I'll second George on Stampede; would have never thought anyone would pour that kind of money into bringing back a dead piece of mountain railroad of that magnitude.

Going back 35 years to when I was living in and railfanning around SoCal, long after the PE had vanished, I would have never thought I'd see a sprawling network of light rail or trolley ops there, nor the likes of Metrolink adding to the Surf Line's commuter traffic or prowling through Soledad Canyon.

Third BNSF main on Cajon and the removal of Tunnels 1 and 2.

BNSF becoming the more dominant player in Feather River Canyon.

Closer to home, the once-sleepy and easily accessible staging yard at Hauser, ID, being transformed into a somewhat fortified facility with a four-track main line refueling pad and becoming the primary crew change and logistical hub for the area.

The notion of building a second bridge across Lake Pend Oreille outside Sandpoint, ID.

The Funnel having continuous 2MT from Otis Orchards, WA, to East Algoma, ID (thanks to the stretch of second main along Lake Cocolalla being put into service a little over a week ago).

Unit crude on a nationwide, make that U.S. plus Canada, scale.

UP converting most of its Washy line (Ayer Sub Hinkle, OR, to Fish Lake, WA)from ABS/TWC to CTC.

UP converting the south end of its former Spokane International (Spokane Sub to Eastport, ID)from dark/TWC to CTC, with plans of extending it northward.

UP closing the Hinkle hump and having its manifest trains to/from Canada get switched and shuffled in the horribly undersized Spokane Yard (aka East Spokane).

I could go on, but the short drive to work begins in less than 30 minutes.