I recommend that this guide be printed out to be read in length, It'll also be handy on your next trip up here.

History

   While you're visiting the Funnel, I highly recommend that you visit Marshall Canyon. Marshall Canyon is truly a playground for railfans with a Highline and a Lowline, several bridges and junctions, two major railroads and two short lines, and lots of trains. It really can't be beat. A nice article was written about Marshall Canyon in the Sept. 97' issue of Railfan and Railroad. The author of the article is Bruce Kelly, a local railfan that has countless bylines and photo credits in many publications.

    There is a Canyon on the west side of Spokane that has been trouble to any railroad that has wished to pass through Spokane. The canyon extends south to Cheney, Wa. passing the small town of Marshall, hence, Marshall Canyon. Three railroads that wanted access to Spokane from the southwest all converged and traveled through the canyon on their way to Spokane. The first was the Northern Pacific Railroad which was building east in the 1880's to meet the westward railhead near Garrison, Montana. Starting out of Cheney heading north the tracks at first tried to maintain grade by sticking to the west slope of the gulch to avoid some narrow confines carved out of the bedrock (UP and SP&S would later blast their way through these confines). The NP passed over the exit of this confine on a fill (the remains of the original wagon trail between Spokane and Cheney comes straight out of this fill) and then descended quickly to the floor of the canyon. It follows the floor the Marshall Creek Canyon to where it empties into Latah Creek (originally Hangman Creek). Here the tracks pass over the floor of the Latah Creek canyon on fill and steel bridges to the east side and begin a steep accent on a shelf carved into the hillside. The tracks then span a small gulch on a steel trestle and bridge the adjacent I-90 on plate girders while turning into Spokane proper at Sunset Jct. A grade exists on the east slope of Marshall Canyon for nearly two miles just above the Spokane-Cheney north of Marshall. I haven't been able to locate any history on the grade, but it appears to be an attempt by NP to lessen the grade of their line between Marshall and Empire. The grade and it's associated cuts were only wide enough for a single track, and a mobile home now sits on the grade near it's northern end just before a deep cut.  Helpers were always needed during the days of steam with the helpers operating out of Spokane usually as far as Marshall, but often beyond. Up until well into the Burlington Northern era, the line was double track as far as Marshall.
   The joint road of the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern was next to build in the canyon. Building from the south the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Ry. originally only extended to Scribner where a short connecting track was made with the NP at Marshall. After a unsuccessful fight to enter the city proper on the north side and across the Parade grounds of Fort Spokane,  it then built north to connect with the GN at Fort Wright Jct. on the west side of the Spokane River.
   The Union Pacific was last to enter with it's second line into Spokane. Desiring a faster and easier route, it built from Wallua, Washington along the Columbia and Snake rivers before cutting across the plateaus for Spokane. Upon entering the Canyon it cut it's path between the two existing lines and worked it's way along the west wall of the canyon just below the SP&S. When it reached the confluence of Latah Creek and the Spokane River, the UP built a tall and lengthy steel trestle to the opposite shore coming along side the existing GN. The UP followed the GN into town above Spokane Falls where it entered a new joint Milwaukee Road/ Union Pacific Station. When the Milwaukee Road built it's Pacific extension in 1914, it acquired trackage rights over the UP on both sides of town so that it could serve Spokane.
   Things settled down and remained the largely static until the advent of the BN merger and the 1974 Worlds Fair. With the BN seeking to rationalize track and the city of Spokane eager to clear it's waterfront of track and railroad related structures for the upcoming World's Fair, much of the railroad facilities in downtown Spokane soon met their demise. Since NP's line through downtown was elevated and relatively obstruction free, all railroad traffic moving through town was ordered onto it. The GN and UP lines were torn up and the bridges scrapped. And all that remains of their stations is the GN's clock tower, which sits on Havermile Island in the river were the station once stood. A high bridge was constructed over the canyon above Latah Creek, parallel to a recently completed I-90 bridge, to connect the GN and the SP&S lines to the former NP route through town. Today all BNSF and UP trains going to or coming from the west pass over the former NP double track elevated line. The GN west of Spokane was rebuilt over several miles with a lesser grade and several new bridges including a impressive curved structure over Indian Creek, but it's hard to take pictures of it due to all the trees around it. The GN main north of Spokane was abandon from the Dean jct. to Newport, WA. The railroads have stayed pretty much the same through present day.

