Sitting here bored in front of the woodstove, pondering what was in western railroading, and what could be.

So as I sit here and ponder the potential coal exports from the PNW and the associated traffic growth I have come up with the wildest plan I can conceive for coal export, based on some perfect world transportation assumptions.

Assumption #1 a coal export facility needs a port in a conservative town to succeed and keep out of the mainstream eye of the enviro-frauds. That rules out Portland, Vancouver, Tacoma, Seattle, etc... We've seen that in practice. Cherry Point and Longview, although Peabody sure pissed off lots of people in Longview... So whats left? Grays Harbor is a viable option, but there's already quite a bit going on there with soybeans, cars, bio-diesel and etc. Astoria has no room. Newport/Toledo can only handle Barges, plus GP still doesn't look like they are going anywhere. So that leaves our only other PNW deepwater port,,, Coos Bay. Yes, trains would have to transit through Eugene, the hippie capital of the PNW... but its not a major population center, and there's still plenty of heavy industry around in Springfield and North Eugene.

Yes the line has high curvature, but the speed of any bulk train is not as sensitive as Intermodal or the like. And the ruling grades favor westbound loaded trains. The state of oregon, although unlikely to be part of any coal export, would be favorable of seeing economic development in the Coos Bay area, and to see a return on their investment in the line.

But whoa you may say.... that coal would have to traverse Portland and the congested Willamette Valley, that would be a gamechanger, and the Portlandians would throw a fit. But does it have to? Lets think about the closest source of coal to the pacific coast. Utah and western colorado. How do those mines get a piece of the potential export action? Its unlikely that any coal will export from California, the natural outlet via the FRC and Donner or LA&SL. So were to next? The UP to McCammon from Ogden has seen better days and would need considerable upgrade, and the Blue Mountains are a constant barrier.

Here's my solution, and where we really get off into the weeds. Follow along. Coal loads from Utah and W Colorado and heads off on the Rio Grande for the Big Salt Lake... takes a trek west through Nevada... and then swings northwest on a rebuilt Modoc line to Klamath Falls... drifts down the Cascades and into Eugene and on to Coos Bay.

Its the shortest land route from Coal to Ocean at about 1200 miles by basic calculation. The next shortest, the mines near Gillette to Longview VIA the MRL is 1300 miles, on a route with high congestion.

So there you have it.... my bored ramblings about my coal export pipe dream. Now, I'll go buy a lotto ticket, because I think thats about 100 times more likely to be a success!