Loading

Railfan Sites in Washington

A self-guiding railfan tour

Railfan, railfan--where do you see trains in Washington?

In late 2008, Adaleta Balsalobre's data from 2001 was no longer available on the Net, so I re-wrote and re-researched it, and in the process developed a Frograil Tour between Seattle and Everett.Locations on that tour are annotated with a [BNSF] symbol.

Mapwork: If you're going to be looking for railfan locations, you'll need an industrial strength map resource. I definitely recommend you get a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, study it before your trip, and copy pertinent pages for your field work. You can find information here about Railfan Maps that are available.

Cities And Sites

Contributors:

(2) Ted Curphey, the "Funnel Fan," has put together two excellent pages covering, respectively, Cheney-Spokane and Spokane-Sandpoint. There is a ton of material in those pages, and I've listed many of the highpoints, although you'll have to kind of work thru the pages to find each location. These two "pages" represent a total of about 17 pages of typed text and photos, so there is a lot of really good stuff here.

SHELTON -- DRY SORT YARD (May 1997)

Located 9 miles west of Shelton's Simpson Timber Company's giant mill complex, a staging area is operated. This is the Dry Sort Yard. According to my Rand-McNally Road Atlas, there is a (county?) road heading west from Shelton to Matlock. Road #102 joins this road about halfway to Matlock, and this is the approximate location of the Dry Sort Yard and mill. You might want to be in a 4x4 up here, because this is pretty rugged country, especially, if you want to try to "chase" a train.

*[Note: This material was adapted from info provided by TRAINS Magazine in May of 1997. If you don't subscribe to TRAINS, well, you should. It's an excellent publication. Get on its web site here. ]

Back to the top

SHELTON -- SIMPSON TIMBER (May 1997)

Way back in the 70's, I lived in Tacoma, Washington, and was able to see Simpson's logging railroad operations. Back then, it was an anomaly within the railroad scene. When I left in 1977, I was convinced the railroad would be gone shortly. Thankfully, I was wrong. The Simpson Timber Company still operates in the Olympic Peninsula, and its railroad still soldiers on. Essentially, Simpson gathers logs in its areas west of Shelton, sorts them at it's Dry Sort Yard, and then delivers them to its giant mill in Shelton. Transportation is via its logging railroad.

The May, 1997, TRAINS Magazine* has a nice article on the railroad, and also includes a good map. This railfan site guide has largely been adapted from that article, as well as my recollections. To get to Shelton, take I-5 to Olympia, and travel US-101 north to Shelton. The mill was virtually impossible to get into 20+ years ago, and is no doubt even more difficult now. However, there are areas which offer some possibilities for photos, and you'll just have to check with the locals to get train schedule info.

*[Note: This material was adapted from info provided by TRAINS Magazine in May of 1997. If you don't subscribe to TRAINS, well, you should. It's an excellent publication. Get on its web site here. ]

Back to the top

*In late 2008, a fan from the United Kingdom notified me that an extensive series of railfan locations in the general Seattle area had busted links. Indeed, those sites were no longer on the Net. The links were to www.northwestrailfan.com.Fortunately, that's happened before with other locations, and I've developed the habit of printing out the material "just in case". Those railfan sites have been reproduced on these pages, and have been examined thru aerials, and I think they're pretty dependable. NOTE WELL, however:

1. I am in the process of trying to contact the author of the pages. In the meantime, I will avoid quoting or otherwise plagerizing her material.

2. I have not personally visited these locations, and cannot vouch for their accuracy.

3. The original material was written up ca. 2001, so remember that lots can happen is 7+ years.