The Guide

Yardley in Spokane Map Link

    The best way to start your railfan adventure in Marshall Canyon is to go visit Yardley in Spokane and see what's heading west. Sit on the paved ramp on north side of the tracks across from the yard office where Havanna St. crosses the throat of the yard and wait for something to leave west. Listen on your scanner to both the yard channel and the Boyer west channel, as well as the UP channel. All the channels are listed in the reference area of this guide. From the scanner you'll want to pick out symbols and who's leaving next as well as who else might leave soon. Yardley is a busy yard with crew changes, power being cut off and run to the fueling dock as well as trains setting out or retrieving blocks of cars. Yardley is bottleneck for the Funnel as well as the lines running west. Trains will often fleet together when coming in or going out.

A night scene of Yardley from the Freya Street Bridge at right. Left, a Cascade Green day at Yardley.

    Most trains that pass through Spokane also pass through Marshall Canyon, and it's fairly easy to judge which trains will pass that way. If it's a manifest, grain, or coal train heading west, it's going to go via the canyon. Solid Vehicle trains have about a 90% chance of going via the canyon. Intermodal and stack trains are a little harder to judge. The are four daily westbound Z trains each day, two to Seattle and two to Portland. Telling them apart is next to impossible, as is many of the other intermodal and mixed bag vehicle trains. But a train symbol will get you a little closer on guessing where a train will go. If a train's symbol shows it's destine for Seattle, count on it going via Wenatchee. If a train is destine for Portland, then it's sure bet its going via Pasco. A stack train bound for Tacoma stands a good chance of going via Pasco, other intermodal and vehicle trains bound for Tacoma are more likely to go via Wenatchee. UP also sends between 8-15 trains a day via Marshall Canyon, so keep an ear out for them. They enter and leave the BNSF just west of Yardley at Napa Street Jct. 

Two views of westbounds crossing the Latah Creek Bridge on the west side of Spokane.
 
   OK, now you got a train that stands a pretty good chance of go into Marshall Canyon, and you want to chase it. The first thing to do is to get back on Trent Rd. If you are on the north side of the tracks. just go north to Trent and make a left. If you are on the south side of the tracks there is a good chance a train is across the road and you don't expect it to clear anytime soon (Havanna is well know for not being a through route most of the time). Go south to the light at Broadway and make a right. Go to the next light and make another right and go over the bridge. At the next light, make a left and you're on Trent, Rd. Now head west on Trent until you cross the river, then make a left at the next light, which is Hamilton St. Stay in the left-hand lane so you can get onto I-90 westbound. When you start to cross Latah Creek Canyon on I-90 after passing through downtown,  get in the right-hand lane and get off at the Hwy. 195 south exit. The off ramp goes around one of the piers of the railroad bridge (Map Link). Now that you are on Hwy. 195 you are between the high-line and the low-line. The grade to your immediate right is the abandoned UP grade. And few hundred feet beyond it is the High-line, but you can't see it unless you have x-ray vision or something (which would be better spent looking at the girls  :-). To your left and on the far side of the canyon is the Lowline and Empire siding carved out of the hillside, this is where eastbounds have to make a steep climb out of Marshall Canyon. Ahead you can see where the Lowline crosses Latah creek and the highway you are on. Beyond the highway crossing you might be able to see the west end of Empire siding. If the signal down there is lit red and no train is in Empire siding, then a eastbound is coming down the canyon and you only have minutes to get into position. If you think you have some time on the westbound that left the yard, and it's later in the day, there is a nice shot to be had of the eastbound. Simply take the last left turn right before you pass under the railroad bridge and follow that road several hundred feet until a road takes off to the right. Take that road a couple hundred feet and you will see a large gravel lot to your right and a nice scene of the railroad bridge over Latah Creek.  Anyways, back the where we were, head straight down Hwy 195 until you go under the Lowline railroad bridge and make the next right (right before the Zip Trip store and gas station). Now you should be on the Cheney-Spokane Road, the main through route in Marshall Canyon.

