Tacoma Rail's hill job summits the 3% grade at 46th St as the sun rises this crisp autumn morning.
The hill job, which runs 4 times a week, shuttles cars from Fife (Port of Tacoma) to Fredrickson, WA and back using the ex-Milwaukee Road mainline, the mountain division to get the cars to their customers.
Two SD70ACe-P4s are often all that is needed to climb the grade that begins at Portland Ave.
It's hard to believe this train is slated to soon permanently discontinue service in favor of the WRL, which operates track between Centralia and Fredrickson, to handle the Fredrickson traffic.
