Snow Trains at Skykomish!

the sign welcoming visitors to skycomish proudly proclaims its great northern roots this remote community is located roughly 50 miles east of everett washington it was identified by railroad surveyors as the first flat spot west of stevens pass and for a while carried that name the rails came in 1892 along with another name maloney's siding the following year a post office was established and the flat spot on the west side of the mountains was incorporated as skycomish once a busy helper base on the gn and later the bn it continues into the 21st century as a base for maintenance of whey a y track exists near the east end of the small town and the 8949-foot siding is commonly used by dispatchers for holding eastbound trains until they have a clear shot to the summit of stevens pass this morning an eastbound coal train is waiting for two westbounds this approaching manifest and amtrak 7. [Music] the nsf 7591 west leads another spokane to everett manifest through town [Music] wow [Music] so so [Music] skye komish sits at an elevation of 928 feet and is situated at the bottom of the 2.2 percent climb up the west side of stevens pass when the railroad was first completed a series of eight switchbacks zigged and zagged over the mountains with grades of up to four percent until the first cascade tunnel was completed in 1900 the historic gn depot was built in 1894 and served passengers until the 1950s it replaced the original depot which was nothing more than a car the building has been moved more than once in its lifetime and currently resides on the south side of the tracks a small scale live steam railroad runs around the depot but its tracks are currently invisible buried in the snow [Music] a late running amtrak 7 glides through the wintry scene after safely crossing stevens pass tomorrow's train won't be so lucky [Music] [Applause] [Music] as we filmed these scenes in january of 2020 a winter storm warning had been issued for much of the pacific northwest bringing several new feet of snow to stevens paths and significant accumulations to the foothills sky komish that prediction seems to be coming true what little evidence there might be left of a turntable and roundhouse is cloaked in a blanket of white former gn sd9 number 599 quietly weathers the storm while it waits an uncertain fate in the distance the lights of bnsf 9001 west appear after limping over steven's pass the 9001 had mechanical issues at merit and two engines off and eastbound were added to the point so this crew could continue to seattle the nsf 7181 and 8210 both ge's aid the ailing sd70ace on the point of a vehicle train so [Music] so many towns throughout the west both big and small owe their very existence to the railroad although many have forgotten that heritage skycomish has held on to its identity a great northern themed herald is proudly displayed on the city's utility truck which has been pressed into snow service it plows east railroad street past buildings that are a throwback to the town's heyday in the early part of the 20th century the nearly 100 year old cascadia hotel has welcomed guests rain or shine since 1922. a snowplow of a different kind sits at the ready on a house track near the west switch of skycomish this former gn snow dozer was rebuilt in vancouver washington in about 2009 and dressed in burlington northern's cascade green as the snow continues to accumulate on the mountain it should be just a matter of time before the dozer gets the call the next morning at 6 30 a.m we return to skycomish and find the town is without power numerous downed trees from wet heavy snow have taken their toll on both the town and the railroad flashing lights on nearby signal huts indicate they are operating on auxiliary batteries [Music] [Applause] two red eyes mark the west switch of skycomish and soon they are replaced with the blinding light of what turned out to be the only freight we would see this day more eastbound empty coal buckets for the powder river basin cool [Music] so a lone ge gently leans on the rear drawbar as the crew slowly brings the train to a stop just clear of the 5th street north crossing the plan is to meet amtrak 7 which is running late out of leavenworth a plan that will soon be changing as amtrak finds itself stranded at scenic while another winter storm bears down on stephen's pass for the next eight and a half hours nothing else moves through skycomish by 2pm the winter storm has intensified with gale force winds and blowing snow amtrak is stuck at the west switch of scenic downed trees have traffic stopped on highway 2. a relief engineer was high railed up to the stranded train earlier in the day and now the locomotives from the snow dozer have been called to bring a relief conductor as well this crew was instructed to take chainsaws along and would end up cutting their way through the downed trees to reach the stranded amtrak 7 and again cut their way back the loss of power also meant