The Empire Builder Portland section speeds through the east part of Vancouver on its way to towards its destination of Portland, OR.
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On April 17 I found myself at Kalama, Washington with quite a dilemma. Which way do I shoot? I had trains coming at me both directions and with two tracks if the wrong train was on the right track I wouldn’t be able to photograph one of them.
First the detector at MP 113.5 goes off. With over 500 axles the northbound was certainly a coal train. One piece of good news, it was on main 2 opposite of the side I was on.
Next, Amtrak train 507 calls a diverging clear 2 to 1 at Kelso South.
Which one would get to me first? While the coal train is much closer it is not moving at the same rate as Amtrak. So which way do I shoot?
I bet Amtrak would be first so I got myself into position. Once there I could hear the coal train blowing for Todd Rd. about 1/2 mile to my south. Great, it looks like the coal train is first. I quickly changed lenses and recomposed for the coal train while continuing to look over my shoulder for Amtrak. No Amtrak as the coal train arrived so I made my photo as planned.
After the head end of the coal train screamed by I again changed lenses and recomposed for Amtrak. It’s a good thing I hurried because the glow off the rails told me Amtrak was just around the corner. A flurry of shutter clicks later 507 was gone.
In the end the photos I took of the head end of the two trains didn’t capture the true essence of what I’d just witnessed so this photo of both train became my favorite. Which way do I shoot? Right down the middle!
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When I moved to Vancouver in 1993 I didn’t know where everything was railfan wise. It took a bit of map reading and driving around to find all the interesting spots to see trains around town. On one trip to Tacoma on Amtrak’s Mt. Rainier (predecessor to today’s Cascades) I noted in a small grade crossing north of Vancouver which looked like something to investigate. Of course since the train was going 70+ mph the crossing was mostly a blur but that fleeting view was enough to get me over to Felida Rd. (NW 122 St.) for some railfanning.
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It was nice to see some sun in Vancouver this morning! After a week that felt more like spring than winter it was good to be able to top it off with a sunny day photograph.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder crosses the Columbia River and begins to accelerate away from the Vancouver, WA depot.
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Now that there are two tracks at 11th Street there is more of a chance that Amtrak patrons will get caught waiting like these 9 cars this morning. Of course all 9 of these rigs could have saved a 26 minute wait by using the 6th Street underpass. Maybe the city needs to invest in some new signs?
While a yard crew takes the first 3/4 of the M-PASVAW over the hill Amtrak patrons wait. The road power
for the M-PASVAW starts moving back to its train at Eighth Street.
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