Its a sad day for us NP fans. I was driving out by Redmond last night and noticed the rails have been removed along Willow Run rd. I would assume this is the first step to removing the remainder of the Woodinville sub. My question though is how far will the rails be removed to? Will they remove them to 124th Ave? to the winery? or go all the way to Woodinville? Here is another question? I know where there are 2 ex NP switchstands at in Bellevue that I would LOVE to get my hands on. How would one go about acquiring a piece of RR history? Ryan
Sad, indeed. Some day they'll want commuter rail to points east such as Issaquah. With this valuable right-of-way now lost, it will cost uncountable wasted millions of dollars and years in brain dead court battles to get that service re-established. Nobody thinks long term. Which is funny as heck, as too many around that vicinity believe themselves to be visionaries or so very enlightened. Who owns or last owned the tracks through Bellevue?
Agreed Ken. I know my property taxes went up about 5 years ago because of prop. 1 which was to bring commuter light rail to the eastside. The funny thing is, with me living in North Bend I will never be able to use it and yet I pay for it. As far as who owns the rails through Bellevue, isn't that owned by King Co. now? Thanks to Ron Simms and his hair brained idea to make it a trail. I have another name for Ron Simms but I wont go there.
Ryan- I do know and understand exactly what you are saying- About RS and any "Prop" enacted... Remember, I was a Sno-Valley area resident for most of my first fifty years. Not sure how far north County ownership extended. Was it all the way to Woodinville? Just for fun, some day take a western WA map and draw in all the former rail lines. You will see that for the most part, all were well located and many still very suited for use today, had they still survived. I pity those who will carry an enormous monetary burden, reconstructing a rail transportation system in the "greater" (not really) Puget Sound region. It will be a spine crushing financial load.
Ken- The county owns the ROW all the way to Woodinville. Last time I was in Woodinville there were eco blocks across the ROW just south of the Hwy 202 crossing. I have not looked at a map but considering the ROWs that I know about the DOT could have one VERY NICE commuter light rail all the way from south of Olympia to far point north such as Arlington with little construction deviating from the original ROW. The only 2 former rail lines that will see light rail as of now is the former NP Prarie line and American Lake line. Ryan
