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Tuesday afternoon 11-24-09 was cloudy as I was headed south on Airport Way and as I passed over the UP’s Argo yard saw a UP Geep switching at the south end of the yard. I have a new handheld Vado HD camcorder and had been wanting to test it out. I parked and thought an overhead shot would be good so I walked up the overpass a bit and noticed the headlight of a train coming out of Stacy Street yard. So I continued up to see what this was and noticed it was a BNSF C44-9W, but behind it was a bunch of EMD’s. Cool! It was the M-SEAPAS and it pulled up to the signals and stopped just as a crew van pulled up. A crewman got out climbed up onto the lead GE, then came a couple of toots and they were on the move.

The EMD’s sounded great. The GE chugged and the EMD’s whined. I have always enjoyed taking overhead video’s of EMD’s as the sound is much clearer and the fans on the roof are sometimes the only moving object you can see on a modern locomotive. BNSF 5266/1874/2876/2091/2334 (C44-9W/SD39-2/GP39M/GP38-2/GP38-2) passed underneath and were gone by the time I got back to the truck. Only the first three units were online but it has been a long time since I last saw 4 EMD’s on a BNSF freight out of Seattle. It was a great few minutes spent trackside.

Here is BNSF M-SEAPAS Southbound:

Driving past South Seattle on Wednesday 11-18-09 I did a double take as I passed some BNSF power at the north end of the yard.  Trailing of three units was NS SD60 6668 in fresh paint.

With all the wide nosed units I have been seeing on the BNSF catching a non-wide nosed unit, and an off line one at that is quite a treat!  Too bad it wasn’t sunnier but I still thought it was a pretty nice catch.

The 6668 was delivered new to NS in December of 1988 so right now it is a month shy of being 21 years old.  Looks pretty good for a locomotive being around that long.

Thursday 9-10-09 I was just south of Argo and photographed a northbound work train led by BNSF 2125/4964 heading towards Seattle.

The following day, 9-11 southbound UP U-SEGL left Seattle with units 8596/4452/4796 at 2:57 PM. 

Nice to see all EMD power on the garbage train.

Sunday afternoon August 30, 2009 I headed south to Tacoma, WA to get some more photos of former NP structures buildings.  Arriving at Tacoma just before 1:00 PM I heard a UP train ready to come out onto the BNSF and head south.  At 1:04 the I-TALAR with units 4908/5477/4200 passed by beginning its long trip to LA.

Less than a half hour later UP’s M-FIHK came out of Fife on its way to Hinkle, OR at 1: 28 PM with units 4761/4986/7919/3844. 

Not bad so far.  Two UP trains with SD70M’s leading.  I then took some photos of the NP car shops as well as the sanding tower transplanted from Auburn Yard after the engine facility there was shut down in the early 1980′s.

Next BNSF’s M-EVEVAW arrived with a couple of GE’s and did some work in the yard.  A noticed a headlight approaching from the north which turned out to be the M-SEAPAS with BNSF 4303/2121/1563/4529.  The train was on the near track making a photo of it too tight so I settled for a roster shot of the 1563.  Recently renumbered from BNSF 1802 the ex-SLSF SD39-2 was headed back to Pasco where it works the hump.

I then drove to Temco to see what was going on there.  There was a lot of traffic and crowds everywhere!  Tacomas Maritime Festival was going on.  First thing I noticed was SW1200′s 175 and 185 were no longer by the 219.  Crossing the bridge I could see them by the grain elevators.  I parked nearby and walked alongside the road for some photos. 

The two ex-NP switchers were separated by one grain car. 

I am not sure why they were moved but I was happy to get some good roster shots.  Temco was shut down for maintenance so there were no trains here.  Heading back to my truck I photographed the ex-GN GP9 also used here, EFX 1611.

Note the cargo ship tied up.  I did a bit of research and the Theareston is registered in Panama.

Here is a bit of research on the 1611.  It was built as GN GP9 664 in March of 1954 and was delivered without dynamic brakes wearing the Classic Empire Builder scheme.  I can find no evidence of it in simplified orange and green and it never wore big sky blue.  An assignment check of 1969 shows the 664 was on Lines West – Montana Division based at Havre for maintenance.

After the BN merger the 664 was renumbered BN 1816 and assigned to Havre on the Billings Region.  I never did see the BN 1816 myself.  It was still on the BN roster in 1995 when the BN and ATSF merged to form the BNSF and the 1816 was then renumbered BNSF 1611.  I did a Google search for photos of the BNSF 1611 and found none!  Next thing I know there is a black and white GP9 lettered EFX 1611 working at Tacoma.  I am still not sure what EFX stands for but I do know the 1611 was the BNSF number it wore.

Before heading home I drove up to the old NP headquarters building to see it up close.  A nearly building was casting a shadow on it but I took a few photos anyway. 

In the future I will have to do more research on it and get better photos.

There has been some great discussion on Yahoo’s NP Telltale site concerning what is still NP at Tacoma, WA.   At first it was thought very little remained but now it seems the turntable was there in the NP years and Gary Tarbox found a drawing for NP Tacoma car shops dated 1957 so it looks as if the car shops were also built by the NP. 

