Entertainment - Entertainment News

POSTED: Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008

Bellingham provides delights for train lovers

More than just about any other place I've lived, Bellingham is a train lover's paradise.

Forget for a moment about the fabulous Bellingham Railway Museum. I'm talking real train watching, where you can feel in your bones the power of the massive diesel-electric engines, smell the acrid odors and hear the clack of metal wheels against the rails.

One of my earliest memories involves a steam locomotive that was parked on a siding at Michigan State University, near the married student housing complex where we lived while my dad was in school. Frequently after class, he would take me over to see the huge Pere Marquette Railroad engine with its distinctive No. 1225. I recall that sometimes we even stole inside the surrounding fence to play on the big pufferbelly.

While I was a student at MSU in the 1980s, volunteers were working to restore the locomotive to its former glory. Serendipitously, I discovered through a Google search that the engine I loved as a toddler became the inspiration for the magical locomotive in Michigan resident Chris Van Allsburg's book, "The Polar Express."

But I became a train lover long before I learned about that coincidence.

Our first home after my dad graduated was at the dead end of a street in a small dairy town. Less than block away was an abandoned train station, a coal yard and grain-loading facilities. Trains were a constant source of amusement. We'd use them to flatten pennies or we'd hop a slow-moving freight and ride for a few blocks. Often, we would just wave at the engineer or the man in the caboose.

Sometimes those memories come flooding back when I hear a train whistle's mournful wail late at night from my office at The Herald. If it weren't for deadline I'd run outside for a look.

There are countless locations to watch the BNSF freights and Amtrak passenger liners as they chug through town, including the station on Harris Avenue. You can find schedules at www.Amtrak.com for trains that run between Seattle, Bellingham and Vancouver, B.C. I'm not sure how to find schedules for the freights, as BNSF doesn't publish them and I tried without success online.

Here are a few of the better places in Bellingham to watch the trains go by:

? The bridge above Squalicum Parkway at Eldridge Avenue, looking toward Bellingham Bay. The tracks cross a bridge and offer a great background of the waterfront. The overlook from the little turnout at the intersection of Broadway-Holly-Eldridge streets offers a similar view.

? Boulevard Park, where there are several viewpoints for train lovers. I think the best is the walkway above the tracks at the north end of the parking lot. You could also park on South State Street just north of 14th Street and head down the embankment to the waterfront.

? The dead end of Fairhaven Street, just off Chuckanut Drive. From there, you can watch across the tidelands as trains cross the water and enter the tunnel at Arbutus Point. Bring binoculars.

? Just go for a walk along Roeder Avenue, from Bay Street to Hilton Avenue. There's bound to be a locomotive or some stray cars on a siding, and you can get a close look at the old brick train station.

Reach Robert Mittendorf, a Herald copy editor and page designer, at robert.mittendorf@bellinghamherald.com.