Plan to Connect Portland MAX with Vancouver WA

Plans for a light-railline to Clark County are getting more tangible, with a proposal to extend an existing MAX route over the Columbia River and into downtown Vancouver. Amazingly, the money for this conservative proposed plan is already available, and Clark County is very receptive to the idea of having a light-rail connection.

Rail Corridor Deal Gets Small Delay

From the Seattle Times this morning:

Rail-corridor deal is delayed a bit
Port of Seattle officials now expect to sign a final deal sometime next month to buy the Renton-to-Snohomish rail corridor from BNSF Railway, a Port spokeswoman said Friday.
The two sides had been expected to complete negotiations by Monday, the day that King County's exclusive right to negotiate with the railroad was set to expire. The Port took over the county's position as the prospective buyer under a preliminary agreement with BNSF and the county.
Port spokeswoman Charla Skaggs aid officials anticipate signing a purchase and sale agreement next month, with the deal closing several months later. BNSF had agreed to sell the 42-mile line to the Port for $103 million, but the price may be adjusted if the railroad leaves all the tracks in place for possible future passenger rail service.

Historic Little Diesel Heads Home to DuPont

City gets a piece of its history back – with a little help from the Army

Great article about the City of DuPont getting a narrow-gauge locomotive out of storage at Fort Lewis.

Railfan Jargon

Many people know that railroad has its own language. I found this page on Wikipedia that lists U.S. railfan jargon. It's not complete, but has a great batch of nicknames and lingo. Maybe you could add a few? I know I could!

Everett Streetcar Proposed

City of Everett is looking into an idea to put in actual streetcars on a line serviced by trolley-styled busses:

HeraldNet: Everett streetcar could work, but would be spendy

While the construction would be expensive, research in the article shows that it turns out to be a good investment in the future for the areas surrounding trolley lines. Both Tacoma and Seattle have seen upticks in development and ridership in neighborhoods around the rails.

Everett is just now discussing the opportunity; we'll be watching this closely.

Eastside Commuter Rail Option Emerges

This just keeps getting better and better...

A straight-shooting former railroad engineer has a simple plan to put commuter rail in place on the Eastside by next year, starting with six daily trains from Snohomish to Bellevue:

Eastside News | Entrepreneur wheels, deals for Eastside rail | Seattle Times Newspaper

When King County was buying the line, they were only mildly interested in his proposal. Now that Proposition 1 has failed, and the Port of Seattle will be the owner, the reaction has changed to something more engaged.

I like what this man is proposing, and hope that it can be worked out!

Merry Christmas from WARail

Happy Holidays! On this Christmas Day, so many are spending time with family and friends - or even just relaxing or working. No matter how you spend the day, make it a great day.

Best wishes to you and your family from the Washington Railblog.

Regards,

Kurt Clark

White Pass 114 Heads Home

On October 24th I blogged about the White Pass & Yukon 114 in a Then and Now segment. This week my buddy Robert McDonald also blogged about the rare narrow gauge diesel in a couple of posts:

Oil-Electric: "Going home!"

Oil-Electric: White Pass & Yukon Arrives in Skagway

In short, the first one has photos of the engine being loaded on a barge for Alaska, and the second has a link to Skagway's news about the engines arrival.

Nice to see this unique machine get home!

Roster Shot Shenanigans Part I

What do you do when a good shot is ruined by urban flair, like a power pole?

Well forget the Photo Of The Week award and do something with the snapshot anyway!

Photo editing courtesy of Tux Paint, which is an open-source kid-friendly art program. My son loves it, and I'll say that leaf stamp sure comes in handy here!

WSDOT Rebuilds Between Walulla and Dayton

So just how long have trains been running in Washington State? A quick check of Ask.com brings up the old NP Depot in Dayton that opened in 1881 and is now listed as the oldest surviving. But there isn't any list of who operated a railroad first in the Evergreen State. That said, how does the date 1875 grab you? While it might not be the oldest in the state, the line between Walulla and Walla Walla is still pretty stinkin' old.

The Washington State Department of Transportation - WSDOT - has scheduled a rebuild of this historic line. Check out all the maps etc at the WSDOT Site.

Last Operational Wig-Wag in Washington?

Mike Bjork - fellow rail nut and Coug - sent me this picture from the Kamiaken Street crossing in Pullman WA. This could possibly be the last operational Wig-Wag signal in Washington State. The line that runs through Pullman is now owned by the Dept. of Transportation - WSDOT. A representative from that agency indicated to me in email that the State would definitely be interested in preserving this signal once its time has come. Until then, it will remain to warn drivers of the occasional train that runs through this intersection.

If you are interested in making sure this wig-wag gets saved, send me an email. I'll find out what we need to do!

MILW Trestle Getting New Deck for Trail

Peninsula Daily News recently reported that an old railroad trestle will get new life as Discovery Trail link. Volunteers from the Peninsula Trail Coalition will deck the near 100-year old structure with concrete and add to the constantly expanding trail that is built on portions of what used to be The Milwaukee Road's 14th Subdivision.

I rode portions of this old right-of-way back in the 90s on a bicycle. It's a shame that no trains run out that way anymore, because a ride up the Olympic Peninsula would be beautiful. Thankfully the Peninsula Train Coalition is accomplishing the next best thing by restoring much of the right-of-way to pedestrian and bicycle use.

100 Years Ago: The Milwaukee Road Crosses the Columbia

The Othello Outlook posted a nice historic piece today, discussing the 100th anniversary of the Milwaukee Road crossing the Columbia River at Lind. Sounds like it was a big job, with unexpected geological problems and cold unending winds that drove workers away.

The writer Curt Andrews refers to the Milwaukee as "the St. Paul Railroad," a description I hadn't heard before. In an email today he explained this unique nickname as the manner in which The Milwaukee Road was called prior to 1927. So now I've learned something new! It would make sense that he would use that nickname for the article, since the subject occurred in the early 1900s.

Nice work!

Eastside Corridor Sale Approved

King County signed over the rights for purchasing the Woodinville Subdivision to the Port of Seattle yesterday:

Rail corridor plan approved

It's not over yet, but on its way. The line needs to be purchased by December 31, 2007, otherwise BNSF will offer it to private buyers. I'm not surprised, because BNSF announced they wanted to sell the line at least 4 years ago. What yesterdays paperwork does is clear the way for public ownership of the line, by an agency that can afford it. How it is used - or even dissected - in the future is still up in the air. But by the end of the year at least it should be safe from being developed into condos etc.

Tacoma approves Sounder route over Pacific Avenue

Last week Sound Transit got approval to build over Pacific Avenue to connect with South Tacoma. It's a mere distance of 1.2 miles, but will bring rail service back to South Tacoma by 2012. Some people are concerned that Pacific Avenue will suffer from being lowered; guess we'll have to see how this plays out.

