News - One Post Leads To Another

Idaho & Montana getting new passenger stations and service?

Occasionally when I'm researching railroad news that impacts the Northwest, I'll get more than I asked for. And now, the news...

Bonner County Daily Bee reported that the Amtrak Station in Sandpoint ID might be replaced by another depot in a different location. While reading the article online, my eyes happened to catch a small phrase that led to a bigger discovery:

“We’re going to study and produce a report that looks at the possibilities, and the costs and opportunities of restoring the North Coast Hiawatha service,” he said."

What?? That opened me up to yet another news story, which was made possible by stimulus money pointed straight at Amtrak. The carrier - in the face of ever-increasing rail passengers - is looking into reinstating the North Coast Hiawatha to run from Chicago, along the southern part of Montana, and on its way to Seattle. The route over Northern Pacific trackage was discontinued 30 years ago, which took many of Montana's major cities off the passenger service map. What's surprising - and a bit pathetic - is the NCH was discontinued because it fell below 150 passengers per mile - coming in at 149.

USA Today has this article about the potential route addition.

Will the North Coast Hiawatha once again run into King Street Station? Maybe not, because Seattle is well served by both the Empire Builder and the Coast Starlight (along with the Cascades and regional Sound Transit routes). But the possibility of a newer NCH terminating in Spokane or Sandpoint is very real, allowing those passengers to simply connect with the Empire if they are coming out to "The Coast."



View North Coast Hiawatha Proposed Route in a Google map

Spokane BNSF Conductor Safety Winner for 2008

Conductor Terrence "Ed" Carlson of Spokane is one of 2008's BNSF Safety Employees Of The Year. Also included is a 33-year employee who has never had an accident at work! I'm thinking he may have had a hangnail or two over three decades, but the company is probably not counting those.

ALCO FAs on the BN

The Spokane, Portland and Seattle seems to be the forgotten child of two mammoth parents, but despite its lack of notoriety it still has a very colorful past in Washington. And they loved ALCOs. Kevin Piper shot the above photo in June 1971 while visiting Vancouver with his grandfather. He described the trip like this:

"My grandfather had a thing about Alco FA's. He also had several "Lionel" ones. We went looking for BN FA's still in service on that trip in June '71, but only found one (the one in the photo you mentioned) and it was in dead storage. My grandpa hated Cascade Green, so we ignored all the green stuff we saw. (I secretly liked it though.) Oh well."

You can see the rest of Kevin's great archive shots HERE!

Railroad Testing Biodiesel This Summer

View EWGR Rail Line Map

The Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad is testing biodiesel on the 100 mile line over the next three months, at which point they will evaluate the project. Biodiesel fuel is locally made and easy for them to get.

The line runs along US Highway 2, between Cheney and Coulee City, and is owned by the State of Washington. EWGR is contracted to operate.