Tacoma Eastern

Company History: In 1995, Weyerhaeuser Corporation ended operations on their Chehalis Western shortline and sold the route to the city of Tacoma, Washington. The Tacoma Eastern was established by the Rail Link Inc. shortline group to be the designated operator. The line runs south from Tacoma to Frederickson where it splits with one route continuing south to Morton and the other southwest to Chehalis, Washington, a total of 132 miles. Before Weyerhaeuser owned it, the line had been part of the Milwaukee Road. In fact the Tacoma to Chehalis leg had been Milwaukee’s mainline to Portland. This route (which MILW had inherited from the original Tacoma Eastern) included the steepest mainline grade on the Milwaukee Road – 3.6% for ten miles through suburban Tacoma. The arrangement with Rail Link Inc. lasted just three years before operations were turned over to Tacoma Municipal Belt Line which was reorganized as Tacoma Rail.

Successor/Parent History: TMBL started life in 1914 as the Municipal Street Railway which provided streetcar service to Tacoma, Washington’s Tideflats industrial area. Electric freight service soon followed. The name was changed to Tacoma Municipal Belt Line Railway in the 1930s. Passenger routes were gradually converted to buses and following the Second World War, all passenger business was turned over to Tacoma Transit Company. TMBL continued to handle the freight business. The mainline ran from the Port of Tacoma southwest as far as Nisqually. The first diesel arrived in 1950 and over the next several years, electric operations were phased out. In 1988, TMBL took over operation of the Tacoma Eastern. Because the TMBL was owned by the City of Tacoma and the route of the Tacoma Eastern was owned by a different government agency, TMBL was reorganized into Tacoma Rail to operate both properties together.

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