| BNSFs ex-Great Northern Scenic Subdivision lies quiet on a mid-July afternoon at Skykomish. The center track is the Skykomish Siding, with the main off to the right. On the left are a handful of tracks leading the BNSFs maintenance yard in Sky. Skykomish was once an important division point on the railroad. In the GN days, Sky was the western end of Great Northern electric operations, and a large yard for servicing both steam and electric power existed on the south end of town. After GN pulled the plug on electric operations in 1956, Skykomish remained an important helper station for GN and later Burlington Northern. Helpers were often addd or cut off from ascending or descending trains here. The end of manned helper operations with the introduction of DPUs led to furthern cutbacks at Sky, and today only a fraction of the former rail infrastructure remains. |