Lost Rail

There has been an expanse of decades that have passed since the last wheel turned on Lines West.  America has been without her Resourceful Railroad, without her best engineered path to the Northwest, without orange and black in a sea of Washington wheat or mountain green.  Others, employees and observers, share their memories of the last days while pictures of dilapidated locomotives and a torturous winter in 1979 tell their own story. But I missed all of that.  My first memories of the Milwaukee Road's west involve the ever changing scenery of I90 as viewed from the second row of an old suburban.  The seats were vinyl and sticky on hot days, but the old truck always made the trip.  The cascades offered brief glimpses of high black trestles on the west slopes, then the occasional bridge on the east side of Snoqualmie.  The massive Renslow trestle near Kittitas spanned the 4 lane and loomed large outside the confines of the suburban, especially for this 6 year old who strained to s

After a little prodding from Lost Rail's good friend, Oil-Electric, I've put together a link to the bridge abutment's location on the western edge of Spokane: View Larger Map The abutment stands, more or less, at the point where W. Ohio Ave and N. Summit meet and points south-east in the above photo.  From here, the old trestle in question would have crossed the Spokane River and Hangman creek on its way across the valley.  A walking bridge now spans the River in the approximate location of the old trestle piers.  When the water level is lower, these are still visible just east of the walking bridge, however, seem covered in the image above. Also of interest, to the north and east of the abutment are the remains of the old UP round house, still visible from above.  Spokane was quite the railroad town...