Merry Christmas from Washington Railblog

©2008 Ross Fotheringham

Merry Christmas! Ross Fotheringham took the above photo in the North Cascades this year. Click HERE to see more of his photos!

Western Washington has been hit with snow for the last week, and rail traffic was shut down for a period. While the world laughs at the Puget Sound's inability to maintain effective traffic movement it's still a beautiful scene outside in most places.

Thank you WARail Readers, for visiting this humble blog and sharing in the wonder of railroading in this corner of the nation. I hope your Holiday Season has been happy and healthy. Here's to the end of a roller coaster 2008, and the start of 2009.

Cheers! Kurt

Sound Transit Wants Your Feedback on East Link

Sound Transit wants public comment on East Link light rail options. This impacts anyone between Downtown Seattle and Redmond Overlake. Hate 520 or commuting over I-90? This might be your chance to be part of the solution. Like trains? Well this is an opportunity to share your preferences for a route.

I'm not so big on the timeline - Overlake Station by 2021 - but it's not like I could build a route any quicker. I feel the Eastside needs it no matter what.

3000 Injury-Free Days on Sounder

You read right...3000 days. Amazing! BNSF announced that their crews have had more than eight injury-free years running Sounder trains. They've also achieved a 99% on-time performance record for 2008, while seeing a ten-fold increase in ridership since the start of service.

I think some of these folks need to have coffee with the Coast Starlight crews sometime...

North End Trains Center in Seattle-PI

Nice little PI write-up on a favorite haunt of mine - North End Train Center.

It's funny that the article mentions "Rivet Counters," referring to the friendless loners dedicated hobbyists who find so much happiness in insisting on the most minute of details (like rivets on model trains). Heck, I'm hard pressed to even have a working model train, let alone one that is rivetly correct. Model accuracy aside, North End Train Center is a great place to go.

My first visit was at their old store within earshot of Dick's in Lake City. Their new spot isn't too far away, due north on Lake City Way. Two favorite areas for the boys are the Thomas table and the backroom where the model railroading club is running trains from time to time.

One thing I have never been able to figure out - and this isn't North End Train's fault - is why are railroad books and magazines so darned expensive?

Light Rail U-Link Contract Bid Below Estimate

The first major bid from a contractor for building the Sound Transit U-Link from Downtown Seattle to the UW is a stunning 34% below estimates. Some analysts are attributing this to the economy's downturn, which makes for heavy competition from contractors looking for work. Of course the bid is being checked over, to make sure it's not a fantasy lowball number.

In the article linked above we also discover that the segment of Interstate 5 that runs through the area served by the proposed link operates at levels "over capacity" for up to 8 hours a day. It's not surprising to me; since the 1980s a person hasn't been able to even go southbound on a Saturday through this area, without hitting heavy congestion. And with population in that area predicted to grow, it's no wonder the U-Link project got high priority in DC when federal money was doled out.

This is exciting stuff for a railfan like me, because it's like the rebirth of The Interurban!