Crisp, morning sunlight immediately greets BNSF 8457 and company as they punch through the east hole of Tunnel #3, swinging immediately around a long, sweeping curve with H AUBPAS3 27A and its trailing 125-car consist of mixed traffic for Pasco's hump, including a healthy block of one of the region's main exports riding first class. Twelve tunnels bored through the Gorge's solid basalt cliffs keep traffic flowing through the natural wonders of this scenic, high-density freight corridor known as the Fallbridge Subdivision, 229-miles between Vancouver and Pasco as trains hug the northern banks of the adjacent Columbia River, connecting the country with the busy Pacific Northwest ports. Located near the small community of Cook, WA, Tunnel #3 is the second of five within a 3-mile span that this train will encounter in quick succession as both steel rails, and parallel State Highway 14, must carefully thread the needle, sharing narrow confines of land packed tightly between the many large rock formations and the waterways that once carved them out many years ago.
