A 1968 NP Official List of Agents and lines, etc. shows an interchange with the BCE at Sumas, Washington. I know the line is still active on BNSF, but what railroad comes down from Canada to the BNSF? Did the MILW line from the Seattle area to Sumas survive after the PCE shut down in 1980 or did it get short lined?
Ed Burns
You answered your own question. The Canadian railroad was the British Columbia Electric (BCE), which later became part of BC Hydro. You seem to be mistaking the BCE for the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extenseion (PCE).
Southern Railway of British Columbia = SRY= SRY Rail Link after 1988
SRY was bought by the Washington Company (think Ted Washington & Montana Rail Link)
BNSF owns MILW line out to Lynden (truncated west and south of there). MILW line to the SE (Maple Falls) is largely gone, except the connecting track at Sumas.
CPR also interchanges with BNSF there.
The current Northern Pacific Ry Historical Society's "Mainstreeter" magazine has a good article about the history of the Sumas line, pretty interesting.
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