Scanning back through some images looking for something else, I came across these shots of some Sounder commuter rail locomotives. I shot these as part of a shoot that had a previous post. I hadn’t focused on the locos so much but this train had a loco leading but two locos trailing as well. The trailing locos were the old and the new with an F59PHI and an MPX together. No idea why three locos were on a relatively short train but I guess there was a good reason!
I had a period a while back when I ended up getting a few train pictures. Some of these were intended for work proposals while others were experiments for locations that might be useful in the future. This spot is one that can ideally have a really good background. Sadly, the day I was there was a cloudy one so the background is obscured and dull. It was an Amtrak long distance train rather than one for the potential client but, since it was a test, it didn’t matter this time. I will try again on a nicer day!
New locomotives are not the only new vehicles to have shown up in Seattle. Sound Transit runs the Sounder commuter rail service in the area and they have been taking delivery of new cab cars. These are built by Bombardier, as were the previous cab cars. However, this is a new design that incorporates crash energy management technology. As a result, they have done away with the passenger gangway on the front of the vehicle and provided a full width cab for the engineer. It provides a slightly more elegant front end to the vehicle than the previous design.
At various times I have seen the fuselages for new Boeing 737s heading by on the trains through Seattle. Usually I am a distance away from them and I get a shot that is a bit hazy and less than distinct. Recently I was working in a yard alongside the main tracks as some equipment was being loaded. I had my camera to hand to record the loading process as a train came by behind us. Initially I figured it was just another freight train so didn’t pay attention. Then, I caught the color of the fuselages out of the corner of my eye and realized a couple of new jets were onboard. Before it got too much further, I was able to grab a couple of shots.
In the days running up to the introduction to service of the new WSDOT Siemens Charger locomotives, they were stored in the yard in Seattle awaiting the clearance to run. I was down there for another project and all of these shiny new locomotives were just asking to have their picture taken. How could I refuse? Sadly, one of these locos was involved in the accident a few weeks later.
I wrote in a previous post about heading out to get shots of a Sounder train for a project I was working on. I did get a bonus opportunity while I was there. The same line is used by the Amtrak Cascades services between Seattle and Vancouver BC. A train from Vancouver was running a bit late so it was the first one I saw. It appeared to have been that they held the Sounder trains for the Cascades train, perhaps because of the timings of the stops although I don’t know for sure. Either way, it showed up just after I got there.
WSDOT’s new Siemens Charger locos had just entered service on this day and one of them was on the front of the train. They had not yet removed the old loco as they were running in the new units to deal with any infant mortality issues. The Charger was mounted ahead of the NPCU on the opposite end to the other loco. Having worked on the Charger program, I was pleased to see them in service.
The Sounder commuter rail service takes passengers from both north and south of Seattle in to the city. The service from the south end is a very popular one and is expanding. The northern service from Everett has not been as popular and is not growing in the same way. However, on both routes, special trains are run on days with big sporting events such as the Seahawks playing at home. There is normally no service on the weekends so this is an unusual sight.
I was after some Sounder shots for possible use in a future project so headed down to Shoreline where the trains run alongside the beach. The beach is accessed by a footbridge over the tracks. It has some good sightlines for shots but also fencing that is not so helpful. I tried out a location further down and close to the tracks and it was not a bad spot. Since two trains were heading to the game about 15 minutes apart, I did go back to the bridge to see how that looked too.
As the train was past me, I could continue to watch it as it ran along the shore a good portion of the way to the city. It did go around a headland but again popped into view as it got closer to the downtown area.
The old path of the railroad across Stevens Pass has been abandoned and replaced by a new route that is lower down and has tunneled through sections of the mountains to avoid the tricky climb that was previously required. This abandoned right of way has been turned into a trail called the Iron Goat Trail. Since it is a railroad trackbed, it is not a steep trail which means that a substantial portion of it is actually wheelchair accessible!
Our day out did not include time for hiking but the trail looks well worth exploring and, come the spring, we shall be making a specific trip to go hiking. We did stop at the parking lot to read the signs about the history of the pass. Also, an old caboose is kept at the entrance to the trail and I figured it deserved a shot!
If you are looking for a place with a great sounding name, it is hard to beat Skykomish. What a fun sounding name. The town is a railroad town heading in to (or out of) the Stevens Pass and it provides space for trains to pass when traveling in opposite directions. It supports the train theme for visitors too. The old depot building is kept in good condition and next to it is a miniature railway that is available for public rides. While we were there, a lot of the volunteers were around but not much in the way of customers, so we didn’t see it in action. A miniature BNSF diesel loco was set up on the train waiting for customers while the volunteers also seemed to be working on some steam locos. Hopefully, as the day wore on, they got more visitors. (It was close to Halloween if you are wondering about the giant spider!)
Snoqualmie has an active historic railroad. While we were at the falls, a couple of times we saw a tourist train running along the opposite side of the falls taking visitors on a trip. We never got too close to the train itself while we were there but we did walk past one of the stations. It was a nicely restored building and contained some exhibits on the old services that used to operate there.
Also, parked out of the back was an old locomotive. It wasn’t going anywhere anymore but it did provide a great example to the visitors of the sort of steam loco that used to operate. Now it was possible to get up close and look at the amazingly complex mechanisms it included. Just outside town was another exhibit. This was a snow clearing machine for the railroad. Rather than a plow, it had a cutting head mounted on the front of the vehicle and a blower that could throw the snow in either direction as required. This example had been rebuilt a number of times prior to retirement but now it sat by the road for visitors to check out. (Being a black vehicle on a high sunny day meant it was also a pain to photograph!)
