I had to go out to Kent for a meeting early this afternoon and afterwards went on to the Auburn Herfys for a late lunch. Parked by the old engine facility I’m just about to start eating when the North Branch dispatcher gets toned up. BNSF 5082 East, an XKAL grain empty is ready to head over the hill and gets a track warrant from Stampede Wye to Ellensburg. It was raining pretty hard when I got onto Highway 18 and started for Covington. I first thought about stopping at Covington but decided to go on to Henrys between Covington and Ravensdale instead.

Out on the overpass I could soon hear the train heading my way above the passing highway traffic noise. You sure can hear them a long ways off! The rain had stopped when I shot the 5082/1095 passing the old Pacific Coast RR bridge supports at 2:27 PM but the scene still looked pretty gloomy.

A short while later DPU 4085 passed under the bridge. The head end would have been heading through Ravensdale when I took this photo.

I then headed back to Renton and did some errands before going on home. I’ve been listening to the Stampede Stream and the BNSF 5082′s progress while working on the photos I took of the train.

At 4:21 PM it passed MP 43.5 up on the hill
At 4:41 PM it was by MP 36.9 Easton (434 axles)
At 5:03 PM by MP 20.5, temperature 23 degrees.

As it was Saturday, December 31 I had kind of wanted to spend the last day of 2011 on the Stampede Sub.   There had been heavy snow overnight on I-90 Snoqualmie Pass and when I woke up it was traction tires required.  I waited a few hours and checked again to find it was now just an advisory.  A report on RR Forums.com stated there was going to be a meet of east and westbound trains at Lester around 10:00 AM.  I knew I would miss the westbound but that  eastbound should be easy to catch.  I was soon on the road headed east on I-90.

Arrived at Easton to sunshine about 10:45 AM after hearing the two BNSF trains meet at Lester around Cabin Creek Road on I-90.  Westbound was the BNSF 4758 and the eastbound the BNSF 4919.  First thing I wanted to do was take a few shots around town, starting with the old NP hotel.

The sun was short lived as clouds quickly came in and that was it for the bright sunshine.  I thought I would wait by the crossing for my old standby shot with the Easton sign.

The BNSF 4919 went by the detector up on the hill and was soon through Easton at 11:40 AM.  I never tire of this location. Big mountain and little train.

Power on the head end of the X-train was 4919/4736.  As I chased it out of Easton I saw it was kicking up some snow so I pulled off at Golf Course Road to see if I could get some of the “blowing snow” back in the train but the shot was pretty crappy.  I went on past Cle Elum for a broadside of the BNSF 4919 crossing the Teanaway River on Bridge 19 west of Bristol.  I also noticed all that snow on the ground was quickly thinning out. 

I then went further east to MP 13 for a shot of the train passing the approach signal.  This was an angle I had not photographed before and might be nicer under sunnier conditions.

As the train passed by I set up for a shot of the DPU crossing bridge 13.  BNSF 5458 was the trains DPU.

At this point I decided to turn back as the bare ground and overcast skies made for dismal looking photos.  I had my Easton shot on the last day of 2011 and that made the whole trip over here worth while.  A very good way to end the year.

OS Easton – Nov 12, 1970

It’s been awhile since I’ve gone back into the past at Easton, WA and while waiting for the BNSF 8184 last weekend I was looking through my Easton Train Movement book for November of 1970 and saw something that caught my eye.  It was the BN 6606 West on 11-12-70, this date 41 years ago.

I remember photographing the 6606 back on 8-2-74 and it was still in GN’s big sky blue paint looking pretty good. 

But almost four years earlier on 11-12-70 it was westbound in daylight hours over Stampede Pass.  Now that would have been nice to see!  Two other ex-GN Sky Blue units were also seen leading trains at Easton that day.  SDP45 9862 and SD45 6452.  And two brand new BN SD45′s too, the 6478 and 6492.  Rounding out the trains that day from the NP were F7A 734, U25C 5615 and SD45 6424.  Nice collection of power.  Kind of fun to think back and imagine being there that day to see all that action.

