Following the Burlington Northern merger in 1970, the new railroad looked to save money by abandoning duplicate routes wherever possible. At the time the new road had three routes over the Cascades from Spokane to the port cities of Seattle and Tacoma. These were, from north to south, the Great Northern's line over Stevens Pass, the Northern Pacific's Stampede Pass route, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle water level route along the Columbia River. The BN decided to axe the more rugged Stampede pass route and the line was abandoned and removed in 1983. The eastern end of the route from Ellensburg to Pasco remained as a branchline to serve predominantly agricultural shippers in this fertile region of the state.
In a further attempt to streamline operations this line and several branches connected to it were put up for sale a few years later. The Washington Central Railroad (Reporting mark WCRC) was formed in 1986 to operate this branch, and to serve as a feeder to the BN at Pasco. In addition to the main line from Pasco to Cle Elum, the WCRC also served branch lines to Grainger, Moxee City, and several other small towns in the region. A few months after it's creation, the new road inherited several former Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road lines, and also began operating the government owned railroad on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
In time, the road became well known for it's distinctive red locomotives, each bearing the "Seahawk" on their side. There were also thousands of WCRC freight cars, including many box cars and centerbeam flats. The road derived a substantial part of it's income from leasing these cars to other roads in what is known as an "incentive per diem" arraingement. Despite it's shortline status and it's beginnings from a remnant of the second transcontinental line, the WCRC did very well, offering the sort of local oriented service that the BN was unable to match. |
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