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Revisit things a few decades later. Take the electrification for example. Was it necessary to electrify as much as they did? Why start the electrification in Harlowtown when the "real" grades/curvature/tunnels didn't start until 150 miles to the west at Piedmont (the start of the 1.9% grade up Pipestone Pass)? Why continue the electrification past Butte all the way to St Paul Pass and Avery, when the electrification on this second segment could have been limited to a Haugen MT to Avery ID segment, eliminating another 220 miles of electrification over what is essentially a water level grade between Butte and Haugen? If the electrification had been limited to Pipestone Pass, St Paul Pass, and maybe Snoqualmie Pass, they could have eliminated at least 370 miles of electrification. Then there is the Othello to Snoqualmie Pass segment. They had the 2.2% grade up the east side of the Saddle Mountains which had to be electrified. There was 45 miles of needless electrification from Othello to Columbia River crossing at Beverly Junction at the base of the Saddle Mountains. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to forego electrification of that segment and reconstruct the Saddle Mountain grade into a 1% grade to reduce operating costs? Fast forward to 1970. The NP, GN, CB&Q, and SP&S are merging into BN. As a concession to Milwaukee, BN grants rights for Milwaukee into Portland from Milwaukee's end of track at Longview WA. Why didn't Milwaukee hold out for comprehensive competitive operating access to the entire I-5 corridor from Portland to Vancouver BC, and get direct eastern access into Portland over the North Bank of the Columbia? Why not hold out for access to the CP at Sweetgrass MT over BN's north-south line through Great Falls? If that had happened, the Milwaukee might have survived at least until a merger partner came along. How about this: When diesels came along in the 1940's, why didn't Milwaukee completely dieselize and scrap the electrification in the 1950's (as GN did on it's Stevens Pass electrification), rather than keeping the electrification through the 1970's? How much money would they have saved then?! Here's another "just miss". The Milwaukee retrenched in 1980. The double stack boom started about 1984. With Milwaukee's ready made double stack clearance in all it's tunnels (from the electrification days), it would have given Milwaukee a foot up on the competition had it been able to stay afloat for a measly 4 more years!
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