In the initial part of the Canyon, the tracks are high on the canyon side and somewhat hard to access. But as the tracks leave the Latah Creek Canyon and enter Marshal Canyon, the situation improves greatly.  The two photos below are of the ex-NP line, with the one at right and above is a westbound on the ex-SP&S taken from the ex-UP grade.

    As you follow the road up to Marshall you'll be next to the Low-line (ex-NP) most of the way.  If you follow this road for a couple miles, you will pass a cemetery. Just pass the cemetery on the right is Marshall Road (gravel road) that crosses the low-line. Looking up to the west from this crossing, you might be able to pick out the detector and the east end of Overlook siding on the hillside above (Map Link). Also look at the signal just to the south on the Lowline, if it is red, there is a 99% chance a eastbound is coming your way and will show itself in the next few minutes (the signal lights up as soon as a train leaves Marshall).

    If you follow the gravel road, it takes you under the old UP grade and along side of the High line. You'll need at least good five-ten minute lead on that westbound to take this road. Near the top is a old wooden bridge that crosses the high-line and is good for photos of westbounds. Also, just to the south of the bridge where the road and tracks are at the same level is great mid-day shot of trains coming under the bridge itself, but look at the shot from the bridge before deciding on which angle you would like. I wouldn't go across the bridge because it is someone's driveway. You can continue following the road you came up on and it will dump you back onto Hwy 195. But for the purposes of this guide, turn around and be ready to continue following the train. After getting your shots, retrace your route back to the valley floor.

The wooden bridge is a off-the-beaten track icon just below Overlook siding. The other image below is also taken near Overlook.

   Back on the Cheney-Spokane Hwy., continue up the canyon. Shortly the trees get dense and sometimes it's hard to see the tracks but not for long. Since there are no detectors in the area on the Lowline that are useful to you, eastbounds have a habit of surprising you. In fact the nearest detector on this line is a few miles the other side of Cheney. If you do see a downhill train on the low-line, forget about chasing it (unless it's moving particularly slow) it'd be a very futile chase.

The town of Marshall is a neat little community nestled inside a big arc of the highway and the straight tracks that cut across the above the valley floor on a fill.  The Highway cuts from one side of the Canyon to the other on a classic concrete bridge, which provides a nice elevated railfan hangout.

Marshall Map Link

   You'll soon cross a bridge that spans the whole canyon as well as both lines. This is the heart of Marshall Canyon and the town of Marshall. While the bridge does make a good photo spot, and it does have a sidewalk on the south side, cars travel between 45-55 across it. Just be cautious when stand on the north side for photos of westbounds on the highline. This is the location where many photos have been taken over time, from historical figures such as Phil Hastings and Ron Nixon and more modern day photographers such as Bruce Kelly and myself. The detector at 371.5 will give you great warning of any westbounds.

Along the low-line south of the bridge is a wye and yards that connect with another line from a adjoining canyon, this is where WATCO's Palouse River and Coulee City's line down through eastern Washington to Moscow, ID interchanges with the BN. This branch was originally built by the NP and became BN after the merger. It didn't spend a long time under the BNSF flag, being sold in 1996 to WATCO. Marshall is the place where the Boyer West DS territory ends and the Pasco East's desk begins, railroad crews switch road channels accordingly. Marshall is also where the Scribner Connection comes down from the high-line and connects with the low-line. Mostly the eastbound UP trains and the Highball turn use the Scribner Connection, very rarely do mainline BNSF trains use it. The Highball local also does the switching work at Marshall and Cheney, and is the only train that has a habit of going south on the low-line.

Above are two trains posing for the classic view from the bridge at Marshall, while below are several angles of one of my favorite locations, Scribner Curve. This curve can be shot from a variety of angles, high and low.

