Hi guys,

I understand the confusion. There are two different things named after Tommy Thompson:

1) The small toy train in downtown Anacortes. The tracks are still in place except for a small seqment around the old Great Northern branch line depot. Tommy Thompson was the owner and operator of that. Unfortunately, it stopped running when he passed away. As I said, you can still see most of the tracks. One of the turntables is covered and used as a restaurant patio.

2) The old GN branch line into downtown Anacortes. The branch exists as far as that big oil refinery near the trestle that just burned. The remaining part into downtown Anacortes, including the burned trestle, was abandoned several years ago (anyone know the year?). Recently, a bike trail was built on the rail grade, including on the trestle. They named the bike trail after Tommy Thompson, because of his fame from the minature train.

Hence the confusion. What burned is the former Great Northern branch line trestle that became a rail-trail and was named after Tommy Thompson. The minature trail remnants are unaffected, and several miles away from the trestle fire.

I hope that helps.