Western Railroad Discussion > Summer Sounder Shots

Having found myself stuck north of Seattle after a doctor’s appointment, I figured why not make the best of it until commute traffic subsides.      A quick lunch at Dick’s Drive-in, I headed off to Carkeek Park in north Seattle.   Limited mobility due to a pending knee replacement, kept my close to the parking lot, where there is a nice place to sit and wait for the commute traffic (Sounders).
1)    First up is train 1700, complete with two units 921 and 903, and two cars.
2)    Train 1700 again at the point.
3)    Train 1702 showed up just about on time 

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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4)    Train 1702 at the point.
5)    Not long after 1702 a west bound freight, featuring a Warbonnet  as a leader. 
6)    Just missed a meet with the Empire Builder, only a few minutes in to its run to Chicago. 

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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7)    The Builder has 3 private cars on this run. 
8)    After the Builder, it was time to move on,  I headed north to Richmond Beach park and found this location (not hard to do) above the park, that features my previous location in the background.
9)    Starting to get a bit late and I had a good hour and half drive home , minus trains and traffic.  The “scenic” route found me face with the power off the west bound freight I shot earlier in the afternoon. This shot shows of the other interesting power in the consist, a GP60B. 

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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10)    Before leaving Seattle, I swung by the little bit of Alaska Railroad located in Washington State and found them busy unloading the barge.  Here’s the UP pulling cars with the Space Needle in the background. 
11)    Thought I throw in two more Sounder shots.  These from Tacoma.   Here is train 1509, the first afternoon train to Lakewood, traversing the rebuilt NP Prairie line on the 2.85% grade out of Tacoma. 
12)    Here’s the next train, 1511, at M Street. 

Hope you enjoyed the images. 

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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Steve,

Very nice series!  All the times recently I've been at either Carkeek or Bridge 6.3 during the afternoon commute, and I haven't seen any Sounders with 2 engines!  (I'm guessing the #903 had some sort of breakdown and the #921 was coupled on to assist?)

The private cars on the Builder are all owned by Iowa Pacific: 9 double bedroom (ex-11 double bedroom) sleeper Baton Rouge, full dome lounge Sky View, and 5 section-6 roomette-4 double bedroom (originally had 6 sections) sleeper Colorado Pine.  (I see they gave the Builder 2 engines for once because of it.)

Nice shots!

bobk Wrote:
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> Nice shots!

+1....!!