Mukilteo, Washington, is between Seattle and Everett, on the BNSF Scenic Subdivision. When I lived in Seattle it was one of our favorite places to go for the weekend with the Silver Cloud Hotel next to the ferry dock and Ivar’s right next door. The Mukilteo station is just east of the hotel which serves the small town with a stop by the Sounder.
In addition to freight traffic working eastward toward the Cascade Tunnel, there is a good amount of traffic headed to Vancouver via the Bellingham Subdivision which starts in Everett.
Specially designed railcars take Boeing cockpits on their first trip across the country from Wichita to Everett where the aircraft are assembled. The cars are numbered according to what planes they carry parts for. For example, car number TBCX 76705 carries components for the 767 series aircraft. We were fortunate to catch the Boeing shove where these two GP38-2’s push the two cockpit cars up the 5.7% grade.
The Cascade trains run from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia. They used to use beautiful Talgo train sets but these were discontinued after the derailment in 2017. Now they use Charger locomotives with Horizon cars and old F40 PH non-powered cab units. FAA clearance was given through LAANC to shoot this drone sequence.
The Amtrak Empire Builder can be seen shortly after departing Seattle where it will join up with its other half in Spokane to continue on to Chicago.
The westbound Empire Builder passes through Mukilteo for an on-time arrival in Seattle, just 25 miles south.
Finally, the best catch along the Scenic Subdivision is the fuselage train. These 737 fuselages are made in Wichita, Kansas and transported by rail to Renton, Washington for final assembly.
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