David

Your comments about MRL interest in the P&L do make a lot of sense and are likely part of the reason that MRL lost interest in the P&L. Maybe they got nowhere with BN regarding trackage rights from Yardley to Marshall.

I was part of a group that actually studied the package BNSF sent to perspective buyers of the CW/P&L lines when they wanted to sell them in the fall of 1996. We studied both lines, talked to shippers, walked much of the lines where they were not accessible by road, etc, etc. With the belief that re-opening the lower end of the P&L was very important, we met with Port of Lewiston officials to discuss the feasibility of a P&L grain shuttle to barge loading at the Port.

At that meeting, they (Port officials) made it VERY CLEAR that they were NOT interested in seeing the railroad repaired or in a grain shuttle operation from the P&L!

Perhaps at one point they might have wanted "wanted the line left intact" as you put it, but that was not the impression I got from the meeting we had with them that fall of 1996.

We actually did submit a bid on BNSF's CW/P&L lines package but WATCO was the successful bidder.

All of that said, as you likely know the P&L suffered some flash flood damage between Troy and Kendrick, as well as in the Juliaetta area about 1984. BN then closed the line beyond Moscow and the flood damage was never repaired. At some point after BNSF announced the pending sale of the CW/P&L lines. somebody (IDOT ???) sponsored a fly-over of the line between Troy and Kendrick. They observed, from the air, what they assumed was a washed-out bridge! This likely also contributed to MRL's loss of interest in the line.

To the best of my knowledge, nobody from this august fly-over group bothered to check out this "missing bridge" by actually walking to the wash out on the ground! Please forgive my sarcasm!

Our group did walk the line from Troy to Kendrick. We found a section of track about 6 miles below Troy where the West Fork of Little Bear creek had washed out it's east bank and undercut perhaps 100 yards of the railroad. Ties and rails were hanging in the air. No bridge was involved. The fix would have involved placement of rip-rap and getting the creek back into it's natural channel. All the bridges between Troy and Kendrick were in good shape. They are still in use today as parts of the "Latah Trail". You can check this out with google maps.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Not the way we would have liked to seen it turn out!