Amtrak F59PHI #469 is on the tail end of Cascades #516 as it highballs out of Vancouver, Wash. Feb. 16. The train is accelerating to its authorized speed of 70 mph as it heads north on Main 1. This train and its southbound counterpart, #513, provide through service between Portland, Ore. and Bellingham, Wash. Amtrak and WSDOT will extend it to Vancouver, B.C. later in 2008.

The train has just cleared the diamonds of the north-south BNSF Seattle sub and the Port of Vancouver lead just north of the Amtrak depot. The interlocking at Vancouver Center is also where the "middle lead" (behind the control box) joins the main. Trains heading to or from the east-west Fallbridge Sub along the Columbia River leave or join the north-south main at this location.

The two overpasses are Mill Plain Blvd. (foreground) and Fourth Plain Blvd. (background). Both provide good photo views of the Seattle Sub and the adjacent BNSF Vancouver Yard. In the far distance, a BNSF doublestack out of the Port of Tacoma is moving down Main 2 toward the interlocking, where it will head east on the Fallbridge Sub.