It was one week ago today on Saturday 11-5-11 that I made a quick dash out the door for Easton after reading on RR Forums a BNSF eastbound had left Kanaskat thirty minutes previous (about 11:00 AM) with green SD60M 8184 leading.  That was worth trying to catch!  I made quick time over Snoqualmie Pass thanks in part to some construction on I-90 just east of Hyak being completed. 

I had the scanner going but heard nothing on it.  It was at 1:40 PM when I took Eastons Exit 70 off ramp thinking I must be ahead of the train.  Slowing for the stop sign I heard loudly “BNSF detector…” and I said “yessss!” and then came “MP 36.9….” and I said “nooooo!” knowing the train was ahead of me by about a mile.

So it was back onto I-90 to catch up to the train which was pretty easy to do.  I caught the last car just before West Nelson Siding Road.  The train was a grain empty.   At Golf Course Rd I passed the the 8184/5243/6779 on the trains head end.  The weather was perfect and I planned to get as many photos as possible.  I was a bit concerned about sun angles as it was well into the afternoon now.  First stop was the overpass east of Cle Elum and the sun angle here was decent enough.

Then the chase was on again but the train wasn’t really going that fast which took me by surprise.  At Bristol I was way ahead of the train.  As the baretables were clear of the siding I decided to get a shot passing the station sign.

Back shot shows the lines of a BNSF SD60M.  Note some fall color is still in the trees.

A train of grain empties at Bristol siding.  Note all the jointed rail still in place.

Once the last car was by I headed towards MP 12 and the sweeping S-curve but again I quickly overtook the slow moving train.  At the MP 13 river curve I was way ahead and I liked the sun angle and background here so decided to stop and head down a fisherman’s path towards the river.  What a beautiful scene!  Some fall color was in view too.  The train came around the curve and it was showtime!

And then the best shot of the day.  This made the trip well worth it.

The train went on to Thorp and was instructed to stop at Milepost 6 and wait for further instructions.  A broken rail had been found and MOW were going to walk the grain empty across it.  This all took place near a grade crossing so I was about to get some nice photos as the train crept up to the broken rail at walking speed as instructed.

At the very slow speed a roster shot of the 8184 was easy to take.  The 8184 was built as BN 9284.

Once the last car was by the broken rail I took off for the head end again as the train picked up speed for the last leg into Ellensburg.   I was up on the overpass for these last two shots of the train before it tied up.

I wasn’t planning a drive across the mountains today but the chase of the 8184 was really a lot of fun and I am glad I was able to catch up to the train, though Easton would have been a great shot!!

As it was a nice day Saturday 10-15-11 I headed east of the Cascades to see the fall colors around Easton. Saw the BNSF snow dozer 972511 recently sent here from Auburn at Easton and first thing got a shot of it.

Beautiful Autumn day at Easton. Looking east and west in the early afternoon. If only there had been an eastbound while I was there!

I then decided to take a few photos of myself using the cameras timer.  I did like all the Fall color!

Some more of that color at Easton.

While at Easton I could hear an eastbound at Ellensburg leaving around 2 PM. That would have been a nice chase down the Canyon towards Yakima.

It was past lunchtime so I headed to Cle Elum to do some shopping at the Safeway and stop for lunch at DQ. 

Before heading for home I took a few photos of the ex-NP around Cle Elum.  First the crossovers just east of Oak Street.

And some spur tracks at the west end of Cle Elum including an old NP switch stand minus the yellow target.

Leaving I had to take a double look at this signal box. Cle Ellum?  Just had to stop for a photo of it.  Even funnier as the station sign with the correct spelling is in plain view.

And before going I did take one last photo of the NP switch stand, with yellow target at Cle Elum.

