Seattle Spur & Spot
East Marginal
The South End
SCS Refrigerated Services
SCS (aka Seattle Cold Storage) has a refrigerated warehouse fronts
on River Street South, where the line comes back to East Marginal from
ducking under the First Avenue South Bridge. This could almost be considered
street running.
Rainy Seattle days still let us do some train watching. The
switch job coming up South River Street.
Headed from SDC and East Marginal to South River Street, past
SCS.
Seattle Distribution Center
The SDC accommodates several businesses in a pair of large warehouses,
with trucks in between, and rail spurs on both sides. Lots of rail cars,
but largely on hold, this week, at least.
SDC from the southeast.
And from the southwest. These cars seem to have been here several
weeks.
Fox
Avenue South
Here we have street trackage in use, if only occasionally. Fox
Avenue is tucked an odd block west of East Marginal in the "Hat & Boots"
area just south of the First Avenue South Bridge. Just a scruffy little
street, unexceptional except for the railroad track virtually from one
end to the other. Lots of sidings, but the only one that seems to have
regular service is Bunge Foods, which is actually an extension of
the track coming in from the East Marginal "main," so doesn't involve any
street running. Sigh.
From East Marginal, we can look down the track to Fox Avenue
South and Bunge Foods, to the left past Shulz Distribution, and the East
Marginal tracks past SDC, to the right.
[Seattle Iron & Metals]
It has been reported that Seattle Iron & Metals will move, from
its current Harbor Island location to 601 South Myrtle Street, by the end
of this year. South Myrtle is the south end of Fox Avenue, and the Fox
Avenue street trackage, but it would appear likely that SI&M will be
served by an existing track from East Marginal along South Garden Street.
The map on the DCLU board at 7th and Myrtle doesn't show
railroad access, but South Garden is the second street from the bottom,
along the right side.
From South Garden Street, near 8th Avenue South, the track can
be seen headed along the south side of the Tempress building (doesn't that
building look like a great model railroad kitbashing project?).
Past Tempress, and beyond the fence, the track curves to the
north. From the end of South Othello Street, a block south, a dockside
track can be seen between the crane rails. The track in this picture probably
connects with that in a switchback.
Pacific Terminals Limited
Pending SI&M's arrival, PTL is the big rail car receiver on South
Garden Street, and indeed the last big rail customer until the end of the
line. This was formerly Reynolds.
Looking across 8th Avenue South and South Garden Street
at the PTL warehouse.
A switch crew puts cars into PTL on a rainy Seattle day.
And having left the cars for PTL, it backs toward East
Marginal. It will cut these cars off beyond the crossing, to leave for
the next day.
Looking down the Garden Street track from East Marginal.
Jorgensen Forge
Jorgensen Forge does specialty forging and machining on twenty acres
along the west side of East Marginal Way South, surrounded by Boeing.
With their neighbor's first 747 across the street, UP 2027 arrives
at Jorgensen Forge.
There's a short delay ...
... while some material is moved off the north spur.
The box car is spotted on the north spur, ...
and the flat car is spotted on the center spur, inside the building.
Nothing today for the south spur. Does it get much service?
Boeing
The biggest customer on the line, in terms of corporate size, but not
amounting to much in terms of rail traffic. But what was said about Jorgensen
could also apply here. Does anyone have info?
There seems to be a usable track into this building, the southernmost
spur on this line.
At least Boeing employees can watch UP 2027 and her ilk, en
route to and from Jorgensen Forge.
East
Marginal: The North End
East
Marginal: The Heart
East
Marginal: Fox Avenue South
Contributors
Thank you to Gerald Massie, Frank Lowe.
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Spur & Spot
Alan Winston
awinston@scn.org
Ballard, Washington
6-6-98