If you don't know what this project will look like, here's a handy map courtesy of Google.

Yakima County railroad crossings -- Safety off track?

This Yakima Herald article quantifies how dangerous rural crossings can be:

Yakima County railroad crossings -- Safety off track?

Best quote from the article is poignant: "I don't trust that just because the lights aren't flashing that there isn't a train coming." The more of these I read, the more likely I am to look both ways - and even stop completely - before crossing tracks.

Workin' On The Railroad

Saturday December 8th - On a cold morning in SODO, a brakeman staffs the switch while a BNSF GP39M rumbles towards a side track to pick up some cars. Engine 2884 - built in 1965 as Great Northern GP35 #3040 - ran the entire length of track from Holgate down to Lander before grabbing what it needed.

In the meantime, it was good texting time for the Brakeman and his cell-phone.

Local News | Sims to let Port buy rail line | Seattle Times Newspaper

11th hour and counting...

Local News | Sims to let Port buy rail line | Seattle Times Newspaper

This is a story that simply never rests. Even in agreeing to allow the Port of Seattle to buy the Woodinville Subdivision from BNSF, all the players disagree on who pulls up the tracks in parts of the line that King County wants for a bike trail. In fact, there is disagreement even on the idea of pulling up the tracks at all. I love the end of the article, where Port Commission President Creighton says, "I've gotten a letter from the Woodinville mayor saying don't tear up the tracks, I've got a letter from the mayor of Bellevue saying don't tear up the tracks, and I just got out of a meeting with the mayor of Burien who said you would be crazy to tear up the tracks."

I agree with all those mayors.

Local News | New streetcar suffers power glitch | Seattle Times Newspaper

First ball-bearings and now glitches!

Local News | New streetcar suffers power glitch | Seattle Times Newspaper

Someday we'll all look back at this and laugh...

Police investigate streetcar sabotage attempt

Man, the thing just started running and someone sabotages the tracks!

Police investigate streetcar sabotage attempt

While some of the comments are off-color, the Sound Off regarding this article has some funny points.

South Lake Union Streetcar rolls today

Throught activist griping, through bad acronyms, and through a neighborhood that is slowly changing from blue to white collar - the South Lake Union Streetcar finally gets rolling today!

Look for the big red cars from the Czech Republic to get underway at 12:12pm.

Seattle Streetcar Timeline

This is a wonderful piece of research that I want to share with you, and it goes back 120 years!

A funny bit in the timeline shows voters rejecting a plan to replace trolleys with busses, only to have the plan go forward anyway without a vote (sound familiar in our political history around here?).

Seattle Streetcar Timeline

One family's Seattle streetcar heritage

Great human-interest story involving the South Lake Union Streetcar, and three generations of rail history.

One family's Seattle streetcar heritage

Ron Sims backs off Eastside rails-to-trail deadline

There are so many unanswered questions about the Woodinville Subdivision and its future. It's nice to see activity in this matter, but there is very little consensus on the appropriate way to handle it. I disagree with the article's contention that the line would prove useless as a light-rail corridor because of its location on the Eastside. Hogwash. I align with Eastside Rail Now! on this one, believing that something in place now is better than possibly something in place in the future. More hogwash from the Port of Seattle, who say that the line is in "poor shape and not upgradeable." It's a wonder anything gets done when two public bureaucracies and one private entity all try to find a win-win...

Anyway, you can read the article and make your own decision:

Ron Sims backs off Eastside rails-to-trail deadline

Design of UW light rail station on display

Everything happens in baby steps. There's been a lot of press this week about light rail and about street cars. I'm happy to see this progressing.

Design of UW light rail station on display

Streetcars: Old Idea, New Century

The South Lake Union Streetcar got a balanced write-up in the Seattle Times this morning. There are hopes - like I mentioned in a previous post - that this 1.3 mile line will morph into a city-wide system.

Just like Seattle had prior to 1941. What goes around comes around.

Local News South Lake Union streetcar on the past track Seattle Times Newspaper

Bike Meets Track, Then goes SMACK

Trains and Talking Twinkies

Nothing like a nourishment-sapping snack cake saving the train the Old West. Don't believe me? Watch the commercial!

Getting Washington Apples to The Big Apple

There is a new streamlined way to get fresh Washington produce to the East Coast, and the young company Railex is a big part of it. Railex takes fresh apples, onions, and pears from the growers to the consumers, using a combination of their own trucks and specially designed rail cars. While the idea of express shipping isn't new, Railex is using optimization, technology, and priority trains to achieve the same result as Western Fruit Express and all the other produce shipping methods that have come before it. Their western yard is in Wallula WA, with another yard in Rotterdam NY.

Recently the Tri-City Herald ran this great article describing the company and its mission.

Railfanning Starts Early

Every railfan has a first train memory of a train. I recall the Northern Pacific running through my town on a branch line. For my oldest son David - now six years old - it would probably be one of the many trips he and I took to go see trains while he was still a toddler, as a way to get him out of the house and doing something other than watching TV. Possibly the entire series of I Love Toy Trains videos had something to do with it too; he watched them from the time he was about six months old. It turned out that he remained interested in trains as he got older; he can now discuss ALCOs (his favorite), the rail crossings through SODO, and the activity of the UP GP15 switcher that moves in and out of the Argo Yard north of Georgetown. David uses the Sony FD75 floppy-disk camera that we've owned since 1999, to take pictures of trains (plus many of his little brother Jack and then his own face...up close...with a flash) For some, like me, railfanning started later in life; for David it was the exact opposite.

What's your earliest memory of a train?

This week at the YMCA David drew what could be considered an 0-6-4 steam engine, complete with cab to the left and pistons behind the cow catcher to the right. I am so proud of him to have even attempted something as intricate and complicated as a steam locomotive. Considering his age he pulled it off pretty well! Now I know the railfanning gene has emerged.
Nice work David!

Happy Thanksgiving from WARail

Happy Thanksgiving from WARail!

We enjoy freedoms and life here that others don't have, so it's a day to be thankful for what America provides us as a country and people.

My hope for you, the WARail readers, is that this Holiday season starts with a great Thanksgiving and ends with a wonderful New Year!

Regards, Kurt

Sound Transit Urged to Try Again

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels told Sound Transit to try again in 2008 in their efforts to get buy in for future transit projects, stating that younger voters in the coming year will better understand the motives of the Authority.

Like all us current voters are decrepit and don't understand the regional value of a good train...

New Track: Chehalis To Blakeslee

View Larger Map

It's not every day that you hear of a railroad actually adding tracks in this State. This project essentially ties three railroads to together, in an effort to reduce congestion in the rail traffic coming out of Grays Harbor County on the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad. BNSF and Tacoma Rail are also named in this project.

