BNSF 1573 interchanging cars at Shilshole Yard, Seattle, 9-11-2010
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- So I was out trying a couple of new railfanning locations one Saturday. No trains: zip, zero, nada. I decided to drop by Balmer Yard and see if anything was happening there. Zilch.
Then I heard a crew request permission to head from Galer St (at Balmer) to go to the "Ballard lowline". "Ballard lowline? - holy cow, that's the Shilshole yard for the Ballard Terminal RailRoad.", I thought.
So I hustled up to Ballard, found a parking spot and walked up the Burke-Gilman Trail to the Shilshole Yard. This yard is just two tracks where BNSF drops and picks up cars for the Ballard Terminal RailRoad. BTRR is a little 5-mile long shortline that mostly only handles hoppers for Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel.
You simply cannot get any closer to railroad action without trespassing. The trail is right next to the tracks with only a low fence in between.
Plenty of great closeup action here as the crew throws switches, uses hand signals and couples and uncouples cars.
Power is BNSF 1573, a SD40-2R in nice new Heritage 3 paint.
Thank you for providing a classroom video for how switching should be done. Great to see professionals doing their work and not mind being filmed while doing so.
Yeah, they were pretty cool. Probably used to nutty railfans by now.
Although I must admit it'd be a bit weird to have people stand outside your "office" drooling over watching you do what you consider to be just a job.
Very informative. I'm a total fan of the heavy metal. Thanks for explaining the inner workings of how it all works.
There's a railroad track in Winnipeg, which crosses over a river, and the bridge has a public sidewalk right beside the tracks, with a divider in between. This means when a train goes by (Which can be CP or BNSF), you can be really, really close, even closer than this.
Very well done video. Felt like I was in a class learning procedures. Subscribed.
loved the video, many thanks for explaining the action, and
providing background details, many thanks.
They're cylindrical hoppers used to deliver powdered Portland cement or other products used in making cement. They'll get delivered to Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel by the Ballard Terminal Rail Road.
Man do I love that sound......
nice video thanks for posting and great spot
Love the ex 45-2, still looking good after all these years, even if it no longer has 20 cylinders. Way cool the see hand signals being used on a class 1.
Great video! Nice close-ups of all the action
Very cool video,thanks.
@jhoboken Thanks, glad you liked it. I like to provide some context or explanations to help the newer railfans understand what is happening in my videos.
When I first read the description I thought is said "shithole" yard.
I've heard the Ballard Terminal Rail Road only runs 1-2 times per week. They only have one regular customer, so there aren't a lot of cars to handle. So BNSF will service this yard once or twice a week to drop loads and pickup empties.
I was pretty new to railfanning when I shot that video. I hadn't figured out the use of whistle signals just yet...
They did sound the horn before the street crossing. I was on the north side of the waiting empty hopper at the start of the video. As they passed out of sight, I moved to the other side of the hopper. While I was moving, they sounded the horn then stopped to drop off the crew member you see later lining the switch.
On the way in and out they do pass the "W" whistle board at the pedestrian crossing without sounding the horn.
Awesome video
That's exactly what it was. At that point in the video, the main line is to my right at the top of the that small rise.
Good one Todd!!.....Mike
You ever ride the Christmas train from the U. Village to Kenmore? I grew up by the tracks on Sand Point Way & Princeton Avenue. Caught a ride home from school once in the cab of a Great Northern Diesel Electric one cold afternoon from the U. Village to Sand Point Way & Princeton Avenue.
@mafarnz She sounded good as she looked. Definitely the most hand signaling I've seen, mostly the crews just use their radios.
@askcaptainscott Thanks. I like to explain things where I can, to help out newer railfans.
@WillyMcCoy50 No I didn't. That was way before my time. The line was abandoned in 1971 (when I was 8), well before I had any interest in trains.
nice vid..u didnt narrate the single toot though which was the engineers going in between acknowledgment lol ;)
I bet they wish they'd of used hand signals today up at Lowell. 6 cars derailed.
Most engineers I've worked with prefer hand signals, as do I. It's not rare at all in the SW division.
NAHX 320221 and its sister CEFX 96523 make an appearance in front of the Gravel Company in Google Street View! LOL
Nice! How come they didn't use a GP40 or a GP38? My friends have seen a NS GP38 haul 79 freights (Notch 8 though).
How often do trains use this sub?
I was just teasin ya man(although I am serious about the going in between)
what kind of hoppers?
What is this a no horn zone?
you should of turned the camera to see the other train
cool
thats not a yard thats a passing loop
+Trainfan 3219 Technically, yeah it's just a siding. I assume they call it a yard because it's used to interchange cars between BNSF and the Ballard Terminal Railroad.
ok
rrrrrpppppppssssst c'mon THROUGH,!!!!! Who wants some Street Meat? I said comin through!!!
weird looking, but cool.
Why would I prefer hand signals? Seriously? At 6 carlengths the trainman giving you hand signals is already a football field away from you.
Gimme radio communication any day