I bought my one-way ticket to Lakewood and then boarded an extremely crowded train and found a pair of seats on the mezzanine level of the cab car. I had my lunch and waited for Elizabeth to arrive, who was finishing lunch at the King Street Bar and Oven. I spotted her outside and someone saved my seats while I found Elizabeth and brought her on board; it was a good thing I did this as the Sounder train left Seattle standing room only. Bob was driving to Lakewood so he could pick us up since the schedule does not have a reverse commute.
The Point Defiance Bypass ProjectThis project will re-route passenger trains to an inland rail line along the west side of Interstate 5 through south Tacoma, Lakewood and DuPont, re-connecting to the BNSF Railway main line near Nisqually, on the east side of the interstate. It also adds a new Amtrak Cascades station in Tacoma's Freighthouse Square building.
Sound Transit currently uses a portion of this route for Sounder commuter rail service to Lakewood. This project will improve passenger train reliability by reducing congestion with freight trains and eliminating travel on tight corners and tunnels. Passenger trains, including Amtrak Cascades, currently must slow down due to curves and single-track tunnels on the BNSF Railway main line tracks near Point Defiance and along southern Puget Sound.
Freight train traffic patterns will not change with most freight trains continuing to use the existing main line near Point Defiance and along southern Puget Sound. The few freight trains that currently use the bypass route will continue to use it during and after the project.
The end result is more frequent, more reliable and faster Amtrak Cascades service since the improvements will allow passenger trains to use the bypass route without being delayed by freight or Sounder trains. After the completion of other capital rail projects, two additional daily round trip passenger trains could be added. Freight train traffic will not increase on this line beyond the minimal amount that utilizes it today. hen completed, the Point Defiance Rail Bypass project will bring a total of six daily round trip Amtrak Cascades trains and one Coast Starlight train through Tacoma, Lakewood, and DuPont intersections, with an average crossing time of 45 seconds per intersection and a maximum speed of 79 mph.
Our Trip
Our train at rest in Seattle, led by F59PHI 904. We departed on time and proceeded to our first stop of Tukwila then continued on to Kent, where we discovered the Northern Pacific station still stands. From here we went to Auburn and then Sumner.
Mount Rainier. We continued to Puyallup and then went to Reservation where we turned on to, at this point, tracks for the exclusive use of Sounder. We travelled over the former Milwaukee Road wooden trestle for the last time before stopping at the Tacoma Dome station. Leaving here, I was on new mileage for exactly one block due to the fact that this section of track was included in the rare mileage trip that Bart Jennings organized on the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad from Elbe to Tacoma in June 2006.
The track we travelled on that rare mileage excursion. From the switch of that line to Lakewood would be new rail mileage for us.
Crossing Pacific Avenue, the tracks of the Tacoma Link can be seen.
Crossing Tacoma Avenue South.
Crossing Yakima Avenue.
We next crossed over South Wilkeson Street.
Trees and open countryside before we arrived at South Tacoma station.
South Tacoma station.
Crossing over South 60th Street.
Crossing over South 66th Street.
The underpass of South 74th Street.
Mount Rainier seemed to be always watching over us.
The maintenance facility being built near Lakewood.
Steilacoom Boulevard before we arrived at Lakewood station, thus ending our trip on the Sounder.
Our Sounder train at Lakewood.
The locomotive in the instantly-recognizable paint scheme of the Sounder. Elizabeth called Bob for his location which was on the other side so we walked into the parking structure, climbed the stairs and across the bridge then down the stairs when we found Bob waiting in a cul-de-sac. We drove back to Lynnwood where I would spend the next three nights at the Alkires.
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