Northwest Railway Museum in Win-Win Land Deal

View Larger Map

The Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie has long been know as an advocate for railroad history and preservation. That task will become easier in the future, now that they have swapped a four-acre parcel near a county-owned park for a four-acre parcel right next door to their newly-built Conservation & Restoration Center.

Essentially this was a win-win for everyone involved.

One of the great things this does is it will move much of the Museum's stored equipment indoors out of the elements. This includes the Union Pacific 529 2-8-0 Baldwin steam engine, a Milwaukee Road box car, a Shay locomotive, and countless other examples of rolling stock. In a double-speaking little nugget of commentary, Snoqualmie's mayor Matt Larson says the move "will substantially change downtown Snoqualmie."

"Getting the trains indoors will keep them from deteriorating further."

Indeed, this is true. This statement also appears to be short hand for "I like trains, but some of our residents think they're an eyesore and hate looking at them every day." The Northwest Railway Museum started in 1957, years before many who have mounted land-use battles with them were even born. Young transplants to the sprawling Snoqualmie Ridge subdivision of the city sometimes don't appreciate the old equipment for what it is - a history marker of the Northwest's industrial past. Much of it sits in view of State Route 202, and has done so since my days of living nearby in the late 1960s. The Musuem's Restoration Center - known as the CRC - was embroiled in a land battle with neighbors who saw the facility as a deficit to their lifestyle; this added a few years to the project, but thankfully the CRC was completed and occupied in 2006.

It's great to see this group getting what it needs to preserve railroad history in the area. The towns and hills around it were once teaming with rail; The Milwaukee Road ran close to this former Northern Pacific line, and the few miles of track the Museum owns is now all that remains in this part of the county. It's essentially a land-locked railroad, since the Milwaukee tracks are all gone and the line west of Snoqualmie Falls was abandoned in the 1970s.

This land deal will help them maintain what's left and teach people the historic importance of rail here.

Chance for Snohomish Dinner Train is Looking Better

With the Spirit Of Washington Dinner Train currently stored in Battle Ground WA, the Seattle Times today reported that it has a better than average chance of once again gracing the rails of East King County and Snohomish County. The Dinner Train's owner thinks this is a great option.

"We have no intention of running the dinner train on someone else's railroad," says Eric Temple from the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, citing issues with the relationship they had with Tacoma Rail in running the train out to Lake Kapowsin from the Tacoma Dome. Mr. Temple is also "encouraged" about the latest news that the Port Of Seattle is planning to buy the entire Woodinville Subdivision from BNSF. Port Of Seattle ownership of the line would allow the Temple family's Columbia Basin Railroad bid on operating the northern part of the line from Snohomish to Woodinville, which would retain tracks in the deal. The southern part, from Woodinville to Renton, would lose its tracks in lieu of a rail trail with the potential for future expansion. As it turns out, Mr. Temple had been negotiating to take over operations of the northern portion anyway, prior to moving the Dinner Train to Tacoma, but those negotiations didn't pan out at the time. He is not shy about describing experience he had with Tacoma Rail and after a series of factors he chose to end the run.

I see a lot of benefits in another Dinner Train running, this time between Snohomish and Woodinville. I'm sure Columbia Winery would be thrilled to have the visitors back. Plus, there is the reverse benefit of Snohomish being a "Antique Town" for those coming up from Woodinville. And what about Woodinville Village? This new development is literally within walking or shuttle distance of the tracks. Seems to me there could be an incredible tie-in here.

This story is just too good to put in bed!

Voters Tow "Roads & Rails" to The Dead Line

Proposition 1 - regionally known as the "Roads and Rails Plan" - was resoundingly rejected by voters in Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties. The plan was massive and would have provided money - through taxation - for road projects in three counties plus light rail to Lynnwood, Redmond, and Tacoma.

But the public message back to the State was, "it asked for too much at once, and asked for more when Sound Transit hasn't even finished the first segment of light rail yet."

For the record, I voted yes on Proposition 1. I saw it as a bittersweet opportunity to move forward in our efforts to get around the Puget Sound region more easily. But most voters disagreed in more ways than one. Overall they sent a message larger than just this measure; if you look at how people voted on other ballot items, the voting trend we saw on Tuesday said, "Use the money we've already given you, and keep your hands off our wallets." Not only did the public say no to several tax measures, but they also made it harder for the lawmakers to raise taxes without public input. There was a tightening of belts region-wide.

Danny Westneat from the Seattle Times had a decent editorial on the subject, saying we need to look at our transportation issues in smaller doses. "But big new stuff?" he asks. "Forget it. It costs too much. And there's too little trust." That lack of trust appears to come from the notion that Olympia is not wisely using what is already given to them.

So what happens now? Olympia has said they will look to other funding for vital projects, and we may see a gas tax increase (for which I'm not surprised). Eastside developers will continue developing along the proposed light rail corridor despite this vote. This also may put the Woodinville Subdivision back in play, as a way to get transit to the Eastside without spending on a entirely new line.

Although I voted yes for Prop 1, I am now breathing a sigh of relief that lawmakers have to go back and try again.

Northern Columbia Basin Railroad Project

View Larger Map

Here's a refreshing look at how rail and its multiple uses is treated in other parts of Washington. This is a big project, based in and around Moses Lake WA. The plan's focus is to attract rail-borne business to the area and to repair the otherwise deteriorating "physical plant" in use today. All key players - Grant County, Columbia Basin Railroad, BNSF, City of Moses Lake - all agree the project should move forward, which is something I'm not accustomed to seeing from where I sit in Western WA. "Out here on The Coast" - as it's referred to from the Inland Empire - one or two people can hold up an entire project like this, using litigious or otherwise irritating means for the sole purpose of getting their way. While some of the players in the Basin Project do differ in opinion on how the new lines should look, they all seem to want the same result. Breathe in, breathe out. Ahhhh...

Moses Lake was once a Northern Pacific town. It is now served by the Columbia Basin Railroad. It's also home to the ginormous Grant County International Airport, which is the former Larson Air Force Base closed by the military in the mid 1960s. A big portion of the railroad project would provide better track to GCIA for a container facility.

Of course, even in a place where everyone can at least agree that something should be done (unlike Seattle), there are differing opinions on where the trains should run. The "Citizens Option," which would have run trains away from town and over a former NP branch line, was brought up, researched by the State, and rejected as too difficult to acquire and build since there were many homes and roads already built on top of the abandoned right-of-way.

Check out the Port of Moses Lake's official page on the project; it has huge PDFs of maps etc. to give you an idea of what's needed and what's happening:

http://www.portofmoseslake.com/Northern%20Columbia%20Basin%20Railroad%20Project.htm

This will be one to watch, because when complete it allows Moses Lake to expand its reach in the region, providing jobs and products. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Easton WA - Then and Now

©1980 Blair Kooistra
Mr. Blair Kooistra is a fellow railfan who has a good eye for machinery. He admits to putting worthy effort into even the simplest of railroading photos that he uploads. His collection of photographs online is nothing short of beautiful.

