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BNSF vs. The Pacific N.W., Yet Another Round?

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by MichaelSol [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by samfp1943 [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by tormadel [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by solzrules After reading all of this, I just can't help but wonder what would happen if the Milwaukee would have survived? Perhaps Olglivie was wrong about the Pacific Coast Extension? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. [/quote] He always was. The loss of the PCE was more about politics and back room back stabbing then the truth about weather or not it was profitable for Milwaukee. [/quote] [?]How much of the MILW PCE still exists? is the ROW able to be rebuilt? As upset as this thread has seemed to show about the feelings of the populace in the PNW at the BNSF, they might be mad enough to intertain something like that. What would it take 5-6 million a mile to reconstruct it? Sam [/quote] My engineering consultant associates did a replacement cost analysis of the Milwaukee Road PCE in 1979 and estimated then that it would cost $500 million to replace. In today's dollars that would be $1,415,859,827. That's $1.5 Billion. It would have taken a piddling $51 million to fully restore the exsting line to Class IV operation in 1978. However, things have built up over the decades, in key instances property value increases have exceeded the rate of inflation in the PNW, and rail infrastructure needs are higher than they were for a Class IV installation then. Best regards, Michael Sol [/quote] Hey, $1.5 billion is at least a start. What I want to know is how much of the original (and mostly intact) ROW is in "easily transferable" ownership, i.e. owned by public entities, or corporation's and individuals that would favor a new railroad; how much of the ROW is owned by those who would be hostile to a new railroad development; and how much of the ROW is simply "gone" e.g. built over, bulldozed flat, etc.? I believe most of the original ROW in Washington State is owned by the state, although I have heard that BNSF owns much of it still. It is part of that John Wayne trail, thus relatively undeveloped from it's RR days. There are a few places where bridges would have to be replaced, and I have no idea how urban development around Seattle has possibly eradicated any of the ROW into the key terminal's of Seattle and Tacoma. In Idaho, most of the ROW west of St. Maries is still in rails, being used by the St. Maries River Railroad. There is some new housing in Plummer that is right on top of the old ROW. East of St. Maries, the ROW is mostly intact to Marble Creek, where the Forest Service highway was built over the ROW to Avery. From Avery to Haugen MT the ROW is mostly intact, parts used as gravel Forest Service roads, and part as the Hiawatha bike trail. In Montana, the last time a drove through that way there was new housing and a golf course built over the old ROW around St. Regis. It seems there are all sorts of new homes between St. Regis and Missoula that have taken out the ROW. I assume most of the ROW through Missoula is built over. Beyond Missoula I have no idea what kind of shape the old ROW is in. Part of the option would of course be to incorporate the current MRL tracks with a new PCE which would save alot in new trackage, but if BNSF can pull the rug on MRL in a few more decades, that would put the kibosh on that option. I still think that the DM&E would have to fit into a new PCE, with a new coal line through SE Montana between Colony WY and Billings (or Forsyth) serving Montana's relatively untapped portion of the PRB as the impetus. With the State of South Dakota's capitulation to BNSF for the Miles City - Aberdeen main, one might have to look south for a less hostile interconnection siutation. That being said, it is quite remarkable that so much of the original PCE is pre-engineered for a 21st century railroad. Perhaps that's why the replacement cost figure Michael cites is so relatively low compared to the new DM&E PRB extension price tag.
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