Scribner Map Link

   Just down the highway is the upper end of the Scribner Connection and Scribner Siding. This is my favorite spot in the canyon to take photos. Here a long sweeping curve follows the road in a big arc. As the road climbs up a short bit there is a rock pile to the left that offers a good view of the whole curve. And since the road follows it with only a few trees in the way, pacing shots from the back of a pickup or a purple 1971 Dodge Challenger Convertible (I hope the highway patrol doesn't see this  :-) are real easy to do. Coal and grain trains are working hard at this point and will put on a smoke show as they assault the high-line's 0.8% grade. Throughout the year varying amounts of grain cars are parked in Scribner siding, and they sometimes obstruct vision of the mainline, but many times the siding is empty. Just the other side of the mainline is the old UP grade that is now used as a access road to Lakeside Jct. And on the other side of the canyon is a great scene where the low-line snakes along  the hillside by a lake. Over-under shots of trains going in opposite directions can be had in this area.

At Left is a snowy Scribner Curve, while the other two views show the Queen Lucas lake just up the canyon from the Scribner Curve. The lake is bordered by the tracks and rock cliffs on either side.

    From here the highway climbs up on top of the western canyon wall while the tracks head back into the canyon. Just down the road you'll notice a yellow house with a big shop, look to the left as you pass it and you will see the Lakeside Jct. BNSF trains take the line the heads away at angle and the UP trains use the other line that continues south. Continue down the highway until you see a old steam shovel in red and black and trimmed with yellow. Make a left just past it and head down then up to a parking area (keep left), this is the head to a trail built on top of the old SP&S grade. The UP line runs along one side of the parking lot and is easily accessible. The old SP&S grade and the UP tracks run side by side for a couple of miles making the trail a good spot to catch UP trains. The UP eventually will climb up and cross over the SP&S grade before reaching Cheney. Just south of the trail head is also where BNSF's former NP line flys over the UP and former SP&S on a couple of bridges and a fill, and just pass that a road spans both grades as well. I do suggest that you walk the mile or so down to the flyover on the trail. climbing around on the rocks can get you several nice angles of UP and BNSF trains.

Fish Lake and Lakeside Junctions Map Link

Where the valley narrows up and the ex-NP and EX-SP&S become level, is where a new connecting track was installed in the late 1980' to allow westbounds on the ex-SP&S to cross over to the ex-NP. The purpose was to allow the BN management of the time to abandon the ex-SP&S to Pasco. Many industry observers now agree this was a bad move that came back to haunt the BN in just a few short years. The UP line through the canyon was torn up in the 1970's, and today they exclusively use a short section of the SP&S to connect to the BNSF. Northbound UP trains run against the current of traffic on the ex-SP&S from UP Jct. to the Scribner Connection.

Also at the edge of the trail head's parking lot, is where the UP tracks leave the UP grade and crossover to  the former SP&S at a place know as Fish Lake Junction before going on to the BNSF at Lakeside Jct. The former UP grade is now a access road to Lakeside Junction.

   If you do go to Lakeside Junction, I'd be very wary of the BNSF railroad police. I think the former UP grade is now a public trail, but I've heard a BNSF cop say that he has chased people off of non-BNSF property just so he could keep people away from the tracks (He didn't know that a railfan, namely myself, was listening). The Junction consists of a track that runs from the former SP&S grade across the former UP right-of-way to the former NP grade. Westbounds will often wait here for a downhill eastbound before the final climb out of the canyon. The former NP line comes downhill from the southeast before swinging north through a rock cut just after crossing the switch to the connection. UP northbounds will also wait here for westbound BNSF trains, even the westbounds that are waiting on eastbound BNSF trains, YES, I'm saying that Lakeside Junction can be busy at times. Other scenarios happen as well.

From Lakeside Jct, the ex-NP makes a sharp climb that allows it to fly over the UP and ex-SP&S grade just a couple miles up the line. The UP and ex-SP&S (now a paved trail) run side by side through deep rock cuts blasted from Basalt. The two views at right, and the four below are from this area between Fish Lake and Cheney

  After you've had your fun it's time to go back to the highway and make a left. go about 2 miles and start looking for Anderson Road. Make a left on to it and follow it down to the tracks, this is a good spot to catch heavy westbounds working hard in the late afternoon sun, the photo at the top can testify to that. The access road on the other side of the tracks to the left does lead to some interesting photo spots, but you run the risk of being found by the BNSF cops, any ways, continuing down Anderson Road actually goes to a really good photo spot. Namely those bridges over the SP&S and UP grades is where Anderson  Rd crosses. The NP fly over is just north of here and can be photographed with a telephoto or zoom lens. The bridge is also a good spot for UP trains in either direction. Also one can walk the rock ledges on either side of the rail lines, or even the one down the center (just be careful of the loose rocks).

