PC&E Layout Tour

METHVEN SUMMIT

The PC&E crests the Cascade Mountains in a long tunnel at Methven Summit.

Tunnel builder John Methven, a charter member of the PC&E Board of Directors, realized the need for a base from which to fight the winter ravages of snow and slide. Being of the independent kind, he incorporated his own railroad with less than a mile of track and leased snow fighting and tunnel building equipment to the PC&E. In later years the Methven tracks were used as a shop for custom rebuilding of railroad equipment. Ski trains stop here in winter. Operations of the Cascade Timber Company can be observed on the mountains above at this grand scenic point.

East Methven Summit.

The views at Methven Summit are breath taking!
Bring your camera.

Very quickly the mainline ducks into another tunnel,
No.9, just west of the summit.

GILMAN

There was once an agent for the GN who said he was willing to do anything to get out of northern Montana. He heard of this busy station on the PC&E and hired on.
It was busy! But he found they didn't call it rustic for nothing. All the mainline trains passed by his depot daily all right- at speed. One day he thought he would try to unlock the switch to his siding but the lock had rusted solid. All he could do was sit on the depot platform and wave at the train crews passing by. They would call out, "There's Gilman," on the platform. That's how it came to be named Gilman.

On the other side of Tunnel No.9 we find the very remote outpost of Gilman.

Still, very still, Gilman is sort of an interesing place.

See, a train passes through Gilman.

There's even a little revenue in Gilman. They get maybe three or four cars per season!

The next stop on our journey is Coldwater.