![]() Our boys still talk about seeing that train - the freight daylight. If it weren’t for Virtual Railfan and our “train family” online, we never would have known to watch for it. The “freight daylight,” as my oldest dubbed it, is one of very few trains in that scheme. It’s a Union Pacific “heritage” engine that is a throwback to trains like the historic SP4449, built in the 1940s and based in Portland at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center. It’s a modern freight train painted in a classic “daylight” color scheme. We were able to watch it live on the cam with our boys. Recently, a really unique train known as the UP1996 rolled through Chehalis. When a train comes through Chehalis, we use it as a geography lesson in our home. By following the train tracker maps available from and Amtrak, we’re able to follow lots of interesting trains from states all over the U.S. Many chatters mention how much they’d love to come to Chehalis by train, stay at McMenamin’s Olympic Club, and see the Chehalis and Centralia train-related sights: The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad … the historic depots … the rail history.Īs it turns out, Chehalis is a pretty great place to train watch. It’s been asked many times: Where is that train going? How does Chehalis have a “port” if it’s landlocked? What kind of businesses and industries are using that rail line? For instance, the “local” train - a smaller BNSF train that works between Centralia and Chehalis - switches tracks near Darigold towards the Port of Chehalis. People from countries all over the world often have questions about Chehalis and Lewis County. It was super fun to participate in the chat as a Chehalis local. Soon, we started asking simple questions about the things that we would see and viewers from all over the world would educate us about what we were seeing. I started watching the chat and quickly realized that these were train and rail fans from all over the world - an international audience. I started tuning in on my laptop once in awhile and realized there was a live chat feature when you’re watching online via web browser or the YouTube app (the chat doesn’t appear on our smart TV). ![]() ![]() Our boys would sit and listen outside for the sound of a train and run inside to turn on the live stream. Once our boys realized that this camera was at the museum, they were especially hooked (we have a family museum membership and spend a lot of time there). Since the live stream is available via YouTube (online and on the app), we were able to tune in with our living room smart TV. The Chehalis location is the only one in Washington aside from the Skykomish camera location. My 3-year-old and 5-year-old love all things train and we had never run across that name before.Īccording to, “Virtual Railfan is the leading provider of live streaming rail cams in the United States.” They proudly boast 75 cameras in 46 locations in 22 states, and four countries. Prior to reading the recent article in The Chronicle about the new live streaming cam, perched on the second level of the museum and pointed at the rails in downtown Chehalis, I had never heard of Virtual Railfan. Now I’m baffled.This column is a “tip of the hat,” as they say, to the Lewis County Model Railroad Club and the Lewis County Historical Museum for bringing Virtual Railfan to Chehalis. Looking west over the N 8th St crossing in St Marys proper, the 8872 & train has completely stopped. But apparently Larry-the-Cable-Guy’s distant cousin, Larry-the-FX4-pickemup-truck driver decided to ham-bone his way into my sequence.ģ. I decided to take advantage of the slower speed to get a few broadside shots passing by the eastbound CTC approach signal to St Marys siding. On the west side of St Marys, KS the train was slowing way down, probably for the upcoming meet. Here’s solo UP 8872 passing a solo silo, which might look familiar to a few of you with lots of TO seniority: ( Death of a Barn. That gave me a chance to catch up with the train at Belvue, KS. Unbeknownst to my tipster at the original tip time, the crew had to stop and secure a dragging chain. The EB train in question was a string of empty flats, no doubt coming out of Ft Riley to some unknown loading destination. An extra hour after hours is always a strong temptation! So what was my decision? (See below. And the sun is shining, PLUS we just converted to CDT. a meet on our local KP which is mostly traffic-starved these days. Enter an incoming text from ‘mg8711’: “ Eastbound going through Manhattan right now, heading for a meet at St Marys”. I had some pretty decent scanning momentum going in my latest session, currently in the Tony Fey collection. So there I was safely behind the throttle of my Epson V550.
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