Then it was west back on I-90 towards Easton.  Scanner was quiet as I passed shortly after 4 PM so I shut it off.   Later I learned BNSF ran a pair of eastbound grain empties later this afternoon over Stampede Pass.  First one would have been by Easton around 5:15 PM and the second around 8:30 PM.  Apparently a westbound work train also went through Easton around 11:00 AM this morning and stopped at Kanaskat.

Wish those trains had shown up while I was at Easton today!

Saturday I drove south to Napavine on the BNSF’s Seattle Sub and was headed back towards home early in the afternoon.  Up around Tacoma I could hear a track inspector tone up the North Branch and ask for a track warrant from Auburn up to Kanaskat.  The dispatcher replied he would have to wait as he’d just given one to the empty in the yard which should be leaving in around 5 minutes! 

That got my attention!  I quickly made my way to Highway 18 and coming down the hill into Auburn heard the train tell a Special Agent there were some trespassers under the Highway 18 bridge near the Stampede Wye.  The Agent asked the train for his symbol and X-TACNIL9-26A was given.  I stayed on Highway 18 over the tracks and saw the grain empty moving out of the yard and passed the head end right at the east switch of the Wye.  This was a pleasant surprise as this is the first freight train I have seen on the Stampede Sub since March 23 of this year!  There were three GE’s on the head end led by the 7850.  My first thought was straight out to Palmer Jct but saw the sun angle wasn’t that bad at the high/wide detector so I got off 18 and waited for the 7850 East to arrive.  It didn’t take long to show up and soon the 7850/4626/4433 were by the detector at 14:21.

Trailing unit was H2 C44-9W 4433 in the “Bold Heritage” scheme.

I was then back in the car and headed out towards Kanaskat.  Got some lights red at Covington but was soon headed out towards 4Corners, just north of Henrys.  Waiting for the light to turn green the train passed the 91.6 detector with a 450 axle count.  The approach to Ravensdale was called out with a speed of 38 MPH telling me I should be able to stay ahead of it out to Kanaskat.  I crossed over the tracks at Kanaskat as the train called out the approach and I was soon parked at the Palmer Jct grade crossing and waiting outside the car.  I could hear the train working up towards Kanaskat and I really enjoyed that.  Then the horns started blowing for the crossing east of Kanaskat and I waited a few moments and saw the train round the curve and out onto the Green River bridge.  The sun angle was pretty nose on but the shot still looked really nice as I took the photos at 1455.

I then watched those 450 axles pass by (three units and 108 grain cars) before one last photo as the last car passed by headed up towards Stampede Pass. 

I then drove home and listened to the Railroad Radio Net as the train came into Easton and on past Bristol.  Here are some of the transmissions:

16:50 detector at MP 36.9 goes off 450 axles no defects
16:55 Approach Bullfrog 48 mph
17:01 Approach Cle Elum 49 mph
17:08 Approach Bristol 49 mph
17:11 detector at MP 20.5 goes off 88 degrees no defects

BNSF 7850 clears track warrant 431-3 at West Bristol 17:14 to let Track Inspector out at Easton.  I wasn’t expecting to see anything on the Stampede Sub at all so the 7850 was really a pleasant surprise!  Looking forward for more “pleasant surprises” to come.

Varnish = What railroads once called their crack passenger trains…

I was scheduled to start work at 1:01 PM today so took the gamble and drove over to Easton this morning after hearing last week that BNSF would be running a passenger special over Stampede today.  After crossing Snoqualmie Pass I heard on the scanner the special stop at Stampede first, then get the go to pass through the tunnel and a little later stop again at Martin.  They stopped once more on the east side of the hill and then took off for Ellensburg.  I did not photograph the train at Easton as there were two BNSF Police SUVs parked by the tracks and other BNSF vehicles also keeping watch as the train approached. 

I went down to West Nelson Road and shot it there.  Had the BNSF 7207 and 7 cars behind.  Better sun angle here anyway as Easton was nose on. 

