Busy afternoon at Tacoma Yard, 11-28-2010

Well today's video is a doozie! I dropped into Tacoma Yard a couple of Sundays ago to see if anything was happening and boy, was it hopping! I caught a grainer working the grain terminal, a UP trash train and two Amtrak Cascade trains - all four tracks in use, all in the space of an hour.

As I arrived, BNSF 4034/679 were pulling grain hoppers down the Dock Lead. Half their cars had been left at the grain terminal to the north. They were pulling south far enough to a clear a switch, then backed the rest of the cars onto another track at the terminal.

As they were shoving back, a UP garbage train (UP4404 / 3927 / 5041) came up Main 1 and stopped, waiting their turn to leave. Dispatch had indicated that they would go after the 3:15 Amtrak departed.

A few minutes later, 4034/679 return light power on the Tacoma Main just as a northbound Amtrak Cascades (AMTK 90251 / 41) passes by on Main 2.

4034/679 stopped right in front of me for a minute or two, presumably while a switch was lined at the grain terminal, then they reversed back. I got a nice shot of the BNSF and UP engines face-to-face in a little bit of a stare-down of the two Class 1 competitors.

I then waited around for 20 minutes or so until the 3:15 Amtrak Cascades came by southbound on Main 2, AMTK 205 leading and 468 on the tail.

Once they cleared, the UP boys got their highball and headed out. The engineer was nice enough to open his window and give me a wave. What a day!

Full roster:
BNSF 4034 / 679 C44-9W/C44-9W
AMTK 90251 / 41 NPCU/P42DC
AMTK 205 / 468 P42DC/F59PHI
UP 4404 / 3927 / 5041 SD70M/SD70M/SD70M