On a stunningly beautiful day, Cascades 509 rolls by the abandoned marina at Saltar Point just south of Steilacoom. Calm water's reflect a brilliant blue sky.

Recently rebuilt and repainted at CEECO, #98 is awaiting #90, before being sent north. This is part of CEECO's swan song, as the facility will be closing later this year. Sad, very sad, more tha... (more)

It's been clear for a couple hours that a stunning sunset is on the menu and I've been looking for a different location in which to catch a train. I think I've found it! Add in a reflection off th... (more)

It's nearly noon, and the WB Empire Builder is a few hours late. Standing a couple feet from the edge of the torrent that is Sunset Falls, trains crossing the bridge are very quite and constant a... (more)

A sense of scale! Nearly 46 miles distant from the Starlight's path, Mt. Rainier dominates the scene. The train is merely a Z scale model in comparison. Anderson Island provided this uncommon ... (more)

On a crystal clear spring day (finally), #11 rolls over the Chamber's Creek Lift bridge a few minutes behind schedule. The snow covered Olympic mountains provide a dramatic backdrop to the otherw... (more)

A quickly fading sunset along the Puget Sound, provides a dramatic setting for a UP freight trying to make it to Fife, WA before the crews hours are up. Hidden in the darkness is BNSF's bridge 15... (more)

The Christine Anderson momentarily halts boarding as #509 streaks through the S curves, along the shores of Washington State's first incorporated city, Steilacoom. The original NP Point Defiance... (more)

Golden Garbage! Most of the time this would be a shot requiring a boat, or I'd be standing in water up to my neck. Low tide provided access at just the right time to catch this glint shot of UP'... (more)

I'm tooling around Tacoma after fixing the "little trains" only to realize I've seriously misjudged the sunset. I should be at Steilacoom, but that's a half hour away. Where, where can I go to c... (more)

Thanks again to the ATCS monitor system, a group of us were prepared for a westbound out of the Cascade tunnel. It was dark, I mean really dark. Huddled on the side of a snow hill, I had plenty... (more)

The Cascade Tunnel spits out another train. Vehicle trains (Autoracks) make for a nice even canvas to paint some light on and this one worked out nicely. Railroad: BNSF Railway
Locomotive: n/a
Location: Berne, Washington, USA
Locomotive #: n/a
Train ID: n/a
Photo Date: January 23, 2009

Thanks to some high tech info courtesy of David Honan (a new RP contributor) and his ATCS setup, we knew this train h... (more)

A sight not often seen - heavy sea (sound) level snow. A UP northbound manifest rolls through snow and past some Christmas lights in Steilacoom.

An evening with a stunning sunset over Mt Rainier and the South Puget Sound, was lacking one element, trains. So I was forced to wait until after dark for the first train. I've also been wonderi... (more)