Then going on to Cle Elum had one of the BNSF Police SUV’s fly by me and saw him head into Cle Elum.  I parked on the overpass just east of Cle Elum and had a large BNSF pickup truck slowly roll by me but they kept on going towards Bristol.  It didn’t take long for the 7207 to show up and sweep on by at speed.

I ended the chase there as I had to head back to Seattle for work (it was 11:15) and the BNSF security was a bit much.  I’ve seen  a lot of passenger specials but not one with this much security before.  As they headed into Bristol I heard the 7207 East call out track speed of 49 MPH so they were moving right along.

Taking a look back on this date in NP years seems 8-16-68 was quite a busy day.  That was a Friday back in 1968.  Here is a page from NP’s Station Record of Train Movements from Easton, WA on that date.

Note the 3616 went by the depot three times and the 228 four times.  It would be interesting to know what trains all of these were.  All I know is I wish I could have been there in 1968 with a camera!

It was back on Wednesday 4-27-11 I drove over to Easton to photograph the Amtrak test train as it headed west out of town for Stampede Pass.  It was overcast crossing Snoqualmie Pass but the cloud line thinned out somewhat at Easton when I arrived around 08:30 just as a nice sunbreak opened up on the rear of the test train.

Like last week, P42DC 73 was on the rear of the train.  I then walked to the location of the old Milwaukee bridge over the NP to the west and waited for the train to depart.  Not 5 minutes after I arrived I heard the 75 and 73 give a brake test and at 09:18 they were ready to go. They stopped at the “all red” signals just to my west and I heard a couple of toots letting me know they were on the move again. The 3 P42′s (75/176/72) slowly rolled around the curve underneath the bridge and then opened up the throttle. It sounded great!!

The full 24 car train rolled by with the 73 bringing up the rear.

Returning to my car along the Milwaukee ROW I noticed something discarded off the embankment along the BNSF’s former NP ROW and knew immediately what I was looking at, and wondered how I could have missed this all these years of riding my bike along the trail.  If you’ve seen the NP 1964 wall calendar than you’ve seen these pieces of metal.  Assembled this is the distant NP signal in the photo of the eastbound North Coast Limited along Lake Easton. 

Looks like the mast was cut in two before being tossed aside.  One of the two silver semaphore signal bases was also present.  No semaphores however.

Back in Easton I checked out the location of the old Wye.  These two photos show the west leg of the NP Wye.

And here is a view looking west towards the east leg of the NP Wye.

I then drove on to Cle Elum to stop at the Safeway and also get some lunch.  At the east end of town I checked out where the old siding was once located.  Back in 1996 when the line was being rebuilt I photographed a work train at Cle Elum coming off the siding onto a spur track and I wanted to try and find that same location.  First the photo from 8-13-96.

And pretty close to where I figure that 1996 photo was taken today.

As can be seen the sun was gone and lots of clouds to deal with.  I then got lunch at Dairy Queen and headed west to Bullfrog to eat.  NP’s subsidiary Monad Company built the woodchipping plant here in 1967 so I decided a few photos were in order before starting for home.

Now part of Longview Fibre Company and a sawmill planing mill, I noticed the plant was still open but it did not look like there had been any freight cars loaded here in a long time, and I do remember seeing BNSF westbounds stopping here to pick up woodchip loads years ago.  I then got back on I-90 west and started for home.

With the Stampede and Yakima Valley Subs pretty much shut down for MOW working on the Yakima Valley, Amtrak planned some Positive Train Control testing over Stampede Pass.  The last two weeks of April were chosen for the testing and on 4-18-11 BNSF 4675/4913 brought the train over Stampede Pass into Easton where they tied up for the night. 

The next morning, Tuesday 4-19-11 I headed east on I-90 for Snoqualmie Pass where I was treated to a wintry scene after an overnight snowfall in the Cascades.

