Western Railroad Discussion > Sound Transit Tacoma Bridge Update - Mar-May 2017

It’s been a while since I did a construction progress report on the new Sound Transit bridge in Tacoma, that replaced the old Milwaukee S Curve trestle.
A lot of progress has been made and in fact, it won’t be long before the project is completed and the passenger train transition to the Lakewood sub begins.
For now, I’ll try and get caught up in a couple of reports.

In the last “episode”, the wooden trestle had been razed and the south half of the new bridge put in service. In this “episode”, construction is well underway on the second or north half of the new bridge. Some who have been following the progress might recall that the first half construction included a section of double track, so the second half project is actually less than half. Besides the new passenger station, there are also two other “non-bridge” projects in the area. Two crossovers are to be built (already have been), one at the west end (between C and D streets) and one just east of the L street road bridge on the east end.

I’ll do separate reports on all three of those projects.

1) The first two columns on the abutment 23 have been poured. This is the east side of the G street steel girder bridge.

2) Here is the footing for abutment 22 and it’s six pilings.

3) One of the numerous rebar cages for the columns.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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4) This is the second half of abutment 24 on the west side of G street steel girder bridge (platform side).

5) More of abutment 24 a few days later.

6) A couple of weeks have progressed and abutment 23 has been poured...

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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7) ... and now abutment 23 is complete (almost)

8) Moving east toward the Tacoma Link trolley barn.

9) Gotta’ show a train every once in a while. A Sounder makes it’s way into the station

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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10) Here is the “crossover kit” for the west side.

11) With abutments 23 and 22 complete, the first set of beams have been put in place. The area of the abutment to the left will be for the passenger platform that extends over and past G street.

12) A few more weeks and a bunch of columns have sprouted.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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13) A look from the east end. The section of double track bridge in the foreground was completed as part of the first half construction.

14) Most of the abutments up to the trolley barn have been completed or are nearing completion

15) A view of the progress as a Sounder passes by.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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16) Back at the east end to watch a piling be driven.

17) A closer view.

18) In this scene from 5/12/17, the abutment progress has made it well past the trolley barn and homing in on the previously completed double track section.

I’ll do another update shortly.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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OK...lots of questions...

I was last in tacoma in the 1980's...seeing the last of the BN F units at Auburn. I saw the MILW wood trestle...and hoped I'd be able to see a train on it sometime...but that never happened.

So My question is...over the last 20 years or so, what trains HAVE used the MILW trestle? Who has owned and or operated over it? I always thought it was a fairly lightly used piece of track....if at all. Where does it connect? I dont know much about the remains of the MILW on the west coast.

Sorry so many questions. I'll if I can find anything at all on google.

TIA

pdt Wrote:
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> OK...lots of questions...
>
> I was last in tacoma in the 1980's...seeing the
> last of the BN F units at Auburn. I saw the MILW
> wood trestle...and hoped I'd be able to see a
> train on it sometime...but that never happened.
>
> So My question is...over the last 20 years or so,
> what trains HAVE used the MILW trestle? Who has
> owned and or operated over it? I always thought
> it was a fairly lightly used piece of track....if
> at all. Where does it connect? I dont know much
> about the remains of the MILW on the west coast.
>
> Sorry so many questions. I'll if I can find
> anything at all on google.
>
> TIA

I know I'll get some of this wrong, but... after the Milwaukee, I believe Weyerhaeuser operated the line through Tacoma, and then gave way to the Tacoma Municipal Belt Line (aka Tacoma Rail). Tacoma Rail owned the line until it was sold to Sound Transit. Tacoma Rail has run trains across the trestle 2-4 times a week for at least 20 years and the Sounders have operated over the line since 2000.

Where does it connect? Well for Tacoma Rail's purposes, it connects to Centralia (on paper). Currently as far as Fredrickson and Roy. For Sound Transit to Lakewood, and fairly soon, the Cascades and Amtrak, to Nisqually and points south on the BNSF Seattle Sub. That came about through the construction of a +- half mile section of track connecting the former Milwaukee main line to the former NP Prairie line (and the American Lake Line in Lakewood).

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

Steve thanks for posting the update on this project. In a couple of photos I see a trailer Sound Transit Emergency Response.... ? Can you fill in the blank on that? Also on projects such as this someone on site is in charge of rail traffic passing through the work zone. The dispatcher still lines all movements, but trains must actually get permission from the RWIC to enter the limits. Assuming that is the case here. Any details on that part of the project. Again, thanks for your efforts on recording with great detail the progress of this project.

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

Ah! The saga continues...
Very nice work, Steve.
Thanks for sharing.

