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Burlinghton Northern P&L Route | Garfield WA to Moscow ID

Burlington Northern Railway Palouse and Lewiston Route | Garfield WA to Moscow ID (35 Miles)


The Palouse and Lewiston Route was built by the Northern Pacific Railway in 1910 and originally spanned from Marshal, WA (just south of Spokane) to Lewiston, ID. The right of way included in this workshop route includes the 35 mile Burlington Northern mainline from Garfield, WA to Moscow ID and a seven mile section of the Union Pacific Moscow Branch (Pullman to Moscow).





This workshop route is set from 1971 to 2005. During the 70s and 80s the Burlington Northern and Union Pacific typically only used four axle engines. Normal power included: EMD GP7's and GP9's, EMD GP30's, EMD GP38's and EMD GP40's. Other than the named trains, consists of grain, pea, stove oil, timber and plywood were common. Southbound trains on the P&L Route were always empty while Northbound trains were always loaded.

The ownership history of the P&L route and the Pleasant Valley -Hooper Route (otherwise known as the Moscow Branch) is as follows. The P&L Route was built and owned by the Northern Pacific Railway from 1910 to 1971. Passenger and mail operations ceased to continue by 1955. After 1971 the Burlington Northern Railway kept ownership of the line until after the ASTF merger in 1996. What was left of the line was quickly sold to WATCo just months after the merger and in 2005 the crippled line was sold to the Washington State Department of Transportation. Right now the Washington and Idaho Railway (owned by the WSDOT) only spans from Marshal to Fallon, a mere half of what the original line was.

The PV-Hooper line was built by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company in 1890, it originally spanned from Hooper, WA to Colfax, WA. The company was later bought by the Union Pacific Railway Co, they were responsible for creating the branch from Colfax, WA to Moscow, ID. In 1992 Union Pacific sold the line to the Blue Mountain and Palouse Railway Co. In 1999 the BLMR went bankrupt and had to sell its line to the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad. This led to the removal of the old UP line between Pullman and Moscow. The UP line between Pullman and Moscow is now a bike trail and most of the PV-Hooper line is abandoned or used for storage.



Note: This route does not have signals in real life. Signals were added to support AI traffic and buried for realism. Note that the Pullman Diamond has a mandatory stop before proceeding on all scenarios.




The routes listed in bold are required in order to drive on the route, the rest are only strongly recommended and are used for assets such as trees and buildings

1. Feather River

2. Norfolk southern Coal District

3. Stevens Pass (for bridges and buildings)

3. US Loco and Asset Pack

4. Exeter Kingswear (only needed for a small amount of assets in Pullman.)

IMPORTANTIf you do not have any one of these assets that ARE NOT listed in bold and you intend to drive on this route, you still can do so. When your scenario starts there will be an error popup. To bypass this, press "F2" on your keyboard then a dialog box will ask you to "save progress in the current scenario". Just press "cancel" and your scenario will begin as normal. These steps may be necessary even if you have all of the required assets.




These are examples of loco power that you can get off of Steam that are accurate to this route.

Burlington Northern GP38-2

Burlington Northern GP20 by Reppo

Burlington Northern GP9

SW1500 Pack (includes a Burlington Northern repaint)

Burlington Northern SD40-2 (for rolling stock)

Union Pacific DD35 and GP30 by DTM (the DD35 pack includes the GP35, a very commonly used unit by the Union Pacific RY on the Moscow Branch)




This route represents over four hundred hours of research and hard work. The line in real life is being destroyed so this project to me is a preservation of history. I welcome you all to take a journey on the nearly forgotten rails of my homeland, even if it is only inside a computer. Thank you very much for your support.