Archive for September, 2007

As promised!

Just for some context, I work 4 10 hr days on my current job I’m wrapping up. This last week I went on site, which is in Tacoma, but stayed in Seattle and utilized the reverse commute Sounder Train to get to and from work.

I stayed at a hotel close to the King Street Station called Pioneer Hotel (owned by Best Western, but it is a nice boutique style hotel built in 1914). From there I’d rise in the morning and walk the dozen blocks to King Street Station. Once I arrived in Tacoma I’d take the streetcar to downtown Tacoma where I’d go to work. Transit rocks, and definitely commuter rail!

For a point by point of all the commuting rail action, just select the direction and trip below.

Day 1 - Monday 24th

• A Week of Sounder Commuting
• Cascades #1008

Day 2 - Tuesday 25th

• Sounder #1501 - Trip One on Tuesday
• Sounder #1510 - Tuesday North Bound
• Sounder #1510 Becomes Express #594

Day 3 - Wednesday 26th

• Sounder #1501 - Wednesday’s Trip Number One
• Sounder #1510 North Bound for the First Time

Day 4 - Thursday 27th

• Sounder #1501 - Thursday Morning’s Declining Exuberance
• Sounder #1510 - Thursday North Bound

Day 5 - Friday 28th

• Cascades #1001 - Departing to Tacoma

Supposedly, per the Oregonian, one of the Talgo sets will be back today!!!!

I don’t have the information on which time slot the set returning will fill, but whichever one it does, it’ll be nice to have that 45 minutes back on the trip to Seattle!

Thank you Amtrak & WSDOT for getting this straightened out quick like!

The Sound Transit Sounder Commuter Train will be starting a new frequency heading in a new direction next week. The Sounder will have a reverse commute heading from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning and a trip back from Tacoma in the evening.

Next week I’ll be traveling to Seattle to do some work. While there I will be using the reverse Sounder frequency addition to travel from downtown Seattle to Tacoma. I’m expecting it will go very smoothly. I’m going to keep a log of my trips at Transit Sleuth and then will be publishing them in consolidated format here in Dogcaught in about a week.

Full Report Due: Saturday the 29th of 2007

First off, the cool stuff about Port of Tacoma.

The Port of Tacoma is working on, as one of the port workers informed us today, to become the second largest port in the United States. It seems there is a lot left for this to be done, but I think they could get there with continued efforts.

The tour was really cool riding along in smooth comfort on port Amtrak coach cars through the port. There where announcers in each car, and additionally what was obviously some port workers in each car too, touring their own port. While aboard we left the Tacoma Rail yard and weaved through and across streets, viewing the primary waterway and the huge cranes that lift the cargo containers off of the ships. Interesting factoid, the Port of Tacoma moves over 2 million 20ft equivalent cargo containers per year. 70% of that is moved out of port by rail.

Second Topic, Tacoma Rail.

Tacoma Rail itself was also an interesting exhibit itself. We where able to walk freely through a diesel engine, in through a maintenance warehouse, and they also had a Lionel train set on display.

The real kicker started when we where able to board the touring train. The passenger coach cars where in great shape. As mentioned earlier they are ex-Amtrak cars which obviously are either fixed up or barely used. The tour of course went off well.

I’ve returned home tonight after the tour and dug up some interesting information about the Tacoma Rail System.

• 204 miles of track.
• 100,000 line hauls per year.
• Infrastructure has recently been upgraded in the last decade for dozens and dozens of additional track mileage.
• For a break down of their three divisions; Tidelands, Mountain, and Capitol check out their maps page which is marked up via Google Maps.

I came home with a fun trip, good information, and a better understanding of port operations.

One thing that is great about this time of year is that the good sunset lighting is at a time which works well for the occasional grab shot or something that can otherwise be worked into a “typical” evening.  On Wednesday I had an appointment downtown and found myself down at the depot with a few minutes to spare.  Hence, a photo of a UP stack train crossing over:

And on that note, I’m off to explore Tacoma Rail with Adron…

Hello All, Adron here writing up my first entry for Dogcaught. Some of you might be familiar from my Transit Sleuth Blog. I’ll be covering a range of topics in writing for Dogcaught; rail trips, rail projects, a bit of news, and hopefully soon some pictures to add soon.

So I’m going to start right off with an upcoming trip to Tacoma to check out Tacoma Rail. The port will be open on Saturday the 15th for the Maritime Festival. Several people will be taking the Amtrak Cascades #1000 north bound and heading back on #1009. This sounds like an interesting trip as I’ll get the lowdown on the railroad that serves the Port of Tacoma. I’m sure I’ll be able to find out some information about that railroad’s interaction with BNSF and Union Pacific also. If anyone will be heading that way this coming weekend, keep an eye peeled and we could share some snack bar conversation.

I will be finishing up my search and purchase of a new digital SLR in the coming weeks. Within the next few weeks I’m hoping to also make another long distance rail trip, with the newly purchased camera it should be a great trip.

So stay tuned, I’ll have more rail ramblings coming to Dogcaught in the near future.

With the nice early September sun shining around the depot I was able to capture some of the vibrant colors of railroading today. Both UP’s and BNSF’s (former Santa Fe) are classic paint schemes and I’m happy they were relatively clean and on the point.

Its sad that railroad corporations today don’t feel they can spend more on keeping their equipment clean. Sharp looking paint scheme’s like those found on UP 8609 and BNSF 775 deserve to be bright and shiny and not hidden under multiple layers of grime. Sadly I understand the realities of business but with railroads enjoying strong profitability I wish they could pry a couple million from the budget for more frequent washings.

Until I’m COO I guess I get what I get…

A northbound UP baretable with a new SD70 leading passes the Vancouver, WA Amtrak station

BNSF’s Everett-Albina train stops momentarily at the Vancouver station platform to pick up a Union Pacific pilot for the trip into Albina Yard.

I’m excited to add another contributor to Dogcaught.  You should be seeing the first post from Adron Hall shortly.  Adron is a lifelong rail enthusiast and brings a great deal of knowledge of transportation and transit policy and politics.  He’s also an aspiring photographer and I’ve recently had some chats with him about photography equipment.  I look forward to his writing, and eventually his photos as another voice here on this site.

Welcome aboard!

In preparation for my upcoming adventure to Southern California and Arizona I purchased a 1.4X extender. With the vast desert landscapes there are certainly opportunities for interesting tele-smash photos including trains and the desolate hills in the background. To achieve some of that style of photography I thought I’d expand my reach a bit with the 1.4X extender. While an extender is a compromise it works well with many of Canon’s L lenses including the 70-200mm f/2.8 that I have. This morning I thought I’d try it out at my familiar stomping ground to see how it works in the real world.

All photos are at 280mm…because I could…

UP’s GLSE heads north of the Columbia Draw

UP’s A SEBA crosses over at the Center