So this would mean that the car shops at Pasco would be former NP as well as it is pretty much identical. 

Here is a photo of the Pasco car shops taken 5-22-09

And a photo of the Tacoma car shops taken 8-30-09.

Now finding some photos of these car shops prior to 1970 would go a long way in verifying this information.

Sunday morning 8-16-09 I headed south to Tacoma, WA for a day of photographing trains on BNSF’s Seattle Sub.  It had been awhile since I’d last been to Tacoma and I wanted to see if any of the former NP SW1200′s at the Temco grain facility were in a position for photos.

I arrived around 9:45 AM and was a bit disappointed to find all three SW1200′s apparently out of service just north of the overpass.  TMLX 219 was still nosed up to the pile of dirt where it has been for years, the first of the SW1200′s to go unserviceable.  TMLX 219 is the former BN 219, built as the NP 160 in 1957.

The other two out of service SW1200′s were on the next track over blocked by MOW equipment.  I tried my best for photographs.  TMLX 175 is the ex-BN 175.  It was built 1/58 as the NP 175.

And the 185 is the former BN 185 built as the NP 126 in March of 1955, one month before I was born!

Walking up onto the overpass I was able to get all three SW1200′s in the same photograph.  I had to laugh as they reminded me of three groomsman at a wedding in white tuxedos.

I then headed back and parked across from Union Depot at 21st St and waited to see what would happen next.  This gave me the chance to take a few photos from different angles of the old depot.

At 10:17 a northbound UP freight went by with units 8668/8184 but the photo I took was not in focus.  I could hear Amtrak #11 coming into Tacoma on the scanner and after its station stop continued south past with the 68/75 at 10:36 AM.

I figured the northbound Talgo would be next and I was right as at 10:58 the 90340 led train #500 into Tacoma with Amtrak 465 shoving on the rear. 

Not much was happening after that at this end but I could hear some trains arriving at the north end of the yard so I headed out that way.  I ended up going out to the Tacoma Belt Line’s yard and checking out the now closed Ceeco facility.  I wanted to see if a photo of SW1200 217 stored here was possible but it was not.  It was under a large canopy so no photos of this ex-BN/NP locomotive.  A bit more exploring turned up TMBL 201, a former UP caboose at the TMBL yard right alongside the highway.

I then went back to town for some lunch and then to the D Street overpass as the light was pretty good there both ways.  A BNSF local had just arrived from the north with units 1520/2109/7184/2720 (GP28M/GP38-2/SD40-2/GP39-2) making for a nice variety.  Here the power has cut off the train and is backing into the engine facility.

I had to photograph the 7184 because these SD40-2′s are getting harder to find out on the main line nowadays, plus it has kept its original headlight location between the numberboards making it appear more BN looking than ATSF.  The 7184 was built by GMDD in Canada 9/79 as the BN 7184. 

BNSF GP28M 1520 is the ex-BN 1520 built from traded in parts of BN 1365, a former Great Northern GP5 which itself was built from parts of GN FTB 426C.  I also wondered if the car shops in the background was an original NP design.  The end looks exactly the same as the NP car shops at Pasco, WA. 

Next a BNSF transfer arrived with BNSF 2265/7132 leading some autoracks.  The power cut off the south end and moved ahead before going off to another track and tying up.  BNSF 2265 is former Frisco GP38-2 410 and has been “tagged” on the side.

BNSF C44-9W 5453 came out of the engine facility and made its way to the turntable.

And here it takes a spin.  I believe this is the original NP Tacoma turntable.  Who know what NP steam power might have ridden this same turntable.

I then left the overpass and drove down towards Temco to see if GP9 1611 (former GN GP9) was in a position to photograph but it was not so I headed back to D street missing southbound BNSF and UP freights (almost side by side!) on the way.  I parked and then watched a northbound UP baretable pass by before I could even get to the overpass!  Three trains missed just like that!  The UP baretable stopped at Reservation so I figured another southbound must be coming.  After a few moments I heard horns but they were behind me.  I hurried to the other side in time to photograph a northbound Herzog train being led by BNSF GP39-2 2948 still in ATSF paint at 1:45 PM.

Sure enough the UP baretable was waiting on a southbound, the BNSF M-EVEVAW which was lined into the yard.  Leading was the 634/987/709/735/1057/4639.

Once the M-EVEVAW was clear of Reservation the UP baretable left and was soon followed by another northbound UP train led by 7631/5514/4343 at 2:04 PM.

While it was still early it was getting warm out and I knew traffic would be worse later so I left and headed for home.  But I thought I had done pretty well as far as catching some interesting stuff.  It was a good day!

As the Renton Boeing plant is accessed from the Seattle Sub at Tukwila now by BNSF this report would seem to fit in this Blog.  On Wednesday 5-20-09 I had the day off work and around 1:00 PM could hear horns blowing from the south while at home.  So I headed down near Boeing’s and saw the headlight of the northbound Renton Local approaching.  They left their train in the siding and continued light power up to the switch where they backed into the Boeing plant on the former NP as they had no cars to deliver today but some to pick up.

