The St. Maries River Railroad is a shortline Class III railroad that operates 71 miles of freight service in northern Idaho. From 1980 until 2010, it was a subsidiary of
Potlatch Corp.
PotlatchDeltic Corporation (originally Potlatch Corp) is an American diversified forest products company based in Spokane, Washington.
It manufactures and sells lumber, panels and particleboard and receives revenue from other assets such as mine ...
History and Trackage
The St. Maries River Railroad began service on May 23, 1980, over trackage that previously had been owned by the bankrupt (and now-defunct) Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, also known as the Milwaukee Road.
The St. Maries River operates between
Plummer, Idaho
Plummer is a city in Benewah County, Idaho, United States. The population was 1,044 at the 2010 census, up from 990 in 2000.St. Maries, Idaho
St. Maries (pronounced like "St. Mary's") is a city in north central Idaho, the largest in rural Benewah County and its county seat. Its population was 2,402 at the 2010 census, down from 2,652 in 2000.
History
The townsite was selected by Jose ...
on what was the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Northwest main line across the Rockies. The railroad also operated on the Milwaukee Road's former Elk River branch line between St. Maries and
Bovill, Idaho
Bovill is a city in Latah County, Idaho, United States. The population was 260 at the 2010 census, down from 305 in 2000.
For several years from 1980 until the mid-1980s, Potlatch also owned and operated 45 miles of adjoining former Milwaukee Road trackage, between St. Maries and
Avery, Idaho
Avery is a small unincorporated community in the northwest United States, located in the St. Joe River Valley in Shoshone County, Idaho. Avery is located in the middle of the St. Joe District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, and is a ...
, as a private logging railroad that connected with the St. Maries River Railroad. The federal government condemned the logging line between St. Maries and Avery in the mid-1980s, prompting its shutdown.
In 2010, Potlatch sold the St. Maries River Railroad for $1.6 million to Mike Williams of the Missouri-based Williams Group, which owns other short line railroads in Idaho, Missouri and South Dakota, including the
BG&CM Railroad
The BG&CM Railroad or Bountiful Grain and Craig Mountain Railroad is a Class III shortline railroad located in North Central Idaho.
Summary
The BG&CM operated a line between Spalding and Cottonwood, along the former Second Subdivision of the ...
.
The St. Maries River Railroad connects with the Union Pacific Railroad at Plummer. The line to Bovill, ID is no longer in service as the connecting Washington and Idaho Railway line has been abandoned between Bovill and Harvard, ID.
Rolling Stock
The railroad operates three EMD GP9 locomotives numbered 101-103 and two
SW1200
An EMD SW1200 is a 4 axle diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1954 and May 1966. Power is provided by an EMD 567C 12-cylinder engine which generates . Additional SW1200 production was complet ...