theseaandalifesaver wrote:What's the line that branches off to the east in Burlington, WA?
That is the BNSF Sumas Subdivision, just a secondary line into Canada.
From Sedro-Wooley north to Sumas, and the abandoned line south, it was formerly the Northern Pacific entry into Canada from the Seattle area, while the Bellingham Subdivision, the "mainline" that hosts Amtrak Cascades, is the former GN route.
The line running west-east from Burlington to Sedro-Wooley and formerly continued east, was a GN branchline.
I don't have a lot of detail as I don't normally tread too far north of Seattle but that should be a good start to your research. There seems to be a few websites on the history of the lines up there to check out.
