> My guess is that the only reason they haven't ripped up the tracks yet is that
> they've had capacity problems on other lines and they're keeping Tennessee in
> mothballs in case Moffat's capacity gets maxed out.


That would have been smart, if that was their motivation for leaving the line embargoed and unmaintained. But I can't even begin to imagine a valid scenario in our liftimes, of the Moffat line being overloaded.

A more likely guess, based upon a couple of strangely "coincident" facts: Originally, the UP did file for abandonment of the Tennessee Pass. Subsequently, BNSF filed a formal claim for the to-be-abandoned line. BNSF would have had to pay its commercial value of course, or at least its scrap value. But as could have been predicted, that filing then resulted within hours, in the UP rescinding their original abandonment application altogether. It has been held in abeyance ever since.

Perfectly good resources (owned by hapless stockholders), just left to rust and decay and wash away; when they could have been sold to a willing buyer for cash (the stockholders cash).

So its the usual petulant, childish,and very stUPid game of "I don't want it - but nobody else is gettin' it".

UP at its finest - as usual!