"How to Survive Loving a Lunatic", Patricia Lambert, Today's Woman, April 1982.
"Business Advantages of Marrying a Conglomerate", Ann Wightman, Person's Home Companion, March 1983.
"I Did It My Way!", R.P. Wightman as told to Frank Sinatra, OTW Press, 1983.
"Is Today's World Necessary?" - A Study of the Effects of Reality on the Quality of Life", Master's Thesis by Richard P. Wightman, Rainier State University, 1979.
"The Port Townsend Railway & Navigation Company, A Railroad That Sunk at Sea", Harlow McFadden, Sooperier Press, 1958
"A Study of the Financing of Solely Owned Railway and Navigation Companies, or How to Float Alone", Milo P. Minderbinder, Journal of Creative Accounting, December 1976.
"Great Events in the History of the International House of Pancakes", "The Everett Gambling Scandals", IHOP Internal Publications Historical File, Volume II 1949.