Cheney Map Link

 At far Left is the view of a V-KCMPTL crossing Anderson Road.  Where the UP climbs up and over the ex-SP&S just shy of Cheney, is where the two part company. The area features huge piles of rock blasted from the various cuts. At right is a Boardman, Oregon bound coal train crossing over from the ex-SP&S to the original UP line.

  Once you've had your fill here you can go back to the Hwy. and make a left. Continuing down the highway you'll cross WATCO's Palouse River & Coulee City RR's line to Coulee City also bought in 1996. After a long hard day of railfanning, you're going to get hungry and thirsty. If make a right at the first stoplight you go to Mickey D's or Taco Hell (Taco Bell for the uninitiated :-), but by making a left you can go to Gato's Pizza where you can get a view of the tracks and some good pizza (I'll also challenge anyone to a game of air-hockey in the game room for a pizza  :-). If you follow the road south through downtown and out the other end, take the first road over the tracks after passing by all the grain elevators. The first track is the BNSF mainlines. A few hundred yards beyond is the UP mainline and Cheney siding is just to the south. Cheney siding is often used for meets on the UP. Taking the dirt road on the east side of the UP north for a 1/2 mile and then crossing back over the UP toward the BNSF will find the old NP spanish mission style depot, and some good views of the mainline and the yard. One can also follow the gravel road along the east side of the BNSF mainline for yet more views.

The Z-CHCPTL enters Cheney in the morning sun at left. The quasi-mission style Cheney depot seems out of place in the Pacific Northwest. The Palouse River and Coulee City shortline often parks it's power in Cheney near the north end of the yard.

The BNSF cuts a striking divide in Cheney. While to the west of the ex-NP mainline is strictly a downtown setting typical of a university town, the few hundred yards between the BNSF and UP remains a rather untouched pastoral scene, as can bee seen in the photo at left. South of Cheney is a UP siding, a place of frequent meets. The pic at right is a very lucky meet between rolling trains on their respective mainlines.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this guide or anywhere on this website, expressed or implied, gives you the right to trespass or tamper with private property. You are simply liable for your own actions!!!

   Light generally favors westbounds, it's also a plus that they are the easiest to follow. It's very hard to find and then chase a eastbound unless you have prior knowledge of it's arrival. Union Pacific trains are probably the easiest to keep track of. BNSF and UP DS's talk to UP trains a lot as they travel to and from Spokane. If you're lucky you can get the BNSF detector on the other side of Cheney, but you still have to figure out if it's going away or coming to you.
   Getting back on the subject of light, since the tracks are at the bottom of the canyon, the time you have to photograph trains in direct sunlight is a bit shorter than it would be east of Spokane on the Funnel. So it's a good idea that if your light gives out in the canyon (you do know that BNSF will run 15 trains through in the next two hours of course, there just won't be any good light to photograph them in  :-) that you make a quick jaunt to the east side of Spokane or down toward Sprague before you call it a day.
   The UP trains as mentioned above are easy to track, but they also follow predictable paths. Southbound UP trains will cross the Latah Creek Bridge and take the high-line to Lakeside Jct., while northbounds will come out of Lakeside Jct and make a dash to the Scribner connection where they will drop down to the low-line which they will use to get to Spokane. If you do see a northbound up on the Scribner connection, make a dash to a photo spot because the train won't waste any time after it gets off the connection. Maintenance on one or the other line will cause jam ups and congestion on the other line, which generally makes a great day to railfan the canyon. UP has a habit of passing as many trains as they can on the BNSF, so at times trains are held and then flooded onto the BNSF in both directions. So if you know that a southbound UP is coming onto the BNSF at Napa Street Jct, it's a good bet that there are one or two also coming out of Cheney northbound.
   I hope there is enough info here to make a successful trip and I wish you the best.
                                                                            Funnelfan (Ted Curphey)