Your points are well taken, Bruce, but I'll stand by mine. If a hub is a center of activity or interest, I think you get more "points" for this if you're the destination of the train, and Pasco, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle all trump Spokane for that. And if you insist on expanding the Spokane Terminal all the way to Sandpoint (70 miles) because I mentioned Portland/Vancouver (10 to 15), then the Tri-Cities/Hinkle area really trumps Spokane. The main BNSF line from Spokane to Portland; The main UP line from La Grande to Portland; BNSF's line over Stampede Pass. The UP line from Hinkle to Spokane. And then you have the short lines like the Columbia Basin at Connell, Blue Mountain at Wallula and others. With the exception of the Kettle Falls line, all are more vibrant than the anemic (unfortunately) branch lines around Spokane. And while Spokane does have activity that you mentioned, with regard to freight trains, just about all originate or terminate at Pasco and Hinkle, not just go through with or without work. The terminal facilities Spokane/Hauser/Chewelah/Sandpoint/wherever are dwarfed by those in Portland/Vancouver, and if Portland/Vancouver is extended to the dimensions you expanded Spokane (70 miles or so), then that could include either Longview to the north or Salem to the south with myriad branch and shortlines that reinforces Portland's stature as the Northwest's true hub. As for tonnage, the route through Spokane might have the most in the Northwest, though it would probably be a tossup with the BNSF route between North Portland Jct. and Reservation. And, tonnage really doesn't matter....if that's the case, then the route with the heaviest trains win. But there are still plenty of heavy trains between Portland and Seattle, and they're dodging all the hot UP intermodal trains, plus 5 Amtrak trains a day in each direction. This is clearly the heaviest trafficked line in the Northwest, and the destinations of the trains on this heaviest-trafficked route tend to again shift any emphasis away from Spokane when it comes to talk of a Northwest Hub. Spokane is a great place to watch trains. It certainly is a hub. I just don't think it's "the" hub of the Northwest.