It'll be a sad day when the last Palouse branch line leaves the hands of its Class I owner. Where else in the Northwest can we find Armour yellow Geeps working back country trackage (meaning NOT the SI main at Chilco, Athol, Moyie Springs, etc.) to gather lumber AND work grain elevators? As for track conditions and derailments, other than this recent business at the Sprague Ave. overpass, the two biggest incidents I can remember in recent years was when they put several cars on the ground near Freeman (don't remember if that was due to harmonic rocking or broken rail or what)and when they derailed on the curved turnout coming downhill into Rockford. Overall, the Wallace Sub (as it's still called, even though it no longer goes to Wallace)is one of the better-kept branches I've seen. Engineering-wise, the fact that the Manito-Plummer Jct. segment was built by the MILW as their secondary main line through Spokane, and the Manito-Spokane Yard segment was joint MILW/UP maintained to passenger standards, gave this branch a good head-start toward UP keeping it in decent shape. Go even further back in time and we find the trackage from Spokane to Manito and on down to Fairfield was UP's original main line into Spokane, but it was still a mule trail compared with the Harriman-era engineering of today's Ayer Sub via Fish Lake. Back to the Wallace Sub, if you take a close look at much of the track, and watch the swift progress of the Plummer Turn when he glides through those broad curves between Manito and Worley, especially on the westward trip with loaded cars, it's quite impressive compared with the snail's pace of most of the P&L, CW, etc. And yes, the P&L used to be a fast branch line. Used to be. To be fair, there are spots on the Wallace Sub where they creep along, most notably the elevated curves between Manito and Freeman, and of course the twisting 1.7% on Mica Hill. I wonder if a short line will be able (or willing) to maintain this branch to the same standards UP has. If there's a plus side, perhaps a short line will be more willing to accommodate a weekend excursion and/or dinner train service to the Coeur d'Alene Casino near Worley. F.Y.I., log traffic is still heavy into St. Maries. Last time I caught the Branch Train on the radio, a couple Friday's ago, he said he was coming down the river with 69 loads.