In the Renton area this short stub track to the Boeing plant is the sole remaining section of the former Northern Pacific line in service south of Bellevue that once ran to Woodinville and Sumas out of Renton.  The NP north of here to Bellevue is out of service and the old NP south of the Boeing facility to Black River was removed years ago.  Trains have used the former Pacific Coast line from Black River to the switch here rejoining the former NP, since the old NP tracks through Renton were removed after the BN merger.  Trailing the 2258 is GP39-2 2786 which is a former Santa Fe unit. 

This is the first time I have seen two repainted units in the new image.  I got some lunch at Kidd Valley and waited for the power to return.  It soon came out with a couple of empty Boeing cars and went back to its train, switched all the cars onto the main track and then the power ran down the siding to the south end, backing onto the train to depart.  I drove to the new Cedar River bridge crossing as I had not photographed a train here since the old Pacific Coast bridge had been replaced with a new structure that the larger Boeing 737′s can pass through.  Large clouds were building and getting closer to the sun and the sun did go away as the train approached.  I figured it would be a pretty dark shot but to my surprise the cloud backed off long enough for the train to pass!  I telephoto’d the first shot pretty tight, just in case the sun did get nailed by the cloud I would at least have one nice sunlit shot.

But the sun remained out as the train moved out onto the new Cedar River bridge.  The train had the 2 Boeing cars, a tank car and four doublestack cars of garbage picked up in Tukwila earlier.  Notice the traffic on southbound I-405.  Glad I wasn’t in that mess today!   

And the “turn around” shot as the BNSF 2258 enters the Renton street running towards the depot. 

This brings back memories of seeing Milwaukee Road trains coming down this same street in the 1970′s and a 1969 photo in the local paper of the NP’s North Coast Limited detouring through Renton and out the Milwaukee when Stampede Pass was shut down after a washout.  I was hoping I might see the Renton Local today and I was not disappointed.

Last Wednesday after photographing some BNSF power at South Seattle I started north on Airport Way and looking over to my right noticed I was being passed by BNSF SD40-2 7132 also headed north.  I quickly got ahead and pulled off near Argo to photograph the train with BNSF 7132/2930/2273 up front.

The BNSF 2930 is former Union Pacific GP35 753 and was rebuilt to BN GP39E 2930 in October of 1989.

A back shot shows the train continuing north into Seattle and on to Interbay. 

With all the BNSF GE’s now on the roster, catching these older EMD’s on the mainline is really a treat.

Friday afternoon 3-6-09 while driving north to Everett I made a run by of South Seattle to see what the evening Z would have for power.  Used to seeing BNSF GEVO’s and H2 C44-9W’s I wasn’t expecting much but hoped for a Warbonnet or maybe an H1 C44-9W somewhere in the lashup.

I could see there was an H2 C44-9W at the west end of the power as I approached but it looked different from a distance.  Turned out to be the BNSF 4097 with a partially primered front end along with a gray front door.  It was unusual enough to get me to stop for some photos.  Here is the entire lashup of BNSF 4097/4817/5366/993 with a Tacoma bound stack train waiting for a crew in the distance.

A telephoto brings out the entire front end of the BNSF C44-9W.

I doubt I would have even photographed the 4097 had it not been for the primered front end.  I then took a standard roster shot of the BNSF 4097.

I walked down to the BNSF 993 at the east end of the consist and took a rear end roster photo as the sun angle was not good for a front end shot.  The H1 paint scheme without a doubt looks great on a C44-9W.  Really too bad BNSF did not stick with it.

The air conditioner cover even matches the rest of the unit!  There had been some discussion that BNSF was going to renumber these units into the 4200 and 5500 series sometime soon but that is apparently not going to happen after all.  But at least I have this shot of the 993 now just in case.

On this date 20 years ago the Seattle Sub had to deal with a lot of snow in the Seattle area.  A lot of people say it does not snow much here in March but these photos tell a different story.

On Thursday March 2, 1989 it was snowing heavily in the morning.  Work was shut down for the day so I was out photographing trains.  I was at Argo around 08:30 AM and caught southbound #693 with SD40-2′s 7098/8060/7837 slowly heading out of Argo at 08:50 AM.

I then quickly drove down to Military Road and caught the 7098 here at speed.

I checked out Stacy Street Yard next and found a couple of southbounds side by side. 

BN 6349/7039 would be heading out on train #692 later and BN 2079 would take a transfer out later in the day as well.

Before noon I was back at Argo where I photographed southbound train #91 with BN 3120/4001 at 12:00 PM.

At 1:10 PM I photographed BN 389 on a switch job on the west side of the drawbridge coming into West Seattle.

In all 12″ of snow fell on 3-2-89.  It was a pretty odd day for photographing trains! 

March 2, 2009 on the other hand was pretty tame in comparison.  A little rain, a bit of sunshine and temps in the 50′s.