Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by CSSHEGEWISCH Point to remember (again): The former GN main line has trains operating over it, the Pacific Coast Extension is little more than a glorified bike trail. [/quote] Point to clarify: Not all the former GN line is intact. The segment from Spokane to Sandpoint has been either branchlined or abandoned. Not all the PCE is a "glorified bike trail". BNSF still uses the Miles City east segment, and some parts in Idaho are still operated as a shortline. The Washington state segment of the PCE was strategic enough that BN bought portions with the thought of using it as a replacement for the NP line over the Cascades, and as a shortcut between Ellensburg and Lind. I've also been told but cannot verify that UP was interested in the St Paul Pass segment between Silver Bow and Plummer. The point to consider is this: If the Hill lines had been forced to include the Milwaukee in the BN merger (BMN?), anyone care to ponder which line(s) would have been used by BMN as the primary route between the Twin Cities and Seattle? Try the Milwaukee line from the Twin Cities to Lombard, the NP line from Lombard to Garrison, and the Milwaukee from Garrison to Seattle. This would have been the shortest routing, shorter than the current GN/NP/GN route used primarily today by BNSF by about 25 miles, assuming no major line relocations ensued. It is likely the Milwaukee/NP/Milwaukee routing would have been the primary route for intermodal and fast freights, while the current GN/NP/SP&S route via the Columbia Gorge would have been more suited for the long slow heavy trains BN likes to run on that route. Furthermore, if such had happened it is likely much of the NP line would have been abandoned, perhaps from Laurel to Bozeman, certainly the Ravalli line, and most certainly the Stampede Pass line. I also wonder if BMN would have kept a dual main between St. Regis and Garrison, or would have favored abandoning the original NP line between those two points? Perhaps even GN's Stevens Pass line would have bit the dust as there would have been no need to retain that line with the Milwaukee's Snoqualmie Pass line in place. Here's another point to consider: The Milwaukee PCE was kept pretty much intact from it's construction to eventual abandonment, while the GN had several major line relocations in the intervening years from it's completion - the Haskill Pass bypass (late 1890's?), the Kootenai River realignment east of Bonner's Ferry Id (1900's?), the new Cascade Tunnel (1920's), the Chumstick Cutoff (1920's), and (after the BN merger) the new Latah Creek Bridge, the new Sandpoint cutoff, and the Flathead Tunnel reroute. I do not know if Milwaukee officials over the years had planned or hoped for any realignments of their original route (assuming they had ever had the ca***o do so), perhaps MIchael Sol might know if such was contemplated. Since the Milwaukee did simply electrify their mountain routes rather than building new realignments, from this perspective it does provide positive testimony of the suitability of the original alignment of the PCE.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag