From the trackside headquarters of the 4th Annual Fall colors campout, we've been monitoring the events leading up to this scene for a couple of hours. After a west bound freight passed our location, I made the trip to this vantage point about 1000' above Scenic. The prognostications were correct and the freight was signaled through the Cascade tunnel. Meanwhile, the Empire Builder was running about 15 minutes late when it arrived at Scenic to await it's turn to pass through the tunnel. This meet may not have gone quite the way the dispatcher figured, as the westbound freight had still not cleared the tunnel when Amtrak arrived and then there was another 20 minute wait for the tunnel to be vented of diesel exhaust. In this 4 minute exposure you can see Amtrak with it's headlight on, sitting on the siding next to a work train, while the westbound freight lights up the trees on it's 30 minute journey to Skykomish. Click Here
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