Blair was also on-hand to see the final hours of the Milwaukee Road in Washington when he took this simple photo in Easton WA on March 14, 1980. After that the lines in-state were either abandoned or sold to the Burlington Northern. In this photo you will see a long line of motive power, likely with many of the engines "dead in tow" to the Milwaukee's lines east of Montana. With Easton being within 70 miles of my home, I thought it would be fun to try duplicating Blair's photo almost 28 years later.

Turns out it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

My sons and I headed to Cabin Creek Rd. just south of downtown Easton and crossed the BNSF Mainline that still runs through. The Milwaukee Road, in this part of the state, has been replaced by the Iron Horse State Park which runs from North Bend to the Columbia River; it ran a few steps south of the BN at that time. This made Easton a true railroader's town. David and I got out of the truck with Blair's photo and started matching up landmarks. Much had changed and it didn't help that clouds were obscuring the hills to the north. As David and I were scratching our heads trying to find the right angle, to our fortune a woman was crossing the tracks and asked if we were waiting for the train. I told her what we were doing and she asked to see the photo. "I've lived in Easton all my life, and live in the oldest house in town." How cool is that? Right away she found the Tavern; it is to the right of the loco in the original photo with a centered chimney. In my photo below it has a red roof. She also showed us that the railroad crossing signs in Blair's photo were gone and that the fire station now had a new roof.

Then and Now Mission completed, even if my current-day photo lacks the sizzle of the original. But now the mystery starts. In Blair's photo it looks like the Milwaukee was running on Burlington Northern trackage at the time, based on what I saw yesterday. Could this be? Was there possibly one of the many derailments that plagued the MILW towards the end that sent these engines to BN tracks? Or did the Milwaukee in fact run in a different place that I miscalculated? That is a mystery that can be solved by someone who knows the route far better than me.

After visiting Easton, we headed to South Cle Elum for a photo shoot with a MILW bayside caboose. It was a great day following in the footsteps of The Road!

Port of Seattle to Buy Woodinville Subdivision

Price: $103 million. Finally, a deal on the table that makes both advocates and critics happy. The purchase price is an eye-opener; In 2005 BNSF purchased nearly 400 miles of track from the State of South Dakota for a mere $41 million. By contrast, the Woodinville Subdivision is 42 miles long, with an eight-mile spur from Woodinville to Redmond. The value gives us on the outside an indicator of just how important this right-of-way is to the railroad, to the public, and to developers of all kinds. There's a land demand, most certainly. And selling the line to the Port means the chance of keeping rail activity in East King County is pretty good.

Not so, say some critics. Part of the plan is the tear up the existing tracks south of Bellevue and north of Renton, which would probably mean huge legal fights when it's time to put tracks back down in the future. A third private party is also trying to buy the line, for more than the Port is paying, which makes this sale even more melodramatic. In 2006 I hosted a site that outlined my concern over losing the line, in the hopes of raising awareness and keeping the tracks in place. In the end I was happy to pass the torch to groups that included heavier hitters in business and advocacy. I'm just a guy who believes in railroading as a vital industry and a traditional American icon.

It's hard to weigh out the uncertainty in this struggle. 100 years ago nobody would have ever figured this little line would cause so much havoc; rail service somewhere was an assumed resource. I'm happy to see a plan on the table that keeps at least some track in the ground; sure it would be nice to have a seamless rail corridor from Renton to Snohomish, on which passenger trains could help people cut their commute frustration. But I've resigned myself to at least catching some freight traffic in Woodinville and hoping for some excursion traffic as well.

Time will tell, and WARail will be here.

Planning a Future Around Light Rail..or Not

In an October 26th Seattle P-I article, speculation, or just good planning, has many developers looking at property around proposed light rail stations, even before they are being planned. Mostly evident in East King County, developers in Bellevue and Redmond along what may become a light rail line (if funding is appropriated through the upcoming vote on Proposition 1) are buying up land and planning new communities. One essentially felt they had a good spot and that rail service was secondary "icing."

I can't help but to think about what we lost here when the Interurban Railway went out of business in 1939; had it stayed in place we would be over 60 years ahead of the game right now, and there would probably be rail already headed towards the Eastside. There are plenty of theories why the Interurban is gone, the biggest of which being the "Great Bus Conspiracy" brought on be vehicle manufacturers and oil companies. Doesn't matter what happened now, because the tracks are gone. So we have to move forward and rebuild.

Maybe this time the lines will stick around a while.

Eleven Bridges, Ten Miles of Track

The Port of Chehalis owns 10 miles of track that ends at an industrial park in Curtis. Currently the line is leased to the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum for use by its steam train excursions.

Over that 10-mile line there are eleven bridges, all made of wood. Critters eat wood, so it's imperative that the bridges are checked regularly for rotted timbers etc. This article from the Lewis County Chronicle describes the recent inspection done on the line and efforts Chehalis is taking to keep the railroad active and safe.

A side effect to all of this is that Chehalis is keeping a piece of America's history alive. Each day several miles of rail is abandoned somewhere in the United States; finding ways to keep rails in the ground - in my opinion a big resource - is going to be important as our roads get more and more congested.

South Lake Union Streetcar makes Test Run

The South Lake Union streetcar ran a test train yesterday; at the helm was Mayor Greg Nickels. The line has outlived the recent naming debacle that still has people talking. Maybe they should just consider giving it a tradition streetcar name like "The U-Line." It probably would have made things a lot simpler!

Dinner Train Ends Tacoma Service

Sad news in the Seattle P-I today that the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train ended service on its new route from Tacoma to Lake Kapowsin, three months after it started.

At this point the equipment - several historic passenger cars and two FP7 locomotives - will be moved to storage outside of Vancouver WA.

I am thankful to have experienced the Dinner Train with my wife several times over the last ten years, however I'm saddened that my sons might not have the opportunity. We're hopeful that a North End Dinner Train will start up between Snohomish and Woodinville, and plans for that are past the talking stage.

Bottom line, we would love to see the big red F Bodies back on the line in some form!

Train Wallpaper

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers has a nice little extra on their site - Locomotive Wallpaper for your PC's Desktop. Check it out!

One Sentence Per Subject

Most of the time I keep my opinions private. The goals of Washington Railblog don't include political activism, but sometimes I just have to say a few words about something for which I feel strongly. Scant few words. Essentially, one sentence per subject. This does two things; first, it forces me to keep my comment simple, and second it keeps you - dear readers - from getting too wrapped up in how I feel about something. Enough said; here goes!

