Western Railroad Discussion > A Preview of Scenes to Come

The passenger train Bypass-Bypass in the Tacoma area is fast nearing completion.
For those who don’t know about this, here is a thumbnail sketch.  Sometime next year, all passenger trains (yes, Starlight too), will move from the BNSF Seattle sub to the newly rebuilt passenger train route through Dupont, Lakewood and South Tacoma.  Trains will leave the BNSF mains at Nisqually and operate in part, on what was the former NP Prairie line, thus bypassing the Pt. Defiance Bypass (built to take trains off the Prairie line).   The existing Freight traffic will continue to operate as far north as about M St in South Tacoma, beyond which is the “missing half mile”, that is the connection between the NP Prairie line and the Milwaukee Road main line.    As part of this project, the historic Milwaukee Trestle will be replaced with a double track concrete viaduct and the east end (RR North) of the Freighthouse will be rebuilt to be the new passenger station.
 
Sounder commuter trains already use this line as far south as Lakewood.   I’ve been trying to keep an eye on the progress of rebuilding the line between the Lakewood and Nisqually, and just happened upon the Roy Turn on Saturday. 
The Roy Turn, like so many other similarly named trains, no longer actually goes to Roy, and it may never do so again.   A couple years ago the only customer in Roy, Wilcox Farms, had a silo collapse, killing an employee.  Since then, the facility was razed and Wilcox Farms is being served by Tacoma Rail at a team track in nearby Mckenna. 
Besides bringing cars to exchange with Tacoma Rail at Dupont, the Roy turn occasionally makes a run out to Joint Base Lewis-Mcchord (JBLM), which it was doing yesterday.
Here are a few shots of the train working mostly over the section between Dupont and Lakewood, with rebuilt CWR track and the old wobbly stick track.  Inherent to this images are the previews of what the Cascades and Starlight passenger will get in trade for the loss of the scenic views along the South Puget Sound.

1)  Along I-5 at Tillicum is the Roy Turn charging along shoving-platform first at the current maximum speed of 10 mph.

2)  The going away shot.This section features wonderful view of the traffic on I-5 and scenes of backs of businesses along with and engaging characters that inhabit the area.

3)  Transitioning to Lakewood on the already well-groomed roadbed of concrete ties and welded rail, with scenic I-5 and a brief forest scene.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/16 20:45 by DelMonteX.

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4) Here we are at the outskirts of Lakewood, just after passing under Gravelly Lake Rd and Pacific Hwy (above the train).  The calming scenes of I-5 traffic are behind us now, replaced with the backsides of Loan Sharks, Restaurants, Small Arms Dealers, Cheap Furniture Stores, vacant buildings, vacant lots and the back yards of ever-so pleased homeowners.

5) The going-away shot as the train approaches a signal that at the moment only displays yellow.

6) Here’s a shot of the some of the extant original roadbed, clearly demonstrating the need for a 10mph speed.  Love to see a Talgo train makes its way over that track.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/16 20:47 by DelMonteX.

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7) Shoving gently through the crossing at Bridgeport Way, with all the appreciative train watchers in their cars.  Starlight Passengers will delight in the scenes of fast food restaurants while enjoying their carefully re-heated dinner.
 
8) The train has just passed the Lakewood Sounder station (the structure in the background) and is approaching the line to JBLM, the track in the foreground.  Sounder passenger are already accustomed to the enthralling views of this neighborhood – apartment buildings, industrial buildings and the Sounder Coach yard.
 
9) Here we are at the 108th St crossing, which to the wonderment of the drivers, the Roy turn must block for an extended period of time while the switch to the JBLM track is thrown…

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/16 20:48 by DelMonteX.

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10) And then the derail.Here it is closed.
 
11) Halfway
 
12) And finally opened.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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13)  Off they go to clear the crossing the mainline and the derail.

14) Closing the derail behind them,
 
15 ) And finally crossing the ever-so scenic I-5 in the midst of a bit of a downpour.  Mt. Rainier Scenic RR anyone?

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/16 20:49 by DelMonteX.

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Great coverage and photos.  Switching moves and locals are always awesome to watch.
Brian Stevens

Excellent post...thanks Steve! I drove through here on I-5 a few weeks ago and wondered what all the rail upgrades were for. I even meant to inquire about it here but by the time I got back on-line, it slipped my mind. Thanks much for the informative post, and great shots.

Wow, talk about different as night and day track structure!
JB

Thank you for the tour of Tacoma's finer neighborhoods! :-)

Tom Y

I wonder how long it will take before they get tired of the sharp curves leading to the pair of bridges over I-5 just out of Nisqually Jct? I figure they will build new overpasses on a new alignment that elminates the curves for the most part.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=47.08134,-122.67624&z=15&t=T
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/16 09:42 by funnelfan.

The Point Defiance Bypass is a good thing.  The area in and around Tacoma can experience major congestion at times.  NB UP trains may have to wait (and die on hours) to get into thier Fife yard.  Grain trains slowly arrive and depart at the grain terminal.  WB stack trains that terminate at Tacoma have to stop past the yard and make a lengthy reverse move into the Port of Tacoma...and the opposite move for EB stack trains that originate and come out of the Port.  All the while, freight trains up to 30 miles in each direction have to start getting out of the way for the Amtrak trains.  Don't forget the planned addition of two more Cascades round-trips.  Yes, the bypass is a very good thing.

Not sure I see that happening any time soon.  As far as I know, it's not part of current plan.   In fact the plan calls for upgrading the current lakewood sub bridge, which is happening now.

funnelfan Wrote:
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> I wonder how long it will take before they get
> tired of the sharp curves leading to the pair of
> bridges over I-5 just out of Nisqually Jct? I
> figure they will build new overpasses on a new
> alignment that elminates the curves for the most
> part.
>
> http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=47.08134,-122.67624&z=1
> 5&t=T
>  

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder how long it will take before they get
> tired of the sharp curves leading to the pair of
> bridges over I-5 just out of Nisqually Jct? I
> figure they will build new overpasses on a new
> alignment that elminates the curves for the most
> part.

Tired of it from the outset, but not enough money to do anything about it. If you have the original long range plan of 2007, you will find something on the proposed connection, which would involve a long, high 100 mph curve.

There is a trick to incremental improvement. Everything that is built must have immediate utility. The needed immediate utility right now is more trains a bit faster, not the same trains a lot faster. The high speed rail money had to be divided among all of the states. Washington got a really big chunk of it, enough to allow more trains a bit faster. The current Vancouver, Kalama, Longview, Point Defiance Bypass, and King Street Station projects that the federal funding covered filled out what copuld be done with the funding that was available.

TAW