Western Railroad Discussion > Boeing Job Shoving Up Mukilteo Grade to the Everett Factory

March 23, 2023 / 11:46 am

i shot this short video a couple years ago, but I still enjoy watching and hearing the throttle-up as BNSF's usual Boeing Job GP38-2s (2080/2081) push a train of oversized parts containers up the 5.6% Japanese Gulch grade from Mukilteo Siding to Boeing's widebody jet factory in Everett, WA, north of Seattle. While I'm not 100% positive, I've been told the flat wide containers house incoming Boeing 777 wing box assemblies. Perhaps those more knowledgeable might chime in. Enjoy the smoke show...

• Tom in Seattle

 

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Very cool.  Thanks for sharing this.

What is the distance from the siding to the factory?

Steve  

Tell me about these "double-wide" containers?  Where can they  operate?

Out of curiosity, do you know where the double wide loads on the last 2 cars were made up? I would think they are excess width and couldn’t travel too far like that. Very innovative, and I thought something like that would be the next step in intermodal transport.

Posted from iPhone

Look at Google Maps - they arrive by barge at the Mukilteo terminal (you'll see some on a barge and the dock there) and are brought up to the Boeing Everett 777-9 assembly plant (you'll see them there, too). You'll even see a couple on a train making its way up the hill.

Ray



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/25 18:09 by Ray_Murphy.

Very cool and unique!

Tier -4.

779 only plane built there now?

Ray_Murphy Wrote:
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> Look at Google Maps - they arrive by barge at the
> Mukilteo terminal (you'll see some on a barge and
> the dock there)

And before that dock was built at Mukilteo, the excess width containers were loaded onto flatcar at the Port of Everett, 4 miles to the north.  When it was time to move them, the Boeing Job would always run on Main 1 (track closest Puget Sound) due to clearances while the dispatcher would have a "no meet/no pass" situation on Main 2 due to the width.  

Thank you all for the answers

Posted from iPhone

Ray_Murphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Look at Google Maps - they arrive by barge at the
> Mukilteo terminal (you'll see some on a barge and
> the dock there) and are brought up to the Boeing
> Everett 777-9 assembly plant (you'll see them
> there, too). You'll even see a couple on a train
> making its way up the hill.
>
> Ra y

 Fascinating video .I was so courious i Googled earth too. Where do the  wide load parts come from, overseas? Very unique operation.Google earth shows the staging area for the fuselage loads we often see photos of  and  the assembly buildings with the runway. Parts come in by rail and fly away  as  aircraft.

Great video, Tom.  For all the years I lived in Lynnwood, for some reason I never photographed this train.  It's one of the few things I regret not doing.
Bob A

Very nicely done, the close ups of the caboose and crew, the extra wides, the engines in full power, and then, letting the sound of the departed train continue to fill the scene.

That widest container ... 24 feet wide? Or more?
Can it go on a ship, on top of standard containers?

The first 4or 5 containers  i thought were double stacks. After looking again at the video  i realized they were single containers twice as tall.  Where else is there an active spur exceeding a five percent grade in the US?

Exellent video! And that retaining wall reminds me of a similar,  but smaller one in San Bernardino, CA. Behind McDonald's off University and  I-215. It has no Cement filling inside back of each rectangle, so it has become a Squirrel Condo Haven! Great place to pull over and eat on way to Cajon, and watch all the Squirrels fight over a piece of food! (Image from Google maps)

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/25 10:52 by RailRat.

---

Thank you all for the nice comments, and for the additional detail info; I sure appreciate it.

So far as I know, all 787 builds are now completed in Charleston, South Carolina.  Everett still builds 767 and 777 series widebodies, including freight-only versions, military tankers, and the new-ish 777-9 (formally 777X), and are planning to open a narrow body line next year for the 737MAX-10 airplanes; the other 737 models are still built in Renton, WA.

As I understand it, the assemblies in those containers are built at places like Mitsubishi and Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan, with other containerized assemblies from other manufacturers in the US. The assemblies are often mounted inside the containers on their build jigs, which sometimes double as shipping bucks as well. You can usually find them positioned outside their containers up at the receiving facility at the top of the grade, awaiting movement into the plant.

Medium-sized self-loading container and bulk loading ships call at Port of Everett to unload onto the Boeing container farm at the port's central dock; but they also arrive in Seattle on larger container ships, after which they are barged to Everett to unload until the factory calls for them. Other times the barged containers arrive directly at Mukilteo's Mt. Baker Terminal barge dock if they are called for immediately. The Boeing Job works at least several days a week roughly between 11:00-ish to 1:00-ish moving the containers up the hill and bringing empties back down to Mukilteo siding; though I've seen them at many other times of the day so it's hard to predict if and when you'll catch them; it all depends on what the factory needs and other BNSF considerations.

Distance up the hill probably isn't more than a mile or two--if even that--but I don't know the exact distance traveled. I've been told that the two Geeps have extended range dynamic braking, though I'm a bit fuzzy on what all that entails. And other Geeps are also sometimes used when the 2080 or 2081 are otherwise working or in the shop, one of those regularly seen being BNSF 2076, though I don't know if their dynamics are similarly modified.

If you do railfan this, be sure to stay well clear of the tracks and concrete blocks protecting them, as you can see how much these wide containers hang over the barriers and conceivably you can get whacked during a movement if you're too close to them.

Also note the usual Boeing Job caboose ###14 in the video. While technically a shove platform, they do have some seats and a heater in there to keep crews comfy while they await the call to move up the hill in bad weather. BNSF crews have invariably been friendly any time I've had the chance to pass some time with them as they waited.

Sorry for the word wander, but I hope this helps.

• Tom (Seattle)
 

Sasquatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The
> Boeing Job works at least several days a week

If I remember correctly, their regular bulletinned days are Sunday through Thursday.  With the abolishment of the Goldbar Turn years ago, they also handle all work east to Skykomish,

> I've been told that the
> two Geeps have extended range dynamic braking,
> though I'm a bit fuzzy on what all that entails.
> And other Geeps are also sometimes used when the
> 2080 or 2081 are otherwise working or in the shop,
> one of those regularly seen being BNSF 2076,

There are only four GP38-2s modified for use on the hill: BNSF 2076, 2080, 2081 and 2361.  They do have extended range dynamic braking as well as oil pan baffles for the engines.  I'm not sure of other mods.

SGillings Wrote:
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> What is the distance from the siding to the
> factory?

According to Northwest Division Timetable No. 10, (I've been told by a reliable source, the last
paper employee timetable issued by BNSF), the distance of the "Boeing Plant on Spur" is 9,220 feet
from MP28.9, which is the location shown for the station named: "CP MUKILTEO". This equates
to 1.746 miles which is by far the majority of the distance travelled while "on the ruling grade", allowing
for relatively level areas at both extremities for switching operations. 

The same source, BNSF's "Northwest Div. Timetable No. 10", tells us "Crews that operate on Boeing Hill
must have a copy of, and be familiar with, the "Boeing Hill Instructions"; which are the same, though undoubtedly
updated, instructions in effect while I worked there---which, so far, have eluded my efforts to locate same----grrrrr.  

Charlie