End Of The Line

This is the final post at Washington Railblog.

When I started WARail back in late 2007, it was with excitement that I decided to share my love for railroading with the world. Blogging is the perfect format to share the things I've picked up around the area. In just over 2 years the blog has amassed over 300 posts, ranging from news bits, the need for safety, and photos related to railroading in The Evergreen State. I'm proud of what I've accomplished with the blog, and learned much from the posting and the interaction with other railroading enthusiasts. Ultimately it brought out the desire to do more photography, because WARail gave me an outlet to post and share railroad photos with others in the area.

But from this day forward, all my rail-related articles will be posted at Wet Rails in the Seattle P-I's "Reader Blog" area; this allows me to post in a way that better matches my interests and needs. The topics and content will be much the same, and for me there is access to a larger number of readers. I've also noticed - so far - that more people comment on my Wet Rails post than ever did on WARail. Comments shared by readers help me steer the message, among other things.

Since there are over 300 posts here, I will keep WARail online as an archive of sorts for the foreseeable future at web address http://warailusa.blogspot.com. If you are interested in other rail-related blogs, please visit some of these great selections:

Oil-Electric - Railroading history, tied to photo from the past
Lost Rail - Focused on highlighting what's left of The Milwaukee Road in the The West
Dog Caught - Rail Photo Blog
SDP45 - Washington historical railroading documents put in perspective
Seattle Sub - Central Puget Sound Photo Blog

Thanks to all who have visited and commented on Washington Railblog during its active time. I look forward to hearing from you at Wet Rails in the future!

Merry Christmas from Washington Railblog

I hope you all have a safe and sane Holiday, whether it's with family or trackside. This is a great day to take stock in the things that life has given us all. Here's to a great 2010!

Cheers,

Kurt

Port of Seattle Completes Purchase of Woodinville Sub

Local News | Port of Seattle complete rail corridor purchase | Seattle Times Newspaper

It's finally done! Final purchase price: $81 million for 42 miles of track.

After six years of BNSF efforts to sell the line, it is now in public hands, specifically the Port, King County, Sound Transit, city of Redmond, Puget Sound Energy and Cascade Water Alliance. Some of the partners want the line's transportation benefits while others want to use the right of way for utilities or foot traffic. Reports have GNP Railway and Ballard Terminal Railroad serving the freight traffic that still exists on the north end of the line.

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Journal of Commerce article: http://www.joc.com/node/415418
Seattle Times article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com...apwarailcorridor.html

Thanksgiving 2009

Sunrise on the train tracks, originally uploaded by Kathy~.

Today most of America will be hanging out with friends and family to eat, laugh, relax, eat, watch football, eat, and then eat. Even if this is not your agenda for Thanksgiving, keep the spirit of the day alive with a simple thought of something to be thankful for.

Enjoy the day, no matter what it brings!

Kurt

Eastern Washington Gateway - Biodiesel and Deer

From Eastern Washington Gateway 2009

In the Summer of 2008 I commented on an article about Eastern Washington Gateway testing biodiesel in one of their locomotives. Just last month I got an email from a 10 year old girl in New Mexico on the subject, asking if the test was successful. I was able to get in contact with Bruce Butler of the EWGR, who not only replied to the girl with some sweet photos but also brought us all up to date on their testing:

We are not using the biodiesel anymore as the plant where they made it has closed. To the best of my knowledge the biodiesel worked just fine in the one locomotive (8925, a EMD model SD45) that we used it in, but with the plant closing, we lost our source. I have attached a couple of pictures of the 8925. #313 shows the 8925 being fueled from a truck. You should know that these locomotives can move a lot of weight for the fuel that they use; they are much more fuel efficient than trucks.

We see a lot of deer along our railroad. For some reason, they run alongside of the train, rather than away from the tracks. I haven't hit any of them yet, but we have had some close calls. Picture #612 shows a young mule deer doing almost 30 mph alongside of the train.

We haul a lot of wheat. Picture 689 shows a loaded grain train near Hite WA. It is after harvest, so the grain fields in the picture have already been cut. Picture 589 shows the fields right at harvest time; the field on the left hasn't been harvested yet while the field on the right has already been cut. Picture 590 shows a combine at work harvesting wheat. All of these pictures were taken from the train. You get to see things that you never see anyplace else. We do have some scenic areas on our railroad; picture 105 shows a view from the Engineer's seat last winter.

Regards,
Bruce Butler

Check out Bruce's pictures from along the line. If you don't see the slideshow below, click HERE to view the photos in Picasa!




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Photo Link: http://picasaweb.google.com...
Blog: http://www.warail.com