Preserved locomotives seem to appear in a lot of towns in Washington and Newhalem was no exception. This old steam locomotive seemed to be particularly well preserved given the rugged location it lives in for a good chunk of the year. I assume Seattle City Light has enough cash to keep it looking good for the many visitors to the town. Indeed, getting a shot of it without someone climbing all over it took a bit of patience!
The number of train routes in Tokyo is substantial and the lines run through many of the neighborhoods. Having been there for a long time, the towns have grown up around them. Roads cross them on back streets and there are footpaths that cross the tracks too. As I walked up to Shinjuku, I cross the tracks at one of these crossings.
Making the crossing was not a problem but you did need to pay attention. The track was double and the trains came every couple of minutes. When the alert sounded, a sign accompanied it with an arrow showing the direction the train was going. This was very helpful in ensuring you didn’t think the train had gone and you could start to cross only to find a train coming the other way. I actually had to wait for three trains as, by the time the second train had passed, a third was coming from the original direction. They really do come that often. Looking up to the station, I could see a train in the platform with another one slowing as it approached the station. Trains really are the dominant form of transportation in Tokyo from what I saw.
I know a few of the regulars here are interested in trains. I saw a lot of different trains and rode on a few while I was in Japan so here are a selection of them for those of you that are interested. Most of these were shot around Tokyo itself but I can’t tell you what sort of services most of them were used on. I only rode on a few to get to airports or districts in the city.
I passed this locomotive several times while in Tokyo. It was sitting in a square near Shinbashi station. I never got off but I did finally get some shots of it while we were stopped at the station. Consequently, I know nothing about it although I suppose if I was truly interested I could look it up. There must be something about it on the internet. It probably has a Wikipedia page. Guess I won’t find out though.
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.
