Western Railroad Discussion > Railfan advice for Renton Washington

An eastern railfan has to be at a wedding in Washington state next weekend.  May have some time (if administration permits) to do a little railfanning.  Looking for advice of good photo location and rail traffic levels within an hour or two drive from Renton Washington.
Paul

I think there was a post recently of train in Renton, you could do a search head....
It was on the street. There are old photos of Olympian Hi by a need stand and I think photo was same location.


Bob

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/22 13:34 by robj.

Definitely try and see the Renton rocket if it's running. Runs right down the middle of the street in Renton. Tacoma and downtown Seattle are about 40 and 20 minutes away.

Posted from Android

andrewamtrak Wrote:
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> Definitely try and see the Renton rocket if it's
> running.

Renton Rocket rest days are Friday and Saturday.

I shot it street running a few months ago. I'll be honest, I kind of lucked out. I had read on line it was around Noon and I was there close to Noon, but I gave up and started to drive away, only to hear a horn and just manage to get back to the spot.

The Amtrak depot in nearby Tukwila is a safe, convenient location to watch mainline action on the BNSF, including AMTK and Sound Transit.

The UP is also nearby. Several trains per hour on the BNSF, with occasional UP trains

Jonathan Fischer
West Seattle, WA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/22 21:23 by JFArrFan.

The South Seattle Intermodal facility is only minutes away, ther’ll be an afternoon switch job each day this weekend, plus a utility departing and arriving Z’s. The norfolk tracks just north of the facility along airport way are a decent place to catch some action. And the bridge heading down from Beacon Coal Mine Rd over I-5 is a good place to watch action on the south end of the yard.

Stacy St. Yard is only minutes away as well, plenty of action.

And Balmer Yard is 20-25 minutes north…there’s a day and afternoon conventional switch and a hump job there everyday…presuming they can fill it anyways.

Plus the UP Argo Yard inbetween Stacy and South Seattle.

Lots to see!

Posted from iPhone

Looks like the Tukwila Station is on the border of Renton. I've railfanned there before in 2015 and found it to be a pretty cool spot. A little down the road, the Kent Sounder Station plus some of the parallel streets along the tracks in Downtown Kent are nice for photography. Depending on which day you are able to railfan, you might be able to get some Sounder trains on camera. You could get a Cascades train or two, perhaps one with a Talgo set. Most of the Cascades these days are running with Horizon cars. You might get the Coast Starlight and certainly a lot of BNSF freights.