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[quote user="MichaelSol"]  However, trucks did not carry export wheat to PNW ports then, and they do not now. The railroads have always carried that traffic. [/quote] To be fair, there was a brief period of time right after the opening of slack water to Lewiston Idaho where the truck/barge combo could effectively compete with the late 70's and early 80's rail haul of export grain out of Monana to the Lower Columbia deep water ports.  As we know, this was when the Milwaukee began it's rapid meltdown to the PCE retrenchment, and BN was having internal operating problems of it's own.  Since then, BN/BNSF has gotten it's act together in terms of moving to the 286k car, shuttle then unit trains, etc., aka the "productivity gains", while at the same time the barge capacity has remained virtually unchanged and the feds have imposed a moratorium on similar productivity increases in trucks. So no, there were no trucks hauling grain from Montana to the Pacific Coast ports.  It simply wasn't feasible, then or now.  Because as I've stated a million times now, trucks cannot compete with railroads for the bulk commodity transportation market.  The truck/barge combo could somewhat offset the inherent advantages of the railroads for a time, but the average truck haul out of Montana to Lewiston is just too long for the barge economics to make up for. Today, you can truck grain from North Central Idaho to Lewiston and beat the unit train dynamics (BN tried to run a unit train from Lewiston to the Portland area, but it didn't even come close to beating the barge economics), but not from Montana or beyond.  At best, we can get a backhaul of grain in a dry van from Montana or North Dakota now and then, but the OTR trucker grain haul is virtually dead, and it was a short life span to begin with. Is it theoretically possible for the truck/barge combo via Lewiston to become efficient enough to compete with BNSF?  In theory yes, GVW standards could be lifted to allow 160k truckloads, the barge lines could go "Mississippi-style" with larger than lock barge tows (wherein it takes two trips per barge tow through each lock, break 'em apart then put 'em back together again, very time consuming).  In practicallity, no, it's just not likely for that scenario to avail itself. And as it stands now, the truck/barge combo from Montana to Portland via Lewiston is no competition for BNSF.  Ergo, BNSF has no competition for hauling grain from Montana to the Pacific Coast.
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