Art Imitating Life?

While looking through the UW archives I came across a map of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern.

The part I found interesting was this bit here:

That with a few modifications is the route of the BT&NCRy. Minus of course the run to the Canadian border and connection to Seattle. It's interesting to note they swung north of Lake Washington to achieve Snoqaulmie while Ronald Seitz chose to cross the lake by ferry. Even before the first rails were laid out of East Ballad the railway was in direct competition with the Northern Pacific That's no good for this upstart. The SL&E only lasted seven years before being taken over by the NP, a process repeated across the country as big railroad bought up small ones. (For SL&E history, click here) No wonder the Seitz Extension was unprofitable from the beginning. Finding this map puts the railway in perspective and makes modeling it that much more fun.