Another chapter ends for Stampede Pass: Just days before BNSF unexpectedly shut down Stampede Pass due to low traffic volume, one of the last westbounds to depart Ellensburg works along the Yakima River near Bristol, symbolically chasing the setting sun towards a dark future. In just twenty-six miles the M-PASINB will challenge the 2.2% climb out of Easton, following in the footsteps of predecessor trains running under the flags of the Northern Pacific, Burlington Northern and BNSF... footsteps that are, once again, merely a reminder of the stature this pass once held as the first crossing of the Cascade Mountains in Washington.