Very nice photo group Steve. Prior to Tacoma Belt taking over operations there was the short lived Tacoma Eastern. They used an ex-SP SD9.
Roger c

Will the Coast Starlight be taking this route in the future?

czuleget Wrote:
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> Will the Coast Starlight be taking this route in
> the future?


Yes. All passenger trains that pass through Tacoma, will end up on the Lakewood sub.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

DelMonteX Wrote:
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> I know I'll get some of this wrong,

nope

> but... after
> the Milwaukee,

which came after Tacoma Eastern

> I believe Weyerhaeuser operated the
> line through Tacoma


as Chehalis Western

>, and then gave way to the
> Tacoma Municipal Belt Line (aka Tacoma Rail).
> Tacoma Rail owned the line until it was sold to
> Sound Transit.

Only the part between TR Jct (BNSF connection) and C Street (junction of the new line and the original TE line through/up the gulch)


> Tacoma Rail has run trains across
> the trestle 2-4 times a week for at least 20 years
> and the Sounders have operated over the line since
> 2000.
>
> Where does it connect? Well for Tacoma Rail's
> purposes, it connects to Centralia (on paper).


oops, you did miss one - Chehalis. After getting trackage rights on BN as a result of the merger that created BN, MILW ran through trains between Tacoma and Portland via the TE / Chehalis Jct / BN.

The trains were too big to make it up the 3.2% grade in the gulch in one piece, so there was a conglomeration of old units of various sorts and maybe some slugs, I don't remember now, that would hoist the trains up to the top in two or three pieces and the reverse for the northward trains. I remember the first hill engine I saw after starting to work at Tacoma Jct. My first impression (having just come from SP) was rolling junk yard.

> Currently as far as Fredrickson and Roy.


Between Roy and Blakeslee Jct (Centralia) they make a little money storing cars.

I did a study a decade or so ago of using the TE as a real railroad for through trains to free up room on BN for commuter trains between Tacoma and Olympia. There were a lot of downsides to that, as one might imagine. as part of it, I laid out a potential 1% grade tunnel to replace the 3.2% grade in the gulch and pointed out in the report that it would make a fine way to direct a Mt Rainier lahar right into downtown Tacoma. I did all the research on paper, not needing the computer simulation that some folks insisted that I needed. A cheap study killed a dumb idea that would have cost big bucks in more detailed studies and maybe even ultimately big bucks in "negotiations" with the railroads and maybe even spending bigger bucks actually trying to do it.

> For
> Sound Transit to Lakewood, and fairly soon, the
> Cascades and Amtrak, to Nisqually and points south
> on the BNSF Seattle Sub. That came about through
> the construction of a +- half mile section of
> track connecting the former Milwaukee main line to
> the former NP Prairie line (and the American Lake
> Line in Lakewood).

There was a lot of discussion of this in trainorders back when it was in the planning stage and the concept stage.




TAW

NSSpike Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Steve thanks for posting the update on this
> project. In a couple of photos I see a trailer
> Sound Transit Emergency Response.... ? Can you
> fill in the blank on that? Also on projects such
> as this someone on site is in charge of rail
> traffic passing through the work zone. The
> dispatcher still lines all movements, but trains
> must actually get permission from the RWIC to
> enter the limits. Assuming that is the case here.
> Any details on that part of the project. Again,
> thanks for your efforts on recording with great
> detail the progress of this project.

Sound Transit is the "owner" and it makes sense that their emergency response trailers would be in the area. That said, I hadn't noticed them.

There is an EIC (Employee In Charge or Foreman) on site when work is underway, to coordinate the trains with construction crews. They give out Form B warrants and ensure that men and equipment are clear of the live track. They also work with the dispatcher for switch movements. By the, while the line is owned by Sound Transit now, it's dispatched by BNSF, same radio channel at the Seattle Sub.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

DelMonteX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NSSpike Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Steve thanks for posting the update on this
> > project. In a couple of photos I see a trailer
> > Sound Transit Emergency Response.... ? Can you
> > fill in the blank on that? Also on projects
> such
> > as this someone on site is in charge of rail
> > traffic passing through the work zone. The
> > dispatcher still lines all movements, but
> trains
> > must actually get permission from the RWIC to
> > enter the limits. Assuming that is the case
> here.
> > Any details on that part of the project. Again,
> > thanks for your efforts on recording with great
> > detail the progress of this project.
>
> Sound Transit is the "owner" and it makes sense
> that their emergency response trailers would be in
> the area. That said, I hadn't noticed them.
>
> There is an EIC (Employee In Charge or Foreman) on
> site when work is underway, to coordinate the
> trains with construction crews. They give out
> Form B warrants and ensure that men and equipment
> are clear of the live track. They also work with
> the dispatcher for switch movements. By the,
> while the line is owned by Sound Transit now, it's
> dispatched by BNSF, same radio channel at the
> Seattle Sub.


