If the BN merger had been denied by the ICC in 1970, that means GN probably would have wanted to preserve their tracks through downtown Spokane and they wouldn't have started using the NP route between Sandpoint and Spokane. If GN kept using their line through Spokane, then the Expo 74 Worlds Fair would have had to either locate to another city or find a different location to set up their exhibition, since it took place where the GN station was situated. The GN station died so that Expo 74 might live. The only thing that survived from the GN station is the clock tower.

The "plant rationalization", where GN, MILW, UP and NP were all going to be consolidated onto one alignment through downtown, was going to eventually happen one way or another, as the proposal had been considered for several years and about three or four different studies, each with their own unique features, were generated.

Does anyone know if those studies made it into print and are gathering dust somewhere? They would make for interesting reading, at least for some people.