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The morning Vancouver, BC-Seattle Cascades rolls past the Edmonds marsh as it leaves town.
Someone remembered to turn on the red rear marker lights.
A southbound (tt/west) had a Ferromex unit in the consist as well as four Boeing 737 fuselages. It is funny to see these units about as far north as they can get and still remain in the US.
I was back at Haines Wharf Park in time for the first sunset of August (8-1-18, a palindromic date). I varied my photo setup a bit by using the 7DII + 500L telephoto lens + my new/used 2x III teleconverter for a 1600mm reach to the far curve.
The evening Seattle-Vancouver, BC Cascades had new Siemens Charger units on both ends of the train.
The Empire Builder had been running extremely late in July. This continued into August with the Seattle bound #7 arriving in Edmonds at 3:45pm, over six hours late. I don't know how long it takes to service the Builder in Seattle, but Chicago bound #8 was running about 3 and 1/2 hours late.
'Tis the season to take sunset shots from Sunset Ave. Sunday evening (8-5-18) I went down to experiment with a new filter I bought specifically for the occasion. The sunset did not warrant use of the filter, but I left it on anyway. I found a legal parking spot and was rewarded for my civic virtue by three trains passing through town.
A northbound (tt/east) rolled by in the fading light.
After the freight passed the signal set up for the evening Vancouver, BC-Seattle Cascades. I knew it would be too dark by then for good photos, so I returned home. My son has tennis Monday night. I will probably go back to Haines Wharf Park , which is about five minutes from the courts at Meadowdale H.S.
I have been spending evenings at Haines Wharf Park after dropping off my son for tennis lessons at a nearby high school. This is probably the best time of the year to take railroad photos from the park due to the angle of the summer sun.
Monday evening (8-6-18) a southbound freight rolled by the park.
This section of the mainline is double-tracked. The freight met the Seattle-Vancouver, BC Cascades at the far bend. Heat waves made clear photos nearly impossible with my super telephoto setup.
A few minutes later the Cascades sped past below me.
The morning Vancouver, BC-Seattle Cascades. This year's explosive growth of cattails and other vegetation at the marsh in interfering or blocking many of our photo angles.
From The Diesel Shop: Several "600-class" AC44C4M series locos have been reblt to AC traction with A1A trucks, including 600, 602-03, 605-610, 612, 613, 617-19 in fresh Heritage III paint.
A second southbound had two executive/Eddie Bauer/Grinstein green units on the head end.
The train had three rear DPU's, which is highly unusual. Trains usually have only one or two.
At noon I heard an usual sounding horn blowing for the crossings, then a Seattle bound Sounder rolled through town without stopping. Perhaps a member can tell us what was going on, as this was not the usual time for a weekday Sounder in either direction.
Friday evening (8-10-18) I was at the marsh photographing birds shortly before sunset when a southbound (tt/west) freight pulled by three older units passed through town. 505: B40-8W; 326: GP60B; 136: GP60M.
The one that got away: The power unit of the evening Vancouver, BC-Seattle Cascades was a blue & silver EMD diesel. The diesel was lettered AMTRAK, not Cascades. It is the first blue & silver unit I have seen up here in over 20 years. One of the original Cascades Talgo sets back in the 90's was painted blue & silver before being repainted to the standard dark green, cream, and mocha.
I may be able to catch the unit returning Saturday morning after I drop my son off at softball practice.
Saturday (8-11-18) was our first overcast and rainy day for a long time. I went down to the marsh to photograph birds without the heat waves off the mud flats destroying my photos. Trains are always an added bonus.
A Canada bound coal train passed by with a peach/apricot H2 EMD unit in the consist.
Rear DPU.
The Vancouver, BC-Seattle section of the seasonal Rocky Mountaineer was very short with only four cars.
A second coal train with an SD70MAC in the consist. Several of these units have recently appeared in regular freight service.
Always nice to see a visitor from the East Coast.
A train and I arrived at Sunset Ave. at sunset. I quickly grabbed a camera and took some shots. I had forgotten to change the settings from a previous outing and most of the photos were greatly underexposed. This one did not turn out too bad.
For the past several days wildfires in British Columbia and eastern Washington have been laying down a smoke screen in the Puget Sound region. The area looks like photos of smog bound Los Angeles in the 1960's. The smoke is creating weird lighting for daytime photos and spectacular sunsets before the sun disappears into the haze. It has also caused air quality alerts to be issued for the region. https://myedmondsnews.com/2018/08/air-quality-alert-for-puget-sound-region-due-to-wildfire-smoke/
Monday afternoon (8-13-18) I went down to Brackett's Landing North to photograph birds and trains. My son was at Costco with my wife, so I had to lug all the camera equipment myself.
A short garbage train and an empty oil tanker were stacked up at MP 18 for the afternoon passenger parade. The 5:00pm Sounder rolled past both trains in quick succession.
The Chicago bound Empire Builder (Amtrak #8) has been running several hours this month and Monday was no exception. The railroad took advantage of the situation by clearing the garbage train for a dash to the double track at MP 16 between Sounders. The oil tanker moved up while I kept busy photographing Caspian terns diving for fish.
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