that switch heaters weren't working furthering delays the nsf used an army of gas generators to power signal bungalows between bering and scenic this one powers a grade crossing near the east switch of skycomish it's after 3 30 pm when bnsf 279 and 291 return to skycomish and enter the signing bnsf seattle east dispatcher noted over the radio they had lost the day's battle with the storm the two emd sd75i's would not go back to the snow dozer but would be called on to shuttle cruise for the next couple of days with the loss of signals and powered switches and with all the maintenance of way trying to keep the railroad open the empire builder was required to operate on track and time authority with limits between west scenic and west skycomish the radio crackles with activity between maintenance of way the seattle east dispatcher and amtrak with that switch there it might be easiest to have you line it reverse and let them sweep it out and have a go back man release number seven over okay you're instructed to hand operate the dual controlled switch at east skycomish east ast scott komis lining it for your route within your track and time main domain over finally at 4 23 pm the lights of amtk 203 west appear in the gathering desk the empire builder is over nine hours late but is safely off the mountain [Music] [Music] so so [Music] foreign after a brief stop at the 5th street crossing number 7 continues west for seattle soon to be back on signal indication and the town of skycomish prepares for another cold dark winter's night traveling on highway 2 was slow and dangerous with numerous downed trees and power lines this big maple branch punched out the back window of the vehicle in front of the camera crew fortunately no one was hurt in the incident but it was a long drive back to the motel in monroe which unlike skycomish still had electricity when traveling at night through the mount baker snoqualmie national forest you might keep your eyes open for bigfoot it's rumored he haunts a coffee shop on highway 2 near index the coffee is good hot and welcome especially on a night like tonight behind the marquee sign are lights of a car that has just got in the ditch and all two common occurrence on this night by daybreak the following morning both highway 2 and the railroad were closed over stevens pass a roadblock was set up at mile post 32 just east of the community of goldbar only emergency personnel railroad workers and some locals were allowed beyond this point due to numerous downed trees and power lines a danger that would continue even after the snow stopped falling with more snow in the forecast both the state of washington and bnsf were not taking any chances both amtrak's east and westbound empire builder were cancelled and other trains rerouted over nearby stampede pass and the columbia river gorge we are at gold bar elevation 200 feet another eastbound coal empty is tied down in the siding like several other trains on the scenic subdivision the only traffic moving for the next couple of days will be the crew shuttles out of everett like the approaching bnsf 9019 this three unit set of emds is bound for skycomish as it passes mile post 1756. [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] so [Music] later in the afternoon the trio returns west [Applause] moving closer to the east switch of gold bar the pair of sd75i's we saw yesterday head past the crossing of dorman road mile post 1754.9 [Music] [Applause] [Music] returning to gold bar two weeks later a different coal train is tied down in the siding bnsf 3149 is again seen as it powers the rock train bound for skycomish it has just retrieved a couple of ballast cars and the caboose out of a spur track at the west end of the siding so continuing our winter journey over stevens pass dusk settles in at the east control point of skycomish near mile post 1731 the seattle east dispatcher has a meet planned and within a few minutes our first train arrives bnsf 7959 drags a stack train through the 8949 siding and pulls toward the east switch to clear the 5th street crossing in town [Music] [Music] wow [Music] so [Music] [Music] after patiently waiting for a few minutes the lights of bnsf 7061 west filter through the trees as the train reaches the bottom of the 2.2 percent descent from scenic [Music] foreign so you have been watching an excerpt from winter on stevens pass available on dvd high definition blu-ray and in stunning 4k with vimeo on demand if you would like to purchase the full length program click on the link in the description below be sure to hit that like button and subscribe to watch more programs like this one added weekly from all of us at seven idea productions thanks for watching

Channel: 7idea Productions

Views: 136,126

Keywords: Train, Railroad, Snow, Blizzard, BNSF, Stevens Pass, Winter, Skykomish, Amtrak, Washington, Locomotive, Storm

Id: MWHK42qHF5o

Length: 25min 10sec (1510 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 22 2022