Me and three of my friends are going on a 3½ week trip to WA, OR, ID and MT.
We’re now in the planning-phase about WA and hope to see some shunting at the Alaska-ferry. Does anyone know when they’re shunting at this location? It seems, that it’s a public area (the Google-car has been there).
Best regards and thanks in advance
Stephan in Denmark (www.diesellokomotiv.dk)
Stephan,
I grew up in Wenatchee and went to school at the University of Washington in Seattle, but have been away for a long time so I can not give up to the minute details. I will assume you fly into SEATAC which is up on the hill about 10 miles south of downtown Seattle.
I will propose two loops, one between Seattle and Spokane, and one between Spokane and as far east in Montana as you ant to go. I know Washington better than I do Spokane.
In Seattle you mentioned wanting to see the Alaska Ferry switching. This is actually a barge service. Last I knew it is on the north end of Harbor Island. The island has an inner ring road that provides access to most everything, so finding it should not be difficult. I have no knowledge of when they switch it. Another place you should see is King Street Station and the south portal of the two main track tunnel under downtown. The former Union Station is across the street but is now HQ for the local transit agency. KSS is on the edge of the original downtown. Yesler Way was Seattle’s original “skid road”, now an rarely used American slang term for a low income neighborhood. The park service has a small, but nice museum about Seattle’s role in the Alaska gold rush, which was basically outfitting the miners for the trek to the Yukon. The downtown Ferry Terminal is also in the neighborhood. Some tourists like to take a ferry ride. Being Danish that might not be a big thrill but the view of Seattle from the water is impressive.
Interbay yard is about three miles north of KSS. It has a baby hump and a large roundhouse. You can see most of it from public roads. You can ask permission to enter, but our idiot Homeland Security has given the railroad lots of excuses to be unfriendly. I would pass myself. The two track ballard drawbridge is about a mile north of the geographic north, rairoad east., end of Interbay.
Ballard still has a remnant of the extensive industry tracks. If you go east from Ballard and stay near the water you
Thank you wery much for taking the time to write and give so many informations, which I really appreciate. Actually it’s the 4th. time (in 3½ years) my three friends and I are going to the US.
In 2011 we were in CA, AZ and NV (Nevada Northern on a photocharter)
In 2012 we were in the midwest (CO, NM, UT, SD, WY and NE) and the in 2013 also in the midwest (CO, NM, TX, OK and WY). The Yellowstone we visited in 2012. 
Georgetown Loop, Cumbress & Toltec, Durango & Silverton have also been visited. The last two lines both in 2012 and 2013.
I think that 75% of the “train-time” on the vacation will be the “normal” trains including some shortlines as well.
Here’s some pictures from the first three trips to US.
http://www.diesellokomotiv.dk/usa-2011/
http://www.diesellokomotiv.dk/usa-2012/
http://www.diesellokomotiv.dk/usa-2013/
Best regards from
Stephan in Denmark.
Part 2 of 2.
Before leaving Helena I should have noted that it is the base for a helper grade over the Continental Divide, so if you like helpers Helena and Livingston are your spots.
Missoula is HQ for MRL. It has a yard and is a crew change point. I think both NP and MILW depots are intact in the downtown area.
De Smet is a junction between the original main line, which goes up and over a mountain on 2.2% grades and what became the the freight main which follows the Clark Fork River. The two lines rejoin near Paradise. At about St Regis the freeway separates from the railroad, a condition that obtains all the way to Spokane. If you want to follow the railroad you will need good local maps at the very least. I would talk to the locals before committing to that course.
The freeway takes you over Lookout Pass and down into Mullen and Wallace which are in the heart of the Coeur D’ Alene mining district. An NP predecessor built a narrow gauge line into the area from the west. The NP built a branch over Lookout Pass that featured 4% grades, but it was better than the narrow gauge. The UP built into the area from the Southeast. I think it is all gone now, but the former NP depot in Wallace is a little stone beauty well worth a stop for a photo.
