Posted by D. Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 02:25:20 :
In Reply to: Re: Have you checked out the railroad grade posted by Keith in Washington [24.41.41.111] on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 01:30:29 :
There's actually a fair bit of grade on the west side of the river upstream from the bridge to the collapsed tunnel. It was definitely the main line at one time, but I'm not sure when that was. Probably back when they were still using the old Cascade tunnel, or maybe even before that when the trains went over the top of Stevens Pass. Leavenworth was originally a railroad town, being the headquarters for maintenance on the east side of the pass, like Skykomish was for the west side. I think they must have moved the tracks after the town was built, because otherwise they would have built it a mile or two northeast, right along the current line rather than off to the side like it is.
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