Here's the scoop: I know I read somewhere that BN took over control of Snoqualmie Pass after Milwaukee pulled out of LW. What I don't know, is whether or not BN actually used Snoqualmie Pass? I don't recall seeing any photos of BN trains on SP, why did BN abandon it? It was among the best-engineered railroad pass over the north Cascades. Would be very valuable after this recession breaks, to relieve the congestion over Steven's Pass, as Stampede Pass cannot accomodate hi-wide traffic. Snoqualmie Tunnel at least could clear trilevel autoracks.
I know someone else would know much better than I but I don't believe the BN actually ever ran a revenue train on the old Milw tracks through the pass after embargo. In fact I think after a while they eventually just sent a scrap train up to pull rail and ties. There are photos of this: RailroadForums.Com - View Single Post - Hyak, WA and the Milwaukee Road
Very cool. When was this? Mid-late 80's? Granted that ROW would have been in sad shape, but to renovate it wouldn't have taken as much money as building new. I stiill don't understand why they never used it.
BN bought the line from Maple Valley east to a point designated as "Cabin Creek Junction". Plus the branch from Cedar Falls to Snoqualmie Falls. At Cabin Creek Jct, the Milw and BN (NP) were very close and east of there, the two lines ran parallel for a few miles. The idea was to put in a switch and be able to route trains that way, bypassing the smaller Stampede Tunnel. However, after the Frisco merger, management changed, philosophies changed, economics changed, then Hull Creek bridge washed out and they never ran a revenue train east of Cedar Falls. The branch served what at that time was still a thriving Weyerhaeuser mill. BTW- For those who insist on beliving fairy tales, the line was not of worn out rails and rotted ties. That, is an overt lie, passed forward by the lazy and ignorant scoffers. BN salvaged almost all of the 115 pound rail, clipped ends, welded then used it in re-lay for extending sidings, etc. BN then sold the ties to a contractor who sorted all the #1 re-lay out for BN. (Milw had done track work as late as 1971 and 1973.) Those replaced ties did not have time to rot! I was there....... I know the details. Boxcab E50
By the "ROW being in sad shape", I meant that the ballast was probably fouled, would need to be undercut and tamped in order to allow train speed higher than 10 MPH.
Actually I was referrring to days when the Milw was still operating it. We looked at all of that during the efforts to stop BN. But nobody was awake in Olympia, etc. Politicians being smarter than the rest of humanity and cannot see past the ends of their noses anyhow. Primary problems at the end, were bush, drainage other than ballast and fouled ballast due to bad drainage, etc. Complicated by their getting rid of most maintenance people long before quitting. You can't do any work, with no people. By the time BN started lifting rails, it had turned into a fifty foot wide alder tree farm, with a few maples and evergreens mixed in. Boxcab E50
A significant investment to renovate it, to be sure, but cheaper than building new from scratch. The efforts to cut costs by cutting jobs only compounded the problem.
It assured the outcome Chicago wanted. Unfortunately, for those who deny it, whether outsiders or insiders, there is plenty of evidence to show this was the end desired. And despite naysayers who prey upon the weak and unwitting, looking back now works very well, due to the unquestionable documentation available. Boxcab E50
It seems to me that beginning in the post-WWII years, leadership philosophies changed to being heavily short term. If they do last, it's through merging or selling out to another interest after just a few years. Often that original company disappears in the process. So do the jobs and benefits to local community. Boxcab E50