• Sound Transit Light Rail Project - A necessity that is not seen well by critics for its long-term goals.
• Rail in East King County - It would be smarter to use the line instead of pulling tracks out of the county's most populous area.
• BNSF Crossing at Safeco Field - Stop, look and listen people and stay off the friggin' tracks when a train is coming!
• Central Oregon & Pacific closing its Line - State of Oregon is getting the shaft at the whim of a railroad who is hiding lack of profitability behind "safety issues."

There...that was painless! KDC

Amtrak Cascades Talgo Cars Back in Service

Sooner than expected, the Talgo cars that went out of service in August have been approved and sent back to run the rails once again. Service north of Seattle, however, will continue using the "Superliner" cars, much to the dismay of anyone hauling a bicycle on their trip since there are no racks on board!

White Pass & Yukon #114 - Then and Now

Today's Then and Now segment is a bit different from previous ones, focusing this time on a locomotive project that some shops wouldn't even attempt...

The White Pass & Yukon 114 was involved in a 2006 derailment that injured three crew members and tragically killed one. When photos of the poor mangled engine were first posted on the Internet, people were shocked. "Hard to believe that there's much left worth saving..." is what one person wrote in Railroad Forums about this special engine. The entire body was crushed end to end. The cab had been pushed over to one side so badly that a huge chunk of it had to be cut off in order to transport it over the road from the Seattle docks to the Tacoma repair shop. Most large railroads would have scrapped something that had incurred this much damage, electing to pull the motor and generators in favor of a nicer replacement. But thankfully White Pass is not a large railroad. Either out of necessity or tradition, they chose to rebuild.

So what makes the 114 special? Well for starters the WP&Y runs on an unusual 3-foot Narrow Gauge track (Standard Gauge railroads place their tracks 4-feet 8 1/2 inches apart). Given that the majority of North American railroad equipment is built for Standard Gauge you can imagine that Narrow Gauge equipment is pretty hard to find, especially when you consider that much of the Narrow Gauge stuff in the world is vintage steam rather than modern diesel. Add to mix the rarity of this particular engine. The DL 535 shown here was built by Bombardier in Canada, being one of maybe four or five in the world. White Pass is a traditional railroad and probably found more benefit in having it repaired instead of searching out new equipment. Insurance paid for the repairs and the work was done here in Washington, at Coast Engine and Equipment in Tacoma.

The forum post about this engine provides back story, making the whole experience into something more than a mere rebuild. Allegations of ineffective low-priced labor, reuse of scrap-worthy metal, corner cutting in the project, and wiring issues keep the story juicy if somewhat off-base. Are the allegations true? It's not my place to surmise their validity, since I'm neither a mechanic or a railroader. Considering what CEECO had to work with coming in the door, I'd say they had their job cut out for them. Did the WP&Y get a good locomotive back? Well see for yourself....

CEECO accomplished something amazing here. We can marvel at the sharp metal work and paint that took this machine from a mangled pulp to a shining example of Narrow Gauge Goodness. Nice work CEECO! The shops in Skagway AK will apply the White Pass lettering and numbers. While some wince at the green and yellow paint scheme, I'm a huge fan of it. Finding a way to incorporate the WP&Y Thunderbird on the front would be a nice addition.

Thanks to Steve Carter for these great Before and After shots!

The Impossible Shot

If there were ever a picture that could benefit from editing, this would be the one. The edited photo is impossible, mostly because it doesn't exist in real life. Allow me to clarify.

When The Clark Boys and I set out on before church Sunday morning to get Egg McMuffins and take train pictures, I was hoping for a shot that I could post on WARail. We pulled off Holgate Street to investigate an older Geep sitting on a siding; as I had just taken my third picture of the engine and its two company cars, I turned around to the tell-tale sight of a high-powered headlamp and a couple of ditch lights. Perfect spot, I thought, as there were no buildings or abutments in the way of this shot and the Seattle cityscape was behind approaching train. I was thrilled! Several shots were taken, and the engineer even waved as they passed by with their load of piggy back trailers on flat cars. Everything seemed to be aligned to make this the shot.

Downloading from the camera told a different story.

In my efforts to capture the photo quickly, I didn't see what was right in front of me until I saw the photos on the computer. Once again the nemesis of old and young photogs alike - pesky electrical wires, reminder of an industrial society - ruined an otherwise fun photo. Everything else in the photo captured Seattle well. The colors in the buildings and sky, typical to the Pacific Northwest aesthetic, were greyish blue and filled with the demoralizing ambiance that has spawned many hard-rocking bands in and around Seattle. In the center, a bright orange freshly-washed GE on the point of a hard-pulling train. Exhaust smoke curled into the sky as a signal that this train was going places with horsepower to spare.

All topped off with a heaping dose of electrical wires crossing over everything.

So in the end I am now more thankful for the free "Wire Pilot" tool from the folks at Color Pilot. It pretty much saved the photo, as you can see below. You just move across the page and remove want you want gone. Will I try posting this to RailPictures.net? Heck no. First, I don't think the photo captures the true nature of the scenery, since the wires are actually there, even if I like the wireless photo more; it's an impossible shot, because in order to make it look good I had to fabricate what was in my head at the time I took the photo. Second, RP's focus tends to be photos beyond what Seattle has to offer most of the time: "Common Power" and grey skies. My difference of opinion on that subject is an argument I'll leave to anyone else familiar with RP's stringent policy of photo acceptance.

So for now I'll continue taking the shots that I see in my head, because now I've got the tools to actually show others what's going on in my brain!

Mobile Moment - Foggy Day

Yesterday the boys and I got some donuts for church coffee time by heading over to the Krispy Kreme in Seattle. October is a foggy month around our house, but usually the fog around Seattle has lifted even if our house is engulfed. This was not the case yesterday morning.

The entire area was wrapped in fog. It's another one of those weather conditions that we get here, other than rain. Natural occurrences like this can make even the photos taken by a camera phone look interesting. Granted they're dark and somewhat pixelated, but that fog just makes dark and pixelated into something that can be palpable.

These were taken with my Treo 750. The first photo was of possibly the dirtiest switcher I've ever seen. It was idling, warming up presumably to start moving double-stacks around. The second photo is of BNSF 2334, a standard-issue GP38 road switcher that gets plenty of local use (better photo here). It was idling in the fog as well; when they are parked right along the road like that, I still get amazed by the overall size of even the most rudimentary examples of switchers and road switchers. Recently there was a story about a switcher running from Harbor Island back to the Stacy Yard; a tractor-trailer rig ignored the warning horns and drove right into the path of the engine. The truck ultimately was flipped over and pushed 75 yards and into a Volvo. And the switcher? It was doing 5 mph at the time it impacted the truck. That tells me these things are big. And heavy. And dangerous. Keep off, kids...

