Tag Archives: rail

Old Trestle at Whatcom Falls

A railroad used to run through what is now Whatcom Falls Park. While the tracks have now gone, a trestle bridge across the water still remains. I may have lived in the US a long time now, the presence of trestle bridges still fascinates me. They have a look of Victorian railroads about them but many have survived. In the UK, old bridges are either iron or brick with multiple arches. The trestles have a distinctly American feel to them.

There were some barriers around the end of the bridge while we were there. Checking out some photos online, it looks like the rails used to be suspended across some of the space. Maybe these have been removed to stop people getting up there. Fortunately, the majority of the bridge is still intact. I wonder what happened to the track bed. The rails are visible up on the top with ties (sleepers) between them but no support which suggests. Train would have had a rough ride. There must have been more there at some point.

It’s Trains, Not Planes, Honest!

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I might be sneaking some planes in to a post that would normally be a non-aviation day but I am going to claim that this is a post about trains rather than planes. If you don’t agree, I shall refund your subscription fee! The BNSF main line runs alongside Boeing Field and I saw a train run past the north end of the field heading south with three 737 fuselages on their railcars. I figured I wouldn’t be able to get around in time to see them up close but then the train seemed to slow.

I figured it was worth a shot and drove around. The train has stopped but it was also behind another stopped train so I couldn’t see it easily. Instead, I head further along the track to a location where you could look up towards the train and where you would have an angle on it as it moved again – assuming it did of course. There was quite a wait for some passing commuter trains before it finally got going. The three fuselages will probably have been switched out at the yard just south of where I was and then moved to the Boeing factory at Renton.

Cross Kirkland Connector

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I was out on the bike doing a short trip to Bellevue to a) get some miles in and b) buy some new cycling gloves. On the way back, I decided to take a different route and try out the Cross Kirkland Connector. This is a bike and walking trail across Kirkland that uses an old rail route. This is part of a network of trails which, when finished will take you from the Skagit county line, through Snohomish, down to Woodinville, on to Kirkland and then via Bellevue to Renton. It will be a while before it is all open, though.

I have ridden on the connector once when we lived in Juanita. It isn’t paved so is a little dusty but it is a good surface in the most part. There is construction underway at one end where a bridge will soon take the trail across a larger road. It feels remarkably secluded given that it is through some densely populated areas. One part of the trail has what seems to be a railway halt. There is a shelter and some old track and signals to show the heritage of what the line once was. The right of way would be ideal for reintroducing passenger service but I think the objections to that would be strenuous from the trail’s users, even if tracks and trails could coexist. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime!

Dead Railcar

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A short distance from our house is an old railcar that is sitting on spare land gradually decaying. It has been here as long as we have and I suspect a lot longer than that. I’m not sure what it is resting on but it does seem to be listing a bit more these days than it was the first time I saw it. I have driven past it on many occasions and often thought that I should take a picture of it. I recently happened to be walking along the road rather than driving so figured I should stop and get a shot. Since it is summer, the plants are grown up around the side of the road so it is a bit harder to get a clear shot of it. I used the longer lens on the phone and stitched together some shots. It would be better to shoot this later in the day when the light is nicer but we shall see if I make the effort to go back – and maybe take a better camera?

More Steilacoom Train Activity

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Some previous rail photos from Steilacoom where the result of seeing trains while I was visiting for another purpose. More recently (well, not that recent, but I am catching up on some stuff), I made a trip specifically to get a train shot. I didn’t go all the way just for this but I was already down in Tacoma so a short extra leg was easy to do. I actually planned on getting this shot so that we might use it for a future proposal.

I was going to head back to the same place I had been before but I came upon a parking lot for the beach which had a nice curve to the track and a crossing. The view from above the crossing looked better so I went with that. Fortunately, a freight service came through before the Talgo set I was after so I had a chance to get an idea of the angles and sighting time. That meant I was better prepared when the train came in to view. A couple of shots for those of your train fans that read this blog.

End of the Line for the 38 Stock

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Prior to the 1960s, the Isle of Wight had an extensive rail network. The Beeching cuts reduced it to one line, from Ryde to Shanklin. It was electrified and the rolling stock was initially old London Underground stock from the 1920s. This was in use when I was a youngster but it got replaced in the late 80s by the new(er) Class 483s. These were also London Underground castoffs – this time from the 1938 stock. They had gone through a modernization program to be used but they were hardly new.

Their time has finally come. Replacement is underway with “new” stock based on retired District Line trains from London. See a pattern developing here. The system is shut down for a while for some significant track upgrades which will allow for a more frequent service. The track desperately needed work and the old trains were falling apart so, hopefully, this will provide a big improvement.

When I lived on the Island, I didn’t think much about the stuff that was there. All of these pictures I have taken when visiting more recently. This is all I have to record the new extinct Island Line stock. Two examples will be preserved if you want to go and see them!

BNSF Along the Shore

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The beach at Shoreline is alongside the BNSF railroad tracks and there is always a good chance that a train will rumble past while you are there. We got one while we were on a stretch of the beach that is tight up under the tracks. I grabbed a few shots as the train headed south towards the city.

An Update to the Japanese Rail Photos

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I have put some previous posts together of Japanese trains from my travels. This is an update to that (although a very late update given that these were taken nearly a year ago!). I got to see some different trains while I was in Nagoya for the day and then there is the variety of trains that you get around the Tokyo area. There was also a small line that ran through the Kamakura area which we crossed paths with as we were walking to the beach from the giant Buddha statue that I wrote about in this post. A few more photos to amuse those of you that like different trains.

Old British Locomotives

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In the process of scanning so many old negatives, I come across shots that I had no idea I had taken. When I still shot film, I would not go nuts taking shots but I was certainly willing to take a shot of anything that I found interesting at the time. Since I had no idea that I was going to have a career in rail, I didn’t think trains would be very important. However, I am an engineer at heart and any big mechanical items catch my interest. It isn’t surprising that I found a few photos of trains. Some of my old colleagues will find these of interest. Others may just like them because they like trains. My sister will probably like the Class 50 just because she used to commute to work behind them for a number of years!

Looking Back at the HSTs

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As a small boy, the new thing in British trains was the Intercity 125. Known in the industry as the HST, this was a step forward in fast train travel for the UK. When I started working in the rail industry many years later, the HSTs were a big part of our fleet. They had been in service a long time by then but were still the backbone of certain corridors and were getting further investment. Move on another 20 years and now the fleet is finally disappearing.

Some are still being reconfigured for a future on new routes, but the majority of the fleet is being replaced by a new generation of trains and it is a surprise just how long it has taken to find their successors. The HSTs have been a solid fleet with strong performance, a level of redundancy and a ride quality that was impressive. I figured I would through in a couple of shots I have of them. I have very few, sadly. One is an old one in British Rail colors from the 80s and the others are from the days of GNER. What a shame I don’t have more. Given the amount of time I spent traveling on them or inspecting them at depots and overhaul facilities, I should have tons. Oh to have had had phones in our cameras then!