Continuing eastward from Snohomish on July 4th, we stopped in Skykomish next. Saw a large white building there near the tracks with a BN or GN logo on it. Looked like an old RR hotel. Anyone know?
After lunch in Leavenworth (I recall visiting there once before in the 1980's on a PNW NRHS circle rail trip out of Portland via Spokane), we drove east to Hwy 97 and then headed north. How much traffic does the line up to Pateros still see? Mostly seasonal, I would expect. It would make an interesting excursion route if BNSF would ever agree to it. By the way, have folks (particularly highway dept.) in Washington heard of the BN(SF) merger? Hard to tell from the many BN signs still around!
I recall making a week-long hiking trip from Stehekin (at the north end of Lake Chelan)in 1990. I read or heard that there was a GN-operated hotel at the north end of the lake circa 1900 or earlier. Long gone now.
Next item of rail interest was the City of Seattle Light Co. (?) No. 6 on display in Newhalem. Looks like the old locomotive is kept up in good shape by someone. Which railroad did the power company connect with to the outside world?
We returned to the Seattle area by backroads from Rockport and Darrington. Looks like a line is still in place into Darrington. Any traffic on it? Somewhere along the western end of Hwy 530, I think it was, I kept seeing several through-truss bridges. I don't think they were in use. Perhaps remnants of an abandoned line. Whose?