...under contract. It is certainly convenient but still, BNSF is a contractor.

TAW

OK....last of the dumb questions.....the track from tacoma to lakewood...was whose originally? Didn't see it on old MILW maps. And....The old MILW track north from tacoma toward seattle...who operates on that now? or was it abandoned?

Unable to find any maps of "what's become of MILW trackage in western washington state"

TIA

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK....last of the dumb questions.....the track
> from tacoma to lakewood...was whose originally?


No dumb questions as far as I'm concerned.

The original NP line between Tacoma and Portland was via South Tacoma, Lakeview (now called Lakewood), Yelm, Roy, Tenino and the current route between Tenino and Kalama, then by boat to Goble OR and along what is now the Astoria line to Willbridge and back to the current route. The part between Tacoma and Tenino was called the Prairie Line (built about 1873).

In 1890, NP built a line between Lakeview and Centralia way way of Olympia.

NP built a new line between Kalama and Vancouver in 1902, eliminating the boat. Willbridge was connected to Vancouver in 1908 (the Columbia River bridge was built in one year - try that now).

In 1910-1914, NP rebuilt the whole thing into the current alignment including the Point Defiance Line between Nisqually and Tacoma (120 miles of new and virtually new railroad in four years - try that now. It will take longer than that for the new light rail line to make the 6 miles between Northgate and where I live). In the process, the line to Olympia was severed at Nisqually and Saint Clair, with junctions with the new main line at both places, creating the American Lake line between Lakeview and Nisqually and the Olympia Line between Saint Clair and Gate (junction with the line between Centralia and Aberdeen/Hoquiam).

GN and UP operated on the NP line between Tacoma and Portland. When the Point Defiance line (the current BNSF main line) was opened, GN chose to stay on the prairie line in lieu of paying part of the cost of the new line. That arrangement ended with the BN merger, of course. The Prairie Line between Roy and Tenino Jct has been gone for decades. The combination of the Prairie line between Tacoma and Lakeview and the American Lake line had local freight service and occasional military trains until the line (actually the track and the property under it) was sold to Sound Transit. BNSF kept the rights to freight service and contracted Tacoma Rail to handle customers. Tacoma Rail has to access the line from Nisqually as ST is the sole owner of the G Street to M Street connection. I think everyone has forgotten the UP has trackage rights between Nisqually and Fort Lewis, granted by USRA in something like 1918.

The EIS for that construction states that no freight service would use the connecting between D and M Streets, which is how they got permits to build. FRA insisted that the original line between 15th Street (near and above Tacoma Union Station) and 11th Street (the Point Defiance Line connection be removed because a light rail line was going to cross it, so it's gone now.

The Tacoma Eastern (the MILW line) was built around 1904. I don't have the exact date handy.

Sound Transit built a line to connect Tacoma Eastern at G Street in Tacoma with the Prairie Line at M Street in Tacoma (around MP 3). Sound Transit rehabbed the Prairie Line to Lakeview (Now Prairie Jct) and the American Lake line just to the Lakewood station. WSDOT has rehabbed the line between Lakewood and Nisqually and added a second track between Lakewood (Rill control point) and South Tacoma (Manitou control point). ST is adding the second track and building the new bridge in Tacoma.


> Didn't see it on old MILW maps. And....The old
> MILW track north from tacoma toward seattle...who
> operates on that now? or was it abandoned?

UP bought and operates the MILW between BN Reservation and Seattle. UP is the sole user between Reservation and Tukwila. The line is a joint BNSF-UP operation between Tukwila and Argo, both railroads' tracks used as one railroad. The Argo yard is a sole UP operation.


>
> Unable to find any maps of "what's become of MILW
> trackage in western washington state"

MILW used Pacific Coast Railroad (later part of GN) between Black River and Maple Valley. BN continues to use the part between Black River and Renton and the former Lake Washington Line (formerly Renton - Woodinville) between Renton and the Boeing plant. The rest of PC is gone. The rest of the MILW east of Maple Valley is generally gone except for a little around Othello and the Moses Lake branch owned and operated by Columbia Basin Railroad.

TAW



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/17 13:27 by TAW.

Steve-I count seven cars--maybe eight--that Sounder train. Is that a common number of cars for a Sounder train. If so, that a lot of commuters!

TomPlatten Wrote:
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> Steve-I count seven cars--maybe eight--that
> Sounder train. Is that a common number of cars for
> a Sounder train. If so, that a lot of commuters!

Seven cars is the standard Seattle - Lakewood consist. Coming soon to the formerly almost abandoned branch lines - 20 min headway morning and evening rush hours.

TAW