In the first month of revived operation over Stampede Pass, BNSF train #686 swings around the Seattle leg of the wye on its journey east. Cargo consists primarily of sweet-smelling cedar forest products and a few flat cars of maintenance-of-way equipment.

Traffic at this time was limited to an early morning grain empty and this late afternoon manifest, both difficult to catch in the sparse daylight of December.

Dec. 22, 1996
Photo by David Cooley #96D138

Snow on the foothills hints at pass conditions as #686 heads through East Auburn. Trains operated under Track Warrants and competed for tracks and sidings as work trains finished improvements to the line. #686 sat on the Seattle-Tacoma mainline for nearly an hour waiting for a tie crew to exit the Stampede main via the Tacoma leg of the wye (at right) and finally clear in Auburn yard.

Dec. 22, 1996
Photo by David Cooley #96D102

Coal empty E-CECSCM0-22 (Centralia to Spring Creek, MT) passes through East Auburn for Stampede Pass and back to the mines. BNSF 5601, 5602, and 5600, all new AC4400CW's, lead the way.

#011116 Feb. 27, 2001
Photo by David Cooley

Eastbound empty Trough Train passes newly installed (but not yet active) high-wide detector at MP 100.6.

#984117 Apr. 9, 1998
Photo by David Cooley

Eastbound coal empty approaching Green River crossing. Signal MP 100.3 has just been installed and is operating on generator power (note cord and machinery on trackside of shed). It is displaying a continuous approach indication for test purposes.

April 1, 1998
Photo by David Cooley #992112

Eastbound grain empty approaching Green River crossing. Note the addition of the lower signal head and the repositioning of the distant plate ("D") from the previous photo.

1999
Photo by David Cooley #992112

Firefighters continue to douse hotspots at dawn after a late afternoon fire at the old fruit warehouse the day before. The wooden warehouse stood alongside the mainline at the north end of Auburn yard. Highway 18 was closed due to the flames licking the overpass but reportedly BN trains kept running while fire crews shot streams of water over them!

Photo by David Cooley

A morning BN freight passes the burnt-out remains. The cement firewall left standing prevented an earlier fire from consuming the north half of the building years ago, but was powerless to restrain this blaze.

Photo by David Cooley

Concrete telephone booth stands unused along the main line at the north end of the yard and dates to Northern Pacific days. The booth was removed within a few years of this photo.

August 23, 1989
Photo by David Cooley #898122