This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/wigwags to TrainWeb.US/wigwags.
While not in my main subject area of northwestern Oregon, the lone wig-wag in Pullman, Washington sits in a town where the railroad history seems to be forgotten, despite the abundance of it (and in a very close proximity to each other).
Named for George Pullman, the sleeping car magnate, this eastern Washington city is located at the junction of former Northern Pacific and Union Pacific branchlines from the north and west to reach Moscow, Idaho. The Palouse region is well known for growing wheat, and both of these railroads were designed to haul this wheat to commodity markets east and water ports west. However, as farmers move on, and trucks take over, these railroads have seen traffic counts diminish. Today, both lines are operated by different railroad subsidiaries of the Watco Company, a short-line railroad holding firm. In 1996, the former UP line between Pullman and Moscow was abandoned due to flood damage, and both railroads use the more southerly NP route.
The NP route reaches Pullman from the north, where it reaches a fair-sized brick station. A NP passenger car and a Great Northern caboose today sit beside this depot, whose brick platform to the tracks still remains. The NP track then curves to the east. The UP route comes from the west, passes its brick depot (now owned by Washington State University), crosses the Palouse River, and parallels the NP route northeast of downtown Pullman. Just east of this bridge is where Pullman's wig-wag stands. Almost an obscure piece of history, this wig-wag seems to better protect the sidewalk than the street due to its position. With the amount of rail traffic, there is hardly any reason to consider upgrading this signal. So it stands for the one or two trains a week (at most) which head towards Moscow with a few hoppers or a flatcar.