Soon after arriving at Easton I found the BNSF C44-9W’s sitting on the east end of one cut of passenger cars.  I was patient in waiting for some sun breaks to brighten up the scene.

The 4 Amtrak units were on the west end of the cut on the next track over. Eventually a crew showed up and got on the Amtrak units moving them over to the track with the other cut and 2 BNSF units. Then the whole thing started eastwards towards the Wye to turn two of the Amtrak units.

East of the Cabin Creek Road grade crossing the passenger special led by the 2 BNSF C44-9W’s stopped with the 4 Amtrak units between the Wye switches and then pulled the train east to let the two Amtrak units on each end Wye themselves. Here the 75 is about to be uncoupled from the other three P42DC’s.

And here the 73 is moving west of the Wye to await the 75 which will turn itself around to be placed on the west end of the consist.

Now the 75 is moving onto the east leg of the Wye headed south towards the tail track.

Here is something I never thought I’d ever see. The two legs of the Wye cross the John Wayne Pioneer trail. This trail was of course once the Milwaukee Road.  I am facing west on the old MILW ROW as the 75 slowly backs over the trail towards the tail track.

Moving past the tail track switch the 75 will stop and the switch will be lined for the 75 to head out the west leg of the Wye.

With the switch thrown the 75 starts to move forward and onto the Wye’s west leg.

With lots of squealing and grinding the 75 is soon facing west so it can lead the special west out of Easton in a few hours.

This is a historic move as the Easton Wye is rarely used, and this has to be the first time an Amtrak unit has ever used it.  But it is about to happen twice, on the same day.  Now with the 75 out of the way and backed onto the other two units between the two legs of the Wye, the 73 can now come onto the west leg of the Wye so it can be turned around.

Stopped on the tail track you can see why only one or two units can be turned on the Wye at one time.

Amtrak 73 will now head out the east leg of the Wye to be put on the rear of the test train once it moves west to clear the switch and let the 73 out.  Then the two BNSF units will couple to the 73 and the whole thing will be moved west again.  I went back to the car and drove to the west end of Easton to see what would happen next.

Here the 75/74/12 are heading up the train at the west end of Easton.

They will stop in a few moments and the two BNSF units will cut off and tie up on a side track. Then the test train will back up again and park up by Easton once more, but are at least arranged to head west.

I drove back to the Cabin Creek Road grade crossing the 73 rests at the west end of the test train.

The test train would leave in about 90 minutes and I will mess up the shot. It had been sunny the whole time I was waiting west of Easton but just before the train arrived a cloud blocked out the sun over the tracks and the train was really, really dark while the rest of the scene was completely washed out still being in sunlight. I was not pleased but figure the testing will go on over two weeks so I stand a good chance of getting better shots in the coming days.

Still nice to be at Easton and get my first photos of the Wye being used by something unusual.

On Sunday April 18, 2011 I drove over to Providence Hill and the Lakeside Sub to see some trains.  Both the Stampede and Yakima Valley Subs are currently shut down for a full maintenance window that is supposed to last up to October.  So to see trains on the former NP mainline you have to go east of Pasco.

Getting a good early start I stopped by Ellensburg as the sun was out and morning shots are always good for the depot.  While I always considered the Ellensburg depot as part of the Yakima Valley Sub it turns out the BNSF’s Stampede Sub actually extends to the east end of the old Ellensburg yard at MP 126.3 where yard limits end.  Something I did not know!

It was 08:10 when I arrived at the depot and saw restored NP caboose 1714 was out in full sunlight.  That was worthy of a few photos in itself!

Next I photographed the former NP Wig-Wag crossing signal at the south (east) end of the depot. 

Not certain of where the Wig-Wag came from but I think possibly the Sunnyside branch as I photographed two deactivated ones at Granger back in 1992.  Then I took some more depot photos to show the “newer” NP Monad applied to east side of the building to replace the older faded ones.

Then it was back out to I-90 and east towards Vantage and on to Providence Hill.