Late on a very hot summer afternoon, an eastbound loaded coal train is in the charge of a half-dozen big GEs working hard up the 1% grade out of Woodside. The massive Book Cliffs loom in the dist... (more)

The light at the end of the tunnel is, in fact, an approaching train: In less than a second, a westbound will emerge from the darkness of Cascade Tunnel into the gloom of a twilit evening. The h... (more)

A few miles south of where I-90 crosses the Columbia River in eastern Washington is a quiet town called Beverly. Tucked against the slowly-drifting river in the shadow of the Saddle Mountains, Bev... (more)

Stranger in a strange land: An MRL Officer Car Special cruises along Puget Sound at Carkeek Park near Blue Ridge, WA, running from New Westminster, BC to Missoula, MT via Seattle and Stampe... (more)

Red at night, railfans' delight. An incredible sunset provided a spectacular end to an incredible day spent by a group of Northwesterners on BNSF's Needles Sub on February 25th. This was ... (more)

In the blue gloom of a winter evening's twilight, the headlights of an eastbound stack train illuminate the west portal and interior of Cascade Tunnel. Ahead, pierced only by the light carried by ... (more)

After dumping rain across northern Wyoming and southern Montana all morning, storm clouds are starting to break up as a loaded coal train from Spring Creek Mine struggles to climb the 1% grade out... (more)

A college student ponders the mysteries of the universe as the sun sets over Puget Sound. Her thoughts clearly don't extend to wondering when the next train might come by...


(Bonus po... (more)

Steam over Snoqualmie Falls
It's been 25 years since a steam engine last ran in Snoqualmie, but the 2014 Railroad Days festival heralds the return of steam-driven locomotion to the Nor... (more)

A typical winter day in Montana: Big skies, frigidly cold, impressive mountains looming on the horizon, and a wind-scoured landscape with drifts of snow piled in the lee of every contour. Throug... (more)

During the record-breaking heat wave in Seattle this past week my thoughts turned to staying cool, which naturally led to fond memories of Stevens Pass in winter. On one such journey in January o... (more)

It's time to play Orin Sub Alphabet Soup! Seven trains are visible in this scene captured at Reno Junction on a beautiful summer morning marred by a cloud of dust drifting west from Black ... (more)

Walking on water: Wielding a "calibrated ballast density meter," fellow RP contributor Bob Harbison inspects the... (more)

Turbopower no more. Once the pride of Amtrak's Empire Service fleet, the lone RTL-II Turboliner set is now slowly crumbling away behind the former Super Steel Schenectady plant. Thi... (more)

Some 44 years and change after Tom Sink's recently-posted photo, I found myself at the same location, only I was sur... (more)