Trains of Edmonds, Washington

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I went home for dinner after the 5:30 Sounder as my son had tennis lessons at 7:00pm. After dropping him off at tennis, I drove down to nearby Haines Wharf Park for shots of the trains and sunset. Several trains passed through while I was there, here are the highlights.

When we first moved to Edmonds in 1991, garbage trains were pulled by older power. I hope that tradition is returning as a northbound (tt/east) garbage empty was powered by a pair of SD75M's.

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The evening Seattle-Vancouver, BC Cascades was powered by one of the EMD units. The smoke has completely blocked out the Olympic Mts.

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Tuesday's (8-21-18) Chicago bound Empire Builder (Amtrak #8) was on time. The air quality of the Puget Sound region continues to be very poor due to smoke from wild fires.

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The Builder had a Winter Park ski train car from Colorado in its consist.

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The Puget Sound region's smoke-out peaked Wednesday (8-22-18). My son and I stayed indoors most of the day and watched the Mariners afternoon game on TV. We got cabin fever and ventured out after the game to photograph sandpipers and other shore birds at the marsh, a rest stop on their annual fall migration. These photos look a little weird due to the smoke screen.

The Seattle-Chicago Empire Builder (Amtrak #8) has been on time the past two days. Wednesday it sported a trailing EMD unit.

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Empty coal trains usually return east via Stevens Pass and don't pass through Edmonds. This was the first of two empties heading south (tt/west) through Edmonds from Canada. Due to apricot H2 9844 in the middle of the consist, I recognized it as the same train that had passed loaded though town on its way to Canada on 8/11/18. I am surprised at the eleven day turn around, as it is not that far from here to Roberts Bank, BC; where the coal is transferred to ocean going coal ships. Maybe I should not be surprised, as Sunday I saw a loaded coal train just sitting in Everett.

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A southbound (tt/west) container train passed through with five units in its consist including BNSF War Bonnet 4712.

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This summer I have been photographing the baby eagle of the Pt. Edwards resident pair. It fledged last month and has been flying around the area, usually with one of its parents nearby. It had been at the marsh and flew to a pole near the tracks. When I saw a Canada bound coal train approaching, I readied for some shots of the eaglet taking off.

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The eaglet did not take off until the train whistled for the Dayton St. crossing.

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A second empty coal train passed by as we were packing up our camera gear to head home. My son took this photo with the 1DX + 100-400L II telephoto zoom.

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I had been photographing birds with the 5DIII + 500L telephoto + 2x III teleconverter mounted on a tripod. I quickly transferred the 5DIII to the 24-105L wide angle zoom and stopped down to show the effect of the smoke screen on the sun.

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The air had cleared quite a bit Friday (8-24-18) when my son and I went down to the marsh to photograph migrating sandpipers. Three northbound (tt/east) trains passed while we were at the #3 viewing platform. I missed one of them because I was busy photographing a juvenile Cooper's hawk eating a small bird. Those photos can be seen by scrolling down page 13 of this thread on Bob's photography website:
http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/index.php?threads/wildlife-of-edmonds-wa-2018.16307/page-13

The first train I photographed had rear DPU's.

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The second train had coke in GATX hoppers up front.

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We relocated to the fishing pier, where we struck out with the birds. We did score with two old Geeps pulling a southbound (tt/west) local. I took some rather poor shots from the pier looking through the ferry ramp with my super telephoto set up because I wanted to get photos of the Geep still in BN Cascade green. Such units are very scare around here.

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As we left the pier, I noticed that the last two northbounds (tt/east), an oil tanker and a container freight, were stacked up between MP 18 and MP 19. There must have been track work north of them. You can see the lingering smoke in the air.

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We returned to the marsh, where a northbound coal train was also stopped just short of the Dayton St. crossing. It departed very slowly as we got out of the pickup and I did not get any photos. I did get photos of another northbound from the #3 viewing platform.

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I had read somewhere that rail shipment of coal is down from previous years due to a lessening foreign demand. That is not apparent based on the number of coal trains I see coming through town on their way up to Canada, where the coal is transferred to large ocean going ships for shipment to China and other foreign markets.
 
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Wow, it is smoky over there. I really like the sun/reflection pictures. I know the smoke is a pain, but it does make nice sun photos.
 
Wow, it is smoky over there. I really like the sun/reflection pictures. I know the smoke is a pain, but it does make nice sun photos.

For a week it was looking like Los Angeles in the 60's. It rained a little yesterday, but the air won't be cleared for good until the forest fires are extinguished.

My non-railroad sunset photos can be seen on Bob's other website, which all photographers are encouraged to join.

http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/index.php?threads/sunsets-of-edmonds-wa.7935/page-9
 
My son does a pretty good job taking train photos after I adjust the camera settings for him. These are his photos of a southbound (tt/west) taken Monday afternoon (8-27-18) from Brackett's Landing North.

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A lot of single stacks.

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It looked like something interesting on the rear.

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Yes! The KCS's Southern Belle scheme is one of my favorites.

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That evening I went to the marsh while my son was at tennis lessons. I noticed something new on the Cascade's Charger unit: rooftop strobes.
I noticed something else: a marquee type display between the headlights and the WSDOT lettering.

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The letters did not display constantly but came on and off.
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I could not read the display from the photos taken with my 100-400L II telephoto zoom. I'll try to solve the mystery next time by getting closer with the 500L telephoto + 2x III teleconverter.

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War Bonnets have been making a resurgence in the PNW this summer. Tuesday evening (8-28-18) I caught three of them on two southbound (tt/west) freights rolling past the marsh around sunset.

704 was the middle diesel of a seven unit lashup.

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738 and 759 were the trailing half of a four unit consist.

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The marquee display is the destination. It should have been reading Vancouver BC .

Normally it's static, but you never know, someone could be playing with a new feature.
Like a new app on a phone.:p
 
Our sunnny, dry California summer ended earlier this week as the seasons started to change. It was slightly overcast Thursday (8-30-18) afternoon when my son and I took photos from Brackett's Landning North. The 4:30 Sounder was nearly a half hour late.

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The 5:00pm Sounder followed quickly. A southbound (tt/west) freight could be seen in the distance.

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The freight turned out to be a garbage train.

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The garbage train began its inevitable wait at below Sunset Ave. Fortunately I was up wind.

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A southbound (tt/west) empty oil tanker approaches in the distance. It will stand in line for the afternoon Sounder parade to pass.

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No Empire Builder between the 5:00 and 5:30 Sounders.

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5:30 Sounder in the distance.

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Continued on next page.
 
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