The Washington, Idaho & Montana Railway LLC operated its first train to Potlatch, Idaho, on February 21, bringing rail service to the north central Idaho community for the first time in nearly eight years. The upstart WI&M plans to establish regular freight service in the coming months using a leased GP9 that previously operated on Central Montana Rail.

WI&M is actually the second railroad company to use the Washington, Idaho & Montana name. The Potlatch Lumber Company built the original between 1905 and 1907 to connect eastern Washington with one of the finest stands of white pine anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. The WI&M ran 50 miles from a connection with the Northern Pacific in Palouse, Wash., to Bovill, Idaho, where it met the Milwaukee Road. In 1962, the WI&M became a subsidiary of the Milwaukee Road. After Milwaukee abandoned its lines west of Miles City, Mont., in 1980, the line became part of Burlington Northern before being spun off as a short line in the 1990s. The previous operator, the Washington & Idaho, last ran on the route in 2018. 

The first Washington, Idaho & Montana train heads east toward Potlatch, Idaho, on February 21. Photo Courtesy of WI&M. 

By the time W&I ended operations, there was only one customer on the line, the Bennett Lumber Products in Potlatch. In an instance of history repeating itself, in 2023, the lumber company purchased the surviving 18 miles of the WI&M from the Idaho border east to Harvard, Idaho (the remaining 30 or so miles of the railroad were abandoned after a flood in 1996). Bennett then leased the line to the newly formed WI&M, led by John K. Howell, Jason J. Hill, and Maddie D. Farnsworth. Since 2023, WI&M has been working to rehabilitate the line between Palouse (where it connects with short line Spokane, Spangle & Palouse) and Harvard. Hill, who is one of the co-owners and serves as general manager, tells Railfan & Railroad that over the last few years, the company has installed 10,000 new ties and redecked nine bridges, along with numerous other projects. That work led to the February 21 run from Palouse to Potlatch with GP9 1838. Hill said he is hopeful that the railroad will be able to attract new business to the line, including transload services and car storage. —Justin Franz