Western Railroad Discussion > Point Defiance railfanning tips needed.

Looks like I will have a few hours in the Tacoma area next month. It'll be mid morning to late afternoon, and it dawned on me to go shoot some passenger trains on the shoreline before they get re-rerouted to the cutoff once the PTC project is complete.

Does anybody have advice on where to go if I'm only going to get a day to shoot up there? Any "not to be missed" locations I should be aware of?

Any input appreciated. Thanks,



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/18 10:06 by march_hare.

Chambers Creek Park is a very good place to go there is a walkway bridge over the tracks and a walking path through the Chambers Bay golf course that has a lot of great views of the trains. If you have a scanner put in 161.415 the park is about MP 15 and there are detectors at mp 10.1 and 18.5 so you have plenty of warning about approaching trains.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4437273,4437277#4437277

Scott O'Dell

Since your time frame includes lunch time, here's two trackside locations that serve excellent fish and chips...

1) The Spar Tavern -- Tacoma, adjacent to the mainline and McCarver St. Xing.
2) Steamers -- Titlow, adjacent to main line with great view of Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Steilacoom has always been a great place to railfan. Many angles to choose from. You have the unusual bridge 14, the big curve by the park, ferry dock, and the foot bridge over the tracks at the west end of town.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Cool (and inspiring!!) photos, thanks.

Ball park, how much freight traffic should I expect?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/18 11:04 by march_hare.

Actually a little luck helps I have been out there and seen nothing for 2 or 3 hours then the flood gates open and you have 10 to 15 in the next 2 hours. Print off a Amtrak Cascades schedule so you can see when the Talgo's are due. I also use the asm.transitdocs train tracker on my phone to get a better idea of where Amtrak really is.

When I am out for the day I expect about 25 or so in Daylight counting Amtrak. I hear people say all the time the line gets 50 plus a day so a lot run at night.

Scott O'Dell