Reported in Railway Age:

[www.railwayage.com]

Ironically, yesterday I saw this picture in Railpics.net:

[www.railpictures.net]

I'm also aware that UP had been handling empty BNSF grain trains recently in the past.

Few points to ponder now that the facts are out there...while hopefully the "rails" in the PNW may finally get a chance to breathe, the poor guys working towards the Gulf will be now be under the gun to get this grain to the Gulf turning and burning without any additional personnel called back to work. (And that's IF there are any ranks among the unemployed at this point in time)

The other irony...while it's one thing to resolves issues with trains in a detour situation involving derailments, it sure is perplexing that TWO railroads had been approached "Hey, can ya give me a hand as I can't handle my traffic"...and the ripple effect included, exhausting the crews on UP and CN... Now to the best of my recollection, CP and CN took a LOT of heat from the Canadian Govt when the grain market wasn't moving quick enough. Certainly this episode with BNSF has been going on long enough...and they've bloody well have played every card possible including these ideas of directional traffic... (and I still believe it's a damn JOKE especially negotiating the traffic between Vancouver WA and Pasco) You think the poor customer has suffered enough yet? Apparently the boats have had enough of this escapade!! In the meantime, I'm just fascinated that they are trying SO HARD to get this lousy bypass built in the Chicago area, (apparently NOBODY is interested in using) and yet we can't get an answer to this REPEATED mess in the PNW! And the economy really hasn't fully recovered...