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A Milwaukee Road Non-confrontational thread.
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<P>[quote user="fastrains"][quote]QUOTE: <I>Originally posted by martin.knoepfel</I> <BR><BR>A to Snoqualmie: why didn't BN buy the Snoqualmie-pass-line and shut it's own line down if the MILW had the better alignment? <BR>[/quote] <BR>The BN did own the Snoqualimie Pass line from 1980 to 1990 but never because the CEO at the time had interests else where and a rockslide sometime in the mid 80s sealed its fate an some time in 1987/88 the tracks were removed from ceder falls to Easton, the tracks from Renton to Ceder Falls remained so the BN could reach the branch line to Snoqualimie to serve a lumber mill but it closed in late 1990 and the track were removed in early 1991 I think <BR><BR>BTW: I am not sure if the dates are correct[/quote]</P> <P>It should be noted that at the time BN decided to forego operating the Snoqualmie Pass line it also had decided to shut down the Stampede Pass line as well. BN opted for the Columbia Gorge line as the preferred low grade route to the coast, and Stevens Pass for the intermodals, and everything else became redundant trackage in their view.</P> <P>Although Snoqualmie Pass is superior to Stevens Pass, since BN would have only operated over ex-Milwaukee tracks from the Ellensburg area to the coast and not the Lind to Ellensburg section, any traffic over a Snoqualmie Pass reroute would still have to ply the ex-NP through the Yakima Valley and the Yakima River Canyon which is a low speed route and is much longer mileage between Spokane and Seattle than either the ex-PCE or Stevens Pass. It would have taken an extra crew district and another 8 to 10 hours via Yakima/Snoqualmie as compared to Stevens Pass when coming from Spokane to Seattle.</P> <P>By the time BN figured out it might actually need a third rail line between Spokane and Seattle, the Milwaukee rails were long gone, and only the Stampede pass rails had remained mothballed.</P>
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