An Afternoon at Pt. Edwards: A Railroad Play

Railroadforums.com is a free online Railroad Discussion Forum and Railroad Photo Gallery for railroaders, railfans, model railroaders and anyone else who is interested in railroads. We cover a wide variety of topics, including freight trains, passenger and commuter railroads, rail news and information, tourist railroads, railway museums and railroad history.

Bill Anderson

Well-Known Member
I am going to do something different from my usual posts to the MP 17 and MP 18 threads. Thursday afternoon (6/22/17) my son and I went up to Pt. Edwards and set up my camera equipment at a viewpoint on Pine St. above the condos that appear in the background of many of my photos. I will write this thread like a play in eight acts starring the trains you see in the photos.

Intro:
Except for the last three shots of the thread (#28-30), the panoramic shots were taken with my 7D + 24-105L wide angle zoom. The telephoto shots were taken with my 5DIII + 500L + 1.4x telecoverter, which you see below with my son Daren. All photos were taken @ 1/250, f/16, and auto ISO. None of the photos have been cropped.
001.jpg

This shot was taken with the 5DIII + 24-105L wide angle zoom @ 50mm to give readers a sense of location and actual distance. The street in the background is Sunset Ave. and MP 18. Using the railroad mileposts, it is about a mile north of me. The flat area in the foreground with water is the marsh, where I have taken most of the MP 17 shots while out photographing birds. The tracks across the water in the far distance are near Picnic Pt., another good railfan spot with beach access via a pedestrian overpass over the tracks.
002.jpg

Note: I will be referring to the trains by their geographic direction of travel, which is different from their timetable direction of travel. Geographic north = timetable (tt) east, geographinc south = timetable west. The timetable direction of travel is what you would hear if you were monitoring the rail traffic with a scanner.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Act 1

Our play commences as a southbound freight rounds the distant bend at Mukilteo. Part of Mt. Baker is hidden by clouds.
01.jpg

At the same time, the 4:30pm Seattle-Everett Sounder enters stage left for its station stop at Edmonds.
02.jpg

After disgourging its passengers, the Sounder accelerates past Sunset Ave. and MP 18.
03.jpg

The Sounder and freight skirt Brown's Bay and meet near Picnic Pt.
04.jpg
 
Act 2

A northbound freight with a mix of older Geeps and two modern trailing GE units enters town after the Sounder's departure. The last GE unit is a genuine War Bonnet still lettered Santa Fe.
05.jpg

The southbound continues along Brown's Bay.
06.jpg

The Sounder has passed the southbound and is headed for a stretch of single track south of Mukilteo.
07.jpg

The two freights share the stage as the northbound passes MP 18.
08.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Act 3

The drama builds: you can feel the tension rise as the audience waits to see if the power for both freights will share the stage.
09.jpg

The power of the southbound just peeks around the corner at the end of Sunset Ave. before the power of the northbound exits stage left.
10.jpg

The southbound will have to wait at MP for more players to make their entrances on stage.
11.jpg 12.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Act 4

Time for the 5:00pm Sounder to take the stage.
13.jpg 14.jpg 15.jpg

The Chicago bound Empire Builder (Amtrak #8) enters with a surprise leading man.
16.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Act 6

After an extra long station stop, the Builder must hustle out of town for its next scheduled engagement in Chicago.
21.jpg 22.jpg

23.jpg 24.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Act 8

The play comes to a close and the curtain draws as the freight exits stage left. I hope your enjoyed our play, brought to you by BNSF, Amtrak, and Sound Transit.
28.jpg 29.jpg 30.jpg

Note: The above are cropped grab shots taken handheld with the 7DII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom. I wanted to get close-ups of the blue diesel as it appeared to be a demo (or former demo) of some kind.
 




RailroadForums.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

RailroadBookstore.com - An online railroad bookstore featuring a curated selection of new and used railroad books. Railroad pictorials, railroad history, steam locomotives, passenger trains, modern railroading. Hundreds of titles available, most at discount prices! We also have a video and children's book section.

ModelRailroadBookstore.com - An online model railroad bookstore featuring a curated selection of new and used books. Layout design, track plans, scenery and structure building, wiring, DCC, Tinplate, Toy Trains, Price Guides and more.

Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)

Back
Top