Spokane - Pasco route

[AmtrakPDX]

I asked this sometime back but have lost the answer. I looks like the train from SPK to PSC takes a set of tracks that are different from the ones coming from PSC to SPK. I'm guessing that this is because the two Empire Builders need to pass one another because the EB & WB come into SPK so close to one another. Where (near what city) do the two routes come together again?

TIA

 

[the_traveler]

I'm not sure of the answer, but the EB and WB Builder's would pass each other EAST of SPK, not west or south of SPK! After all, it is possible to do a PDX-SEA-SPK-PDX or a SEA-PDX-SPK-SEA loop. Thus, the EB Builder arrives before the WB Builder.

 

[yarrow]

the eb will sometimes come into spk on the north side and sometimes on the south side of hangman (qualchan) creek. this choice is made, i believe, at scribner junction just a few miles south of spokane. i always assumed it had to do with freight traffic or with the seattle section of the eb coming into the spk station. otherwise i think the route is ususally the same pdx-spk and spk-pdx.

 

[Montanan]

Historically, there were two distinct main lines between Pasco and Spokane ... the former Northern Pacific line, and the former SP&S line. I think for a time after the BN merger the railroad used these lines for mostly-directional running, though not exclusively so. At that time, then, the eastbound and westbound Builders might well have routinely used different routes between those points.

Unfortunately, most of the old SP&S line between Pasco and Spokane was abandoned back in the late 80s, so all trains now use the former NP route.

 

[JayPea]

This will probably be as clear as mud by the time I'm through :lol: but there are two sets of tracks heading southwest out of Spokane. From the times I've been on the EB, the EB ran westward from Spokane on the south side of Qualchan Creek and the eastbound into Spokane on the north side. From what I've observed, all freight traffic does the same. Both the BNSF and UP/CP use both sets of tracks. At some point south of Spokane (Yarrow may well be right about Scribner Jct), the BNSF and UP/CP westbound trains separate, with the BNSF to Portland and the UP/CP to Hinkle Jct. OR, and then on to Portland on the Oregon side of the Columbia. And at that junction, both the eastbound BNSF and UP/CP run on one set of tracks eastbound.

I hope that didn't muddy the waters any further!