Expaining the Latah Bridge in Spokane

 

 

Explanation from a railroader about the Latah Bridge

and Sunset Junction I refer to from time to time.

Carlton Evans

10:44pm Mar 11

Gerald... the tall bridge is "new"... it was built by BN to tie in the old GN, SP&S, UP, and Milwaukee onto the former NP route through Spokane.

At the wye at Latah Junction (on the bridge, itself), the right fork, going westward, heads towards Lions, which is where we get back on the GN line.

The left fork of the bridge puts us on the SP&S line after it crosses I-90. We are on the SP&S through Scribner (Marshall) and tie into the NP a couple miles west at Lakeside Jct. From here, the SP&S is abandoned to just a few miles east of Pasco and the UP gets on it's track for it's run along the Snake River and on to Walulla and Hermiston.

The NP is the short bridge that crosses I-90 to the left before the tall bridge. It goes downhill to cross the Colfax highway, through Marshall, Lakeside Jct, Cheney, Ritzville, to Pasco.

We usually run the westbounds up the "Highside" (SP&S) and eastbounds down the "Lowside" (NP) because the westbound grade is easier on the SP&S than on the NP lines.