Amtrak's late afternoon Cascades service run from Seattle to Vancouver, BC leaves Seattle, crossing the Ballard draw bridge over the Ballard locks. This double track line was Great Northern's main route in and out of Seattle, and the concrete counter balance once featured a GN logo painted on it. In the 1940s it collapsed and was replaced by this one. In the shadows under the bridge, a GN industrial spur was used as a detour route while the bridge was repaired.
From Vancouver, BC, to Eugene, OR, this route runs along stretches of Puget Sound and the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. The TALGO trainsets that were the line's backbone for many years were withdrawn from service after they were cited in the 2017 crash
With two sections of the Empire Builder, the Coast Starlight, Seattle, the Cascade Mountains, Columbia Valley and Puget Sound, Washington state offers rail buffs plenty of variety and beauty.
