I think most fans, even those not big Milwaukee Road buffs, miss the Milwaukee, especially the Lines West section. The whole abandonment process was a travesty and remains suspect to this day.
However, I don't miss the bad track, all too familar with the 1970's grainger railroads. I remember trains bouncing and swaying as the rolled down the track at 30 or 40 mph in Montana. You wondered if the train was going to make it to the next crew change without derailing. The
UTU should have required all their crews to ware weight belts or kidney belts back then. However, the crews were paid well, usually better than the BN crews per the contracts in Montana, Idaho and Washington. I guess that sort of made up for the abuse the crews took.


Ernie