by Nate Shedd/photos by the author
When railfans visit BNSF Railway’s Seattle Subdivision between Portland, Ore., and Seattle, the section between Nisqually and Tacoma, Wash., seems to be the scenic highlight that draws their attention. With a variety of trains from both BNSF and Union Pacific, the former Northern Pacific main line along the coast of Puget Sound provides railfans with great opportunities for taking stellar pictures. Whether you choose to visit the Ruston Waterfront, Titlow Beach, Steilacoom, or Chambers Bay, you are guaranteed a front row seat to seaside main line railroading in the Pacific Northwest.
History
When Northern Pacific reached its western terminus of Tacoma in 1873, the original main line ran through Tacoma’s Nalley Valley and down into Commencement Bay. This line through the Nalley Valley, better known as the Prairie Line, proved to be problematic for NP. The Prairie Line hosted a 2.2 percent grade, which was not ideal for a main line, descending into what is now Downtown Tacoma.
ABOVE: Union Pacific SD90MAC-H 8930 and the Seattle to Portland manifest is headed southbound along the Ruston waterfront on June 18, 2021. Mount Rainier and the Port of Tacoma can be seen in the distance as the train heads for Portland.
Northern Pacific’s solution to this problem was to create a water level route under Point Defiance and along the coast of Puget Sound. Built in the 1910s, the line under Point Defiance provided NP with its much-needed water level route, eliminating the need for the steep grade of the Prairie Line.
One of the challenges faced when constructing the route under Point Defiance was the need for two tunnels, which were built to curve the main line in a southward direction. These included the Nelson Bennett Tunnel (4,391 feet in length) and a short tunnel under Ruston’s ASARCO smelter (321 feet). Northern Pacific built both tunnels as double-track, which changed in the late 1980s when successor Burlington Northern eliminated one of the mains so it could accommodate taller double-stack container trains. After turning south via Nelson Bennett, the tracks follow the coastline toward Titlow Beach, passing under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the process.
ABOVE: From a vantage point in University Place, UP AC4400CWM 6492 leads southbound intermodal Train I-SELC along Puget Sound in the late evening of September 30, 2023.
Hugging the coast, the main snakes into Steilacoom, the first incorporated town in Washington State (1854). The passenger station was built to serve the community in 1914, closed in 1971 following the advent of Amtrak, and still stands today.
Following the coast of Puget Sound for another five to 10 miles, the main line leaves the Puget Sound behind at Nisqually where a connection to the branch line from Lakewood is made — currently Sound Transit’s Point Defiance Bypass used by commuter trains as well as Amtrak. The newly constructed route connected back with the Prairie Line at Tenino where it branched off toward Tacoma.
ABOVE: BNSF C44-9W 5341 leads an empty coal train that originated out of Centralia on May 3, 2023. By 2025, the power plant in Centralia will be shut down and no longer receive rail service.
Modern-Day Point Defiance Line
BNSF owns the Point Defiance route, with Union Pacific trackage rights trains running between Reservation in Tacoma and Portland. It typically hosts upward of 30–40 trains per day, although the count varies. Amtrak ran its Coast Starlight and Cascades Service passenger trains on the route up until November 2021 when they were diverted to the Point Defiance Bypass, shaving 10 minutes off the run between Seattle and Portland.
BNSF runs a wide variety of trains along the Sound, including grain, manifest, intermodal, autorack, garbage, coal, and oil trains, with the occasional work train. While UP has trackage rights, it doesn’t run nearly as much traffic compared to BNSF. UP traffic includes intermodal, garbage, manifest, and grain trains. Through its trackage rights, UP has access to the markets and ports of Seattle and Tacoma without the need for its own right-of-way between Portland and Tacoma…