I had not really given much thought that the Union Pacific line from Tukwila to Tacoma, WA would be considered USA Railfanning but I guess that it should since it does not have a Blog of its own.  As I have been spending more time exploring and photographing trains on the UP line I think it is a worth subject to write about.

I have learned that in the mornings southbound trains can be photographed between Seattle and Sumner and northbound between Sumner and Fife Yard near Tacoma.  There are a couple of tools you can use to monitor UP train traffic headed north.  The Chehalis OS Train Tracker which shows a record of trains passing the ex-NP depot and and the Chehalis, WA virtual Railfan on YouTube that will show you what is coming.

On 2-25-22 it was a sunny morning so I checked the OS sheet and saw a UP O-GLSE was coming north.  It usually takes 90 minutes for a train to get from Chehalis to Tacoma, sometimes longer if delays occur.  It takes me around 40 minutes to get to the UP at Sumner from home in Renton so I made it with time to spare.  Scouting out where I wanted to photograph the UP garbage empty I saw headlights approaching from behind.  I was not planning on the I-SEBR but here it was.  I was south of Sumner at the Highway 161 overpass so it was harshly backlit here.  Would have been much better north of Sumner.  UP 5928/7722 were the two head end units.

I had planned to stop here anyway to check out a reminder of the Milwaukee Road, a pair of overhead catenary guard boards from back when the Milwaukee was electrified.  The wire is gone and the Milwaukee is gone but this is still here.

But why are there two of them?  There was once a siding located here called North Puyallup and it even had a train order station.  The siding was removed sometime in the 1970′s but the guard shields remained.  Another photo with a single stacked KLLM container passing underneath,

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No DPU’s on the rear of the I-SEBR  (Intermodal Seattle to Brooklyn Yd, OR) so after the train had passed took this shot of the UP and catenary guard boards.

This was Milepost 2186 back when the Milwaukee Road owned the track and the Meridian St. highway overpass bridge FF-252 1/2..

I knew the O-GLSE was going to have to wait on the hot intermodal so had no problem getting down to MP 150.1 where the approach signal for Fife Yard is located at the grade crossing.  Nice thing about shooting here is you can look way down the tracks towards Fife and see the train you are waiting for approaching.  Plenty of time to set up the camcorder at the crossing before seeing the headlight down the tracks.

At 10:45 AM the train with units 8506/7260 passed by headed for Seattle.

Very happy with my first time photographing a train here.  DPU’s on the rear were 8375/2626.

As mentioned I set up my camcorder here and this is the video taken.

With the UP gone I took one last photo showing the signals and track before making my way over to the BNSF to see what was running there

I do enjoy photographing the UP so I know I will be back in the coming months of Spring and Summer.