Western Railroad Discussion > Vancouver (not BC), Washington (not DC)

I like to spend time at the local Amtrak depot in Vancouver. There's always something to see. The first picture shows No. 27, "The Empire Builder" getting onto the Columbia River bridge right after passing over the new movable point diamond installed in the last couple of years to increase train speeds on the south leg of the wye from 10 mph to 25 mph.

The second picture turned out better than I thought, showing the gritty detail of a locomotive serving the asphalt plant next to the depot. You can see that it's nearly under the Columbia River bridge.

Stan Praisewater

---

---

Nice pic of an ex-Frisco unit.

How often is the bridge opened to clear river traffic? Is there any coordination with rail traffic (ie: Cascades?)

Bruce

StStephen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How often is the bridge opened to clear river
> traffic? Is there any coordination with rail
> traffic (ie: Cascades?)
>
> Bruce

The bridge is opened several times a day, especially lately with high water in the Columbia River. I'm not positive, but I believe maritime traffic has the right of way and the bridge is opened whenever needed regardless of train schedules.

Stan

In my experience the bridge opens whenever there's river traffic (and in high water that's more often); it's usually more than just a few times a day. However, I've heard the bridge operator hold off an opening if there's an Amtrak that would be delayed or if there's a freight on the approach. On the other hand, at times Amtrak has to wait at the station for the bridge to close, possibly because the operator underestimated how long it would take the river traffic to get through before agreeing to an opening.

Many Amtrak trains have padding in the schedule between Van and PDX for potential bridge lifts. Amtrak #11 benefits from this padding, as it almost always has extra time at PDX on non lift days for things like switching PV's

Great photos.
The whole environment of the Vancouver station is "gritty" industrial.
That asphalt plant adds a little whiff of hot tar now and then, and the scrap yard just west of the main line has a fairly steady sound track of clattering metal and trucks.
But the nice lawns and roses around the station itself do all they can to make it nice and inside is a great HO diorama of the old Spokane, Portland & Seattle shop that were less than a mile to the north.
A great place to spend some time or catch a train.