A southbound BNSF container train rumbles through Winlock...

Passing through...

Keeping his eye on the road as he flies by at 60 MPH...

Moving to the wet side of the mountains...

Not far from where we live--- A Union Pacific freight crossing the Cowlitz River. The double-tracked mainline is used by both the Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads.

Winter watercolor...

Big sky, big river, and the tracks go on forever...

On a grand scale...

The Empire Builder...

...or at least a portion of it. Amtrak's Empire builder starts in Chicago as a much bigger train. By the time it gets to Spokane, Washington, a portion is split off to go through the Gorge to Portland, Oregon. The other portion heads over the Cascade Mountains to Seattle.

Curves on the Washington side--- Oregon on the other side...

Long train runnin'

Pillars...

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What's the hurry?

Rolling along...

Bold...

It's always busy in the Gorge...

A long BNSF train is headed through the tunnels westbound on the other side of the Columbia River.  A Union Pacific container train is headed East on this side-- at the bottom of the picture.  And there's also a westbound barge.

There are still things to be proud of...

American Dream II

Just a couple of minutes later-- In the foreground, the BNSF train is moving empty container cars west.  A barge boat is pushing 4 gigantic barges east into the lock around the Dalles Dam.  

American dream...

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The crossing...

Through the cliff...

In the center-bottom of yesterday's picture you can see a break in the basalt formation--- seen closer in this picture. It's actually been carved out by the Union Pacific Railroad.  This is a UP container train on the tracks running through that break.

Look carefully-- on the other side of the river, a very long westbound BNSF train...

Tunnels galore!

Near Sunset...

In motion!

The Drano Lake tunnels!

A wonderful sight when the light hits them just right... And yes, that really is the name of the lake. The Columbia River is on the other side of the highway and the BNSF tracks...

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What???

I was a bit confused by this little train--  one engine, four tank cars, and a caboose!  Trains don't run with cabooses anymore! But then a friend explained that this was a fire train--  water in the tank cars, and crew in the caboose to fight fires near the tracks.  Oh.  Not something you see everyday.

Isn't that the way we've always thought they should look, heading west...?

An eastbound unit train waits at the Wishram Amtrak station for other traffic to pass.

Happy birthday America! I hope we can heal the wounds soon...

Looking across a vineyard in Maryhill, Washington, toward the Oregon side of the river and a long Union Pacific train.  The vineyard, the mighty Columbia River, the powerful bluffs, and the Union Pacific all seem to embody America to me...

Coming out of the west end of the Alligator Rock Tunnel along the Columbia River, a BNSF grain train is headed up by a borrowed or leased locomotive that no one can seem to identify. The other engines were normal BNSF colors.

The BNSF crossing in the little town of Maryhill, Washington-- lots of orchards and vineyards there along the river.