From Spokane I would return via the NP to Pasco, SP&S to Vancouver, and the former NP double track line to Seattle. Marshall, about 15 miles west of Spokane is worth a stop. There was an interlocking tower here back in the day that controlled access to the Palouse & Lewiston branch that ran generally south and a few miles west of the Idaho border before going through Moscow Idaho to Lewiston ID. At Marshall the NP and the Junction are still there. The abandoned UP route into Spokane is now a bike trail, and the SP&S a bit higher on the slope is still in service. At a pair of junctions the NP and the SP&S come together, and then the UP diverges to its own line to Hinkle, Oregon. The SP&S is abandoned from the first Ju
Mac seems to have covered the mainlines in great detail, although it seemed Hill Lines (GN,NP,SP&S) centric. While the Milwaukee Road (CMStP&P) is gone, the crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains on the MT-ID border has been preserved as a bike trail. They will van you up to the top, and you can coast down. I drove along this section on back roads about 30 years ago before the rails were pulled, but I have not been back yet to try the bike trail. http://www.ridethehiawatha.com/
If you find yourself on I-90 thru WA, you will see old MILW bridges on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass, and east of Ellensburg. Between roughly those two points, the ex-NP Stevens Pass line is still used by BNSF.
At Hood River, OR there is a tourist/shortline up into orchard country that takes a switchback to get out of the valley. www.mthoodrr.com
I noticed you have taken a number of historic steam trains, so if you are in the northwest you should not miss the Mt. Rainier Scenic RR. They have several working logging steam engines, including all types of geared steam engines. http://www.mrsr.com/
If you want to see the last actual working logging RR, it is the Simpson Lumber line out of Shelton, WA. It’s just a 10 mile remnant of a much larger system that runs between mills and a dry sort yard. http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?railroad=Simpson%20Railroad
You can also take shorter trips out of Seattle on Amtrrak’s Cascades, or on the Sounder commuter trains.
Welcome to the USA
Minor correction, “Stevens” in above para should be “Stampede”. Line is close to I-90 from Cle Elum to Easton.
Mac
I am somewhat ‘local’ to the area, and even for me that’s some good information there.
Thanks for posting all of that Mac!!! [Y]
Wow Mac, Thanks for the flashback!!! That was an awsome rundown and I 2nd that trip suggestion. And might I add one of my all time favorite places for pacing is between Lyle and Stevenson where at places you can almost reach out of you window and touch the train!!!
(westbound on state route 14 just west of Cooks,Wa. at the crack of dawn. June 2008)
Yes, Stampede Pass. I should have remembered, as I rode over that line during the 2011 NRHS Tacoma convention.
Another correction I should make is that the Simpson Lumber logging rail operations are presently confined to the Shelton mill after snagging an electric utility line last year, as mentioned in a Trains NewsWire article yesterday.
Well thank you all for the information, which I appreciate. I can’t wait to come (back) to the US again. Now there’s only a month left until the vacation starts 
I hope it’s OK, if I put some more questions at this forum a little later.
Best regards from
Stephan in Denmark ( www.diesellokomotiv.dk )
Mac has done an astounding job. A couple comments.
There is a bike path along Interbay Yard, stretching from Thorndyke Ave to the waterfront (also a good spot to watch trains, next to the sculpture garden). This is the Elliot Bay Trail, and it gives you excellent views of the hump and the locomotive storage facility, where Boeing 737 fuselages sit on occasion. I’ve gotten odd looks, but no harassment on the trail. The roundhouse is visible easily from Gilman Ave. To view the drawbridge, a great location is the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, where there is a park. The Ballard Terminal Railroad runs through the parking lot, but only operates at night. Their locomotive facility is at 14th Ave and 45th St.
The trackage from Ballard north to Everett along the Puget Sound is spectacular, Carkeek Park, Richmond Beach Park, and the Edmonds ferry dock are excellent locations.
The Iron Goat is spectacular, but a long and difficult hike.