In celebration of its 150th anniversary, Union Pacific is running a special train around its system led by the famed trio of E9s. This morning the train departed Spokane after another successful stop, and I chose to avoid the crowds by shooting it crossing Cow Creek at the middle-of-nowhere hamlet of Ankeny, WA.
The abandoned line at right is the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle 3rd Subdivision, built a few years after the UP line. Although one of the best-engineered railroads in the West, the line suffered from high maintenance costs and poor access, and consequently didn't survive being merged into Burlington Northern and having to compete with the parallel Northern Pacific mainline. It's an interesting juxtaposition that in this place the newer, better-built line has survived as only a gravel trail, while the older, less direct line continues to thrive as a vital international rail link.