85 years ago yesterday, the longest snow shed in the United States was opened for revenue service. Built by the Great Northern Railway, the 8 mile Cascade Tunnel by-passed the old grade up "Avalanche Alley," and the town of Wellington where 20 years earlier nearly 100 people perished in North America's worst snow slide disaster. Once and for all operating through the heaviest snow zone was eliminated.
These days trains of the BNSF pass through the tunnel at the rate of almost one each hour. Fun to think; the commerce of the world is being funneled through this narrow hole drilled through the heart of the Cascade Range.
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