Having been gone for a couple weeks, it may be too late to add to this...but here we go. As a former resident of Whitman county, it was absolutely fascinating to read that story and bloody well recognize every damn town mentioned! It struck a curiosity that the train went south entirely to Colfax and then west to Winona, rather than the Thorton/St John branch. But I also wanted to believe that the LaCrosse to Hay branch was abandoned in the late 60's early 70's in reflection to the completion of the dam work on the Snake River. UP changed wholesale operations typing up the branchline train at the new yard at Ayer for a short period of time.