The final shot was taken at the UP crossing at Lucille, as UP 561 was shuffling cars back into the yard alongside the BNSF Mainline that runs under Airport Way South. Better photo of this GP38 can be seen here. 561 has a hand-painted number sign on one side held on by duct tape. Certainly not the poster child of road switchers, but filled with character nonetheless. There is a playground nearby where the boys and I can go hand out. One night we were there for the better part of an hour. 561 rolled back and forth on this switching track about four times during our visit. It's heavily used and very urban.

That morning I also shot a video of a passing double-stack train at Holgate, but the soundtrack of the video is so saturated from the horn blast that it's simply not usable. Oh well.

Heritage One Paint Scheme

BNSF 7155 is an EMD SD-40. That means it has six axles as opposed to four (which would be a "GP" series locomotive). Built in 1979 for the Burlington Northern, it has never been renumbered.

7155 was repainted in the attractive "Heritage One" paint scheme sometime in the 1990s, possibly during a rebuild. Heritage One blended colors and logos of some legacy railroads that made up the new BNSF in 1995; the cross logo on the front and BNSF font style on the side were lifted directly from the Santa Fe, while the colors were common on the Great Northern Railway (folded into the Burlington Northern in 1970). Since 1995 there have been a couple of changes to the paint scheme (called "Heritage II and Heritage III" not surprisingly).

Check out the heavy clouds behind the locomotive. Yeah, that's Seattle for you!

Last Run of the Dinner Train to Woodinville

This isn't earth-shattering video, but for a railfan in the right place at the right time it was nice to catch the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train on its last run from Woodinville to Renton on July 31, 2007. The right-of-way between Renton and Bellevue - at the time of this writing - is being abandoned (I think it's a bad idea, but that's a whole other subject that I have already fought). Without the right-of-way, the Dinner Train had to relocate. It is currently running from Tacoma out towards Lake Kapowsin in the shadow of Mount Rainier, with plans to operate a total of three: Tacoma, Snohomish/Woodinville, and Vancouver WA.

Now that's my kind of trifecta!

Under Jackson Street - Then and Now

Bikers call it "A Cage." I call it my truck, and to date it has whisked me and my sons to great railroading venues around the region. It's reliable, somewhat fuel-efficient (compare to my big block powered `59 Chevy anyway), and navigates easily around the area. But it's a cage. It's a cage to me because - at 30mph or more - I miss much of what is going on around the streets I drive. There's nothing like walking the same route I've driven, and seeing 10 times more simply because my speed is roughly 3mph instead of 30. For me, walking around downtown Seattle has opened up so much of the city's railroading history that it was simply astounding. During my stint of jury duty downtown, I focused my lunch break attention on King Street Station and the surrounding tracks/roads. I go away with a great understanding of the railroad through this area and its impact on the blocks just south of downtown.

The first picture in today's Then and Now segment was taken in 1948 of Great Northern 1450 on the GN mainline as it is passing underneath Jackson Street. UP's Union Station is situated behind the locomotive, which was shared with the Milwaukee Road (lettering on the right side of the building). An electric trolley runs under wire along Jackson Street to the right. If you look closely in the expanded photo, you will see above the locomotive, standing on the street, a 40s era railfan watching the train...in the same exact spot that I watched several trains go by yesterday. A man on Jackson is also giving the steamer a passing glance.

Thanks to the Sound Transit train station along the mainline, citizens today are able to stand safely along the tracks underneath Jackson to watch trains, although legally I'm not able to take a photo from the same exact spot as the 1948 picture. There are chain link fences and BNSF signs that keep ethical people from breaking the law. Being an honest railfan means following the rules, even if it means you have to give up on the sweet photo op.

So for this installment I have the best possible alternatives - a picture of Union Station in the modern day, a picture of an SD40 passing under Jackson from the other direction, and a picture taken directly under Jackson. For perspective the second locomotive with the white face is in roughly the same spot as 1450 was in the first photo. Not surprisingly, the architecture of the overpass hasn't changed; it's pretty crumbly underneath, but if it was unsafe the City of Seattle would shut it down in no time. Standing near the tracks you can see the soot of railroading's decades applied to the ceiling along with passive graffiti on the pillars like "SP&S Dave."

In the 35 minutes that I hung around, two double-stack trains, one mixed freight, and a commuter train switching tracks all made movements along this stretch. Now that I have a better idea on how to use the bus around downtown, it's likely I'll be back to keep up on what's happening along this busy line!

BNSF 9218

This type of locomotive has always fascinated me. The white face, the unique cab design, and (noticing today) the strong exhaust note. This thing is a brute.

A much better picture of this EMD SD60M appears HERE. For good reason, the cab windows gave rise to its nickname of "Triclops." You will see SD60s with many styles of cabs; this one has what's called the "North American Safety Cab," which started use in Canada.

This picture was taken just north of Qwest Field, as the train enters King Street Station heading north towards the tunnel.

Seattle's Great Northern Tunnel

Another mobile moment. A second day of Jury Duty took me back to Seattle...and back to the trains. Built in 1904, the Great Northern Tunnel literally goes under the City of Seattle. The dig was so accurate that the two ends were said to be perfectly aligned when one team broke through to the other side in October 1904.

The mile-long tunnel is now heavily used and has two tracks running through the entire length. Typical traffic through the tunnel includes BNSF, Amtrak, and Sounder trains. The roof of the tunnel has been notched on the sides to allow for "Double-Stack" railcars to pass through, something that is still not possible with more famous tunnels like Stampede Pass.

A great place to watch movements is right along 4th Avenue between Washington and Main Street.

Mobile Moment - King Street Station

This week I've been on jury duty in downtown Seattle. Imagine my excitement when the bailiffs announce a two-hour lunch break; and here we are so close to tracks and trains! I skinned out the door and into the rainy Seattle streets to do what any railfan would do - eat my sandwich while looking for trains with my Treo 750/Camera Phone in hand. Sure, the quality of the photos taken by the Treo aren't up to snuff compared to even the most rudimentary 35mm SLR cameras, but frankly with some tweaking the photos end up looking better than those taken with a disposable. Sometimes you have to separate yourself from the desire to always be 100% and spot-on; I would have liked using my Olympus but the Treo does fine for what it is.

Closest venue for my Mobile Moment was our own King Street Station, recently sold to the City of Seattle by BNSF for the princely sum of one dollar. This will allow Seattle to get state and federal grants for renovation that were not available when it was privately held by the railroad. In any case, the station was potentially a great place for me to catch some trains and take some pix during my lunchtime - rather than sitting cooped up in the Jury Room.

Seattle Times wrote a great news story in 2005 about it; Trains magazine also wrote a sensational article recently about King Street Station, done in the style of a hard boiled detective novel from the 1940s - presumably because the wet weather and dark winters. It left me wanting more, because the article focused more on the way it was written rather than what it was written about. Much has been written about this station, so it's pointless for me to reinvent the wheel. But I can take pictures and poke around. The above view is pointed north towards the two-track tunnel that runs under the city to the waterfront. Below, the camer is pointed south toward the sports stadiums.

