December 21, 2010 was officially the winter solstice which means 15 hours and 20 minutes of darkness in Vancouver…
Amtrak Cascades train 509 arrived in Vancouver around 8:35pm. With 3 hours and 10 minutes more until it arrives in Eugene it will be on the move only a small portion of the remaining night. Once 509 arrives in Eugene there is still much work to be done. The train will be fueled, serviced, turned, and cleaned in preparation for departure at 5:30am on 12/22, still more than 2 hours before sunrise. This train certainly has a long night ahead. With an approach medium at the Oregon Slough to cross over around the Subaru Job, the night may be just that much longer.
The Port of Vancouver hosts Subaru as one of its tenants while The Port of Portland hosts Honda and Ford. Together they generate several trains a week of new automobiles for points all over the U.S. The problem is the two facilities are a couple of miles apart. Enter BNSF’s Subaru Job. The Subaru Job shuttles loaded and empty auto racks between the Subaru facility in Vancouver and the Rivergate/T6 facility at the Port of Portland. Most evenings it departs Vancouver with loads after 6:30pm and arrives back with empties around 9pm. At 8:57pm, with not even 1/3 of the long night past, a crewman on the Subaru Job lines the south end of the NP Pass to let the job into so the empties can be spotted.
It’s a long night ahead.
