Western Railroad Discussion > 3-day BNSF count at Stevenson, WA

=14pxFrom Tuesday, 3/12/19 at 1400 to Friday, 3/15/19 at 1400, BNSF Fallbridge Sub at Stevenson, WA in the Columbia River Gorge.

Minus the manifests (20 west and 19 east), Zs and Qs (6 west and 6 east), locals (4) and Amtrak (5), 77% (40 trains) of the freight was wb, 23% (12 trains) was eb, showing what a large percentage of the empty unit trains return via Yakima and Wenatchee.  To help balance that out, many crews run the “Iron Triangle”.  They take a train from Auburn to Pasco, rest, take a train to Vancouver, rest, take a train to Auburn, rest, start all over.   Most coal and oil empties return via Wenatchee and some marine stack trains return via the Gorge.    

  West + East    =Total                    
Z    3        3        =6    priority intermodal
Q    3        3        =6    intermodal    
S    3        1        =4    marine stacks
B                        =0    baretable
V    2        5        =7    vehicle
H    15      14      =29    manifest
H    5        5        =10    trash
G    24      0        =24    grain load
X    0        3        =3    grain empty
C    4        0        =4    coal load
U    6        0        =6    oil
U    1        1        =2    military
U    0        2        =2    ballast
L    2        2        =4    local (2 round trips)
A    2        3        =5    Amtrak (missed late wb on Friday)    
      70      42      =112 total

grain trains-loaded G destinations seen:
INB 3 trains to Interbay- Seattle
KAH 3        Kalama [used to be Harvest States]
KAL 7         Kalama- TEMCO?
LVW 3        Longview
PSA 4        Aberdeen on PS&P
TAC 2        Tacoma
VAW 2        Vancouver
total 24= 8/day 

Empty grain trains from Kalama and north mostly return via Yakima and Wenatchee, with 1k train inspections done at Auburn.
empty X origins seen:
RGT 1        Rivergate- Portland
VAW 2        Vancouver

mapboy with anonymous help

Thanks for the interesting information! Have stayed in Stevenson, WA several times and always very busy.

Larry

Without the weekend you may have missed the busiest days.
Some of the trains you may hear in Stevenson may be Uncle Pete across the river, I've been fooled before myself.
Thanks

Yep, several times I looked up and down the tracks for phantom trains that never came.  Couple times it was for river boats that sounded like locomotives.

mapboy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/19 15:06 by mapboy.

Thank you for sharing this data.  I find this kind of thing fascinating.

mapboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yep, several times I looked up and down the tracks
> for phantom trains that never came.  Couple times
> it was for river boats that sounded like
> locomotives.
>
> mapboy

You might also be hearing UP trains whistle in Cascade Locks too..


SP8100

great info.  thanks for posting..........

66

SP8100 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mapboy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yep, several times I looked up and down the
> tracks
> > for phantom trains that never came.  Couple
> times
> > it was for river boats that sounded like
> > locomotives.
> >
> > mapboy
>
> You might also be hearing UP trains whistle in
> Cascade Locks too..
>
> SP8100

Yep, that was the phantom trains that never came.  The river boats sounded good, too.

mapboy

Very interesting log of trains. I was surprised how many eastbound trains evidently operate through Yakima based on the imbalance of trains. 

Off hand, what would you guess the percentage of movements were at night? Maybe it's just my bad luck but it seems BNSF seems slow during daylight hours when I go up there. 

As a side note, I always stay in Cascade Locks, right across the river, at the Best Western - 3rd or 4th floor, "river view" so I can see UP and BNSF mains plus barge traffic.

The triangle seems to be working for BNSF. Is it working for the crews? Do they get extra rest between trips or do start a new trip when called on rest?
Thank you for the research!

Mike

Posted from Android

Railbaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very interesting log of trains. I was surprised
> how many eastbound trains evidently operate
> through Yakima based on the imbalance of
> trains. 
>
> Off hand, what would you guess the percentage of
> movements were at night? Maybe it's just my bad
> luck but it seems BNSF seems slow during daylight
> hours when I go up there. 
There were 52 trains from 7am to 7pm, and 60 trains (54%) from 7pm to 7am.  With more hours of daylight in summer, the count should be about even.

> As a side note, I always stay in Cascade Locks,
> right across the river, at the Best Western - 3rd
> or 4th floor, "river view" so I can see UP and
> BNSF mains plus barge traffic.

Agreed, the BW does have the best view.

mapboy