Psychologist Wrote:
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> The only real and lasting impact of the embargo of
> the MILW west of Miles City in 1980 is the
> psychological effect it had on Montana railfans.
>
> The shippers shrugged it off and used another
> carrier.

Did rates on BN and/or UP increase after the Pacific Coast Extension was abandoned?

>
> The employees shrugged it off and found other
> employment.

Really? Good paying blue collar jobs in much of the country were, in much of the country, hard to find. I would have guessed this was particularly true along much of the Milwaukee Road Lines West where employment opportunities were limited and that the railroad workers who lost their jobs would have found it difficult to find other jobs which paid as well. However, if you have data proving otherwise, feel free to share it here.
>
> But the Montana railfans went nuts.
>
> To this day, 40 YEARS LATER, they put their mental
> illness on public display all over Facebook over
> the demise of “The Pacific Coast Extension.” They
> act like it was the Nazi holocaust or Pearl
> Harbor. They go on crazy rants and tirades and
> claim to know what former executives were
> thinking. They shed tears over the last run of a
> Little Joe. They talk about a nondescript little
> gulley know as Sixteen Mike Canyon as if it was
> the Grand Canyon.
>
> Is there any way we can get these people
> psychological help?
>
> Unfortunately Reagan eliminated public care for
> the mentally ill, so now we have the spectacle of
> insane Milwaukee fans ranting and screaming on the
> streets of Missoula,

A number of years ago, I spent a pleasant summer afternoon and evening in Missoula. I went over to the Milwaukee Road Depot (now the headquarters for the Boone & Crockett Club). After that I walked for a couple of hours on a trail which was the Milwaukee Road.

Did not encounter any Milwaukee Road fans "ranting and screaming on the streets of Missoula." Never read about anything like that happening in Missoula or any other Milwaukee Road Lines West communities.

The next day, I drove a couple of hours to St. Paul Pass where I rented a bike to enjoy the best rail trail I've ever experienced - the "Route of the Hiawatha Trail."

Yeah, I lament never having seen the Milwaukee Road's Lines West in operation railroad, but I enjoyed checking out its remains and several locomotives on display. since that visit, I purchased Noel Holley's book, The Milwaukee Electrics and Frederick Hyde's book The Milwaukee Road which has many wonderful photographs of the Lines West.

I'll leave it to others to debate whether the Pacific Coast Extension could have ever been a viable rail corridor.

You, on the other hand, are blowing things way out of proportion with your silly exaggerations. "Psychologist" - Please heal thyself.

and endangering the lives of
> normal productive citizens trying to live their
> lives. What in hell is wrong with them and what is
> to be done?