Work is underway in Washington to cosmetically restore a Milwaukee Road U25B locomotive. The Cascade Rail Foundation is presently working with Columbia Rail in Richland, Wash., to repaint MILW 5057 for eventual display in South Cle Elum. 

Locomotive 5057 was one of 12 U25Bs purchased by MILW in 1965 for use in freight service between Chicago and Tacoma, Wash. Later, in 1971, all of MILW’s General Electric locomotives were assigned to Tacoma, working almost exclusively in the Pacific Northwest. When the MILW abandoned its Pacific Coast Extension west of Miles City, Mont., in 1980, locomotive 5057 was one of the units to pull the last trains east out of the Pacific Northwest. The engine was sold to Webster Technical College in Nebraska in 1984, and then donated to the Portola Railroad Museum (now Western Pacific Railroad Museum) in Portola, Calif., in 1991. In 2014, it was purchased by the Cascade Rail Foundation and brought “home” to Washington. 

Cascade Rail was initially working with the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad in Usk, Wash., to cosmetically restore the engine. But when it became obvious in early 2025 that the POVA’s shop crew wouldn’t have time for the restoration because of paid work, Cascade Rail decided to go in a different direction. That resulted in a move over the summer to Richland and Columbia Rail’s shop. In late 2025, the nonprofit finalized a contract with Columbia Rail to finish up the restoration. The group is presently raising $30,000 to finish the work. Donations can be made at milwelectric.org/donate-to-cascade-rail-foundation.

—Justin Franz