4th Avenue S runs on the left-hand side in the photo. In this part of the city, the railroad is literally underneath everything. On the other side of 4th Avenue is what's left of UP's Union Station, which has now been renovated into the headquarters for Sound Transit. The UP and Milwaukee Road ran out of Seattle's Union Station on a "stub track," which means the trains essentially backed up to the station and took on passengers. UP did not run on its own track north of here.

At this point, you might be thinking "doesn't this chowderhead take photos of actual trains?" Well, the best ones for last:

Amtrak 457 is an EMD F59PHI. On this day it was providing power for Amtrak Cascades, with the control car at the other end. Just before I took this photo a couple of homeless people walked across the tracks and then disappeared into the concrete maze on the other side. Some people just never learn about crossing tracks.

90230, for some reason, is called a "Cabbage Car." Essentially an "engineless engine," 90230 functions as a control car for Amtrak Cascades trains. Power is on the other end, usually in the form of an F59PHI like the one above but painted differently.

No BNSF trains came through at all while I was there, which was long enough to relax, eat, snap some pix, and even get close to Amtrak 457. But as I left and walked back towards 3rd and Yesler I could here the all-familiar howl of a BNSF horn coming up the track. Oh well...I should have stuck around another five minutes but who knew? That aside it was a great way to spend my lunchtime. I now know how to navigate around there on foot, so I should be able to take my boys along for the next tour of King Street Station!

Until next time, see you trackside...

Train Accident near Safeco Field

On Sunday October 1st at 9:30am my sons and I were near the BNSF crossing at South Holgate St, eating our McMuffins and waiting for trains to pass. It was an icky morning, described in our house as the type of "Splatty Rain" that seems to come at you from all directions and in all sizes. Fast food steams up the windows, especially when there are three hungry boys eating hot hashbrowns. We sat long enough for me to finish my food, electing to move the truck up closer to the crossing. When we got closer we saw lights, a bright trio on the tracks. Earlier, on our way into the area, we saw an Amtrak train sitting at King Street Station. This surely was the Coast Starlight or Cascades heading south. But the bright trio of lights didn't move. They just sat there.

"Daddy, can we go see what they're doing?" David asked me.

No, I said, because there's nowhere for us to park around there. So we headed off to find trains in another venue.

It's a good thing we didn't go there.

Turns out that a woman headed to work at Safeco Field was hit by a train while crossing the tracks, in her wheelchair. Thankfully no-one was killed, and as I write this the woman is in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center. The initial reports said that her chair got stuck on the tracks. Therefore the headlines look like:

"Train accident was fourth near ballpark since 2000"
"Woman in wheelchair hit by train in Seattle"

The headlines are true in the grammatical sense, but can mislead readers into thinking the whole thing happened a certain way. Headlines often use terminology that will tug at a person to read it. "Woman" and "wheelchair" are words high on the list. Actual blame cannot be found in a headline, but from the way it's written the blame can be assumed. In this case, the assumption from the headlines can be that the "big bad railroad" is at fault for hitting a disabled woman in a crossing. Ignore due diligence, choosing rather to skim over an article or merely read the headline, and the nuances of the issue can be lost. This article is a perfect case in point.

As the story unfolds an age-old issue comes out. Reports indicate that the woman went around the pedestrian crossing gate that had just dropped down. A witness said she had just cleared the crossing when the gate closed, and that the woman was heading into the crossing. A southbound train was doing 18mph and blew a warning (it's really loud there, because of all the tall buildings to bounce sound). Whether or not the chair got stuck on the track is unclear, as the police report indicates that the locomotive clipped the back of her chair rather than it actually being stuck; that would indicate the chair was moving and not stuck. The timing of her crossing still perplexes me; it seems that there was plenty of warning, both visible and audible, to keep this person away from the tracks. The Seattle Times article on this issue points out that railroad crossings are clearly dangerous places, chair or no chair, and that the utmost safety must be considered when crossing tracks - especially on a mainline that sees "100 movements" per day on average.

The most important thing to remember in all of this is to "always assume a train is coming." Pointing blame in this accident is not as important as simply learning to be safe around trains. "Stop, Look, and Listen" still runs through my head from a song I learned in Kindergarten. Back then the Northern Pacific ran through my town, so it was an important lesson that made me fear the dirt crossing when heading up the hill to a friend's house on the other side of the tracks. Even though we have no rails around our home now, I teach the boys about the importance of looking both ways and crossing tracks safely.

I'll tell them both, later in life, how close we were to seeing a visible example of that.

Interbay Yard - Then and Now

Welcome to Then and Now!

This post has two pictures, each taken from nearly the same spot but 35 years apart. The area is called Interbay Yard, which is on the BNSF mainline heading north out of downtown Seattle. In these two photos one can see the development change, but the depicted industry is more or less the same right down to the grit and grime on the outside of the loco.

The first photo was taken by Robert McDonald in May 1969, of Great Northern 425. Robert took a lot of photos back in the day. The pictures he has added to his blog Oil-Electric go back to 1958 and show historic views of our past up and down the West Coast - including British Columbia and Alaska. Thankfully for us train lovers, he took those picture with quality equipment depicting locomotives and scenery that are now only memories. His photographic record, and ability to describe each one in great detail, is a treasure to everyone who loves railroading history.

Robert calls GN 425 "absolutely dingy" because of the road grime over spectacular colors, Robert chose to shoot the picture anyway not realizing the impact it would have on a world of railfans when posted on the Internet in 2007. What he captured was a real-world vision of railroading in the late 1960s, dirt and all. We can appreciate this more than a posed photo of a clean unit.

The second photo was taken by yours truly in March 2004 of a worn-out Warbonnet with stenciled "BNSF" letters on the side. I shot the picture as the crew was leaving the unit and walking away. The photo is from the same vantage point of Robert's photograph - along the east side of Gilman Ave W. You'll see that my photo is slightly to the left of the spot that Robert snapped, but you can't miss the extensive additions of buildings both at the yard and on the streets behind the engine. In the original photo you can see Standard station, which is now the site of a bank. The roads behind the GN engine are now shrouded by two-story buildings serving small businesses and art galleries. None of this is visible in the final photo because of the erector set buildings put up on-site at the yard. But you get the idea. Lots has changed in 35 years. In this post-9/11 world this viewing area is an unsung spot for railfans, far enough from the trains for safety and close enough for pictures.

Open these photos each in a separate browser window, and then toggle back and forth between them. You'll see the development of 35 years right before your eyes. It's nice to know that I had Robert's archive to use as the "Then" photo for this series.

Talgos Return to Service Delayed

The Amtrak Cascades trains have looked a bit different in recent week; seems that stress cracks were found in the suspension of theTalgo car sets being used for the regional service, so they were taken out of service for repair. There is a delay, however, because the Feds need to approve the work. Meanwhile, eagle eye tracksiders like myself have seen standard Amtrak equipment taking up the slack.

Sources say the trains will be back in service mid-November.

Seattle-Tacoma Interurban Railway

The Seattle-Tacoma Interburban Railway made its debut run on September 25th, 1902 - 105 years ago today. Originally it only ran between Tacoma and Seattle, but eventually expanded as far as Everett before it ran into financial trouble in the late 1920s. The final trains ran between Seattle and Everett no later than 1939. Much of the line has been reclaimed as a regional trail now. Thankfully a lot of the right-of-way remained, because it was shared with the power company. As a kid I remember riding minibikes over the old grade in places throughout Shoreline. Even back then we called it "The Interurban" without knowing why, other than some people knowing that a train used to run there.

As I write this, Sound Transit is bringing what used to be called "Interurban Transportation" back to the Puget Sound Region in the form of a light rail line that will eventually reach between Tacoma and Seattle. In some places, the new route and the old route are close enough to eyeball each other. In fact, at the Boeing Access Road in northern Tukwila, the new Light Rail line crosses over the old Interurban right-of-way. Was the Interurban ahead of its time? In my opinion yes, by about 100 years. In the early 1900s it was built to span the rustic distances between two urban centers. Now, the light rail spans the traffic congestion that is caused by having two urban centers, brought on by the cars that signaled the demise of the Interurban 70 years ago. While the focus is different, the result is the same - move people from one place to another.

Today we can sit back and celebrate rail history of our region by thinking about the Interurban and it's forward thinking mission to move people. I personally am looking forward to Light Rail, and hope to see it expand to my part of the region.

Ride the WHAT?

And this trolley line isn't even in service yet!

The South Lake Union Streetcar wasn't always called that; beforehand "Trolley" was used in place of "Streetcar." That made for a very unfortunate acronym - S.L.U.T. Not that SLUS is any better, but hey at least it isn't derogatory!

As a side note, a couple of regular joes are being overwhelmed with t-shirt orders for their special apparel

Tacoma Rail GP20 - Old Loco, Old Camera

Tacoma Rail has one of the more colorful paint schemes in Western Washington. Evidence is in this photo of their Red & White GP20 against dull grey rail cars. Some sources say that TMBL 2006 is a GP10 while others say GP20. Generally speaking, it's older than 1963 and it has four axles - which at the very least makes is an EMD GP series locomotive. Look around North America and you'll find Short Lines, Regionals, Rail Museums, and the like still running these soldiers of steel. The GP series locomotives were built between 1953 and 1994, with the GP60 being the most recent (and possibly final) version.

Look at the photo and you'll see a beautiful excursion train. But don't look at the graininess of the photo. Yep I said grain, as opposed to "noise." Noise would indicate that I am using a digital camera. Grain? That means I shot this photo old school, with a 35mm camera! Say hello to my trusty 1970s era Vivitar 220SL. This shot was taken through a 175mm lens. The camera kit includes elements of my late grandfather's photo kit; his camera body wore out about 8 years ago - my Dad said he took thousands of photos with it - so I replaced body with an identical one off eBay for a whopping $45. It even has an internal light meter. I have lenses ranging from 28mm to the 175, plus some kind of "2x converter" lens that apparently turns my 175 into a 350. Haven't tried that one yet but I'm told it degrades the image somewhat and also doesn't allow the same amount of light through. We'll see what it can do on a nice day sometime.

By taking this and some other photos with the 35mm SLR camera, I've rediscovered the interactive nature of photography in this old school kit that I don't feel with my digital. Maybe I'm sentimental because it was my Grandfather's, or maybe I just remember the enjoyment of taking pictures with a hand-me-down 35mm (now deceased) that served me well for about 8 years when I was younger. My Olympus C4040 is a 4 megapixel model that has been truck-strong and versatile, but as I have become more experienced with it I've discovered it's not as flexible as I would like. Not the fault of any camera, the big enemy in the Pacific Northwest is poor lighting. Finding any sort of situation with the right amount of light around here is difficult. At least with a film camera I can work more with the shutter speed than I can with my digital. That's why suddenly my old Vivitar has made it back into my kit. I'll probably try slide film, tripod, and remote shutter release the next time I head out; this would allow me to try even slower shutter speeds, at least on static subjects.

Posting railroading photos on the Internet has nurtured my desire to experiment with the equipment I have, since I really don't have the budget to replace any of it. Think about all the "off-brand" SLR cameras that may be languishing on shelves or garage sales; they may not be a Pentax, Nikon, or Olympus, but they are cheap and can take good photos with some practice.

Good Train, Bad Photo?

If you feel like most of the pictures you take of trains seem to lack that certain flair, don't feel alone; the world is built on photographers like you and me, who make our livings in careers other than photography. This means I need all the help I can get when it comes to getting photos to look good. Yes, I've had a camera in my hand since the mid 1970s; doesn't mean I'm good at it though. I continue to struggle with composition and adequate lighting, the latter being almost impossible to find in the Pacific Northwest. But nothing compares to the frustration one can feel when confronted by a photo they like which contains unwanted elements, namely overhead wires.

Wires can ruin an otherwise well-proportioned shot of anything. But what does a person do when it's just not okay to whip out the Stihl and saw the poles down? They get a copy of Wire Pilot for starters...that's what! The folks at Color Pilot offer Wire Pilot software to remove wires from digital photos. The site shows great shots marred by those pesky wires, and the demo shows just how easy it is to remove them. Best of all? Its free. Color Pilot does offer other software to buy, but this one costs nothing.

For years I've been skeptical of digital photo editing. It's hard being certain that something free could help salvage otherwise useless photos. But we know there's only one way to find out if Wire Pilot is worth anything, and that's to download and try it.

Well I'm convinced now that a lot of my photos can be saved by this software. I took the photo portrayed in this post (above is the original), and used Wire Pilot to see what it could do. I was impressed with the interface and the result. It's simple to use, doesn't take a lot of resources to operate, and ends up doing a darn nice job of removing wires! The most amazing this was that it was able to continue the look and feel of clouds that were behind the wires. I don't ask how it's done, but I sure appreciate what they created!

Major photo editing is one of those things that some people take issue with, because it's taking what's "real" and creating something that is "pseudo-real." I struggle with the ethics of it too, but have concluded that for my own use I'm all for taking advantage of digital tools to make the photo better. I draw the line at posting one of these heavily edited photos to an online database like Railpictures.net or RRPictureArchives.net. But for my own websites, or snapshots, I'm willing to work with a photo that otherwise would not be published.

Give it a try sometime, with one of your digital photos that needs help. It will be worth the effort!