Seattle Spur & Spot
Harbor Island
Preliminary
Harbor Island was created out of the tideflats around the mouth of
the Duwamish River using fill material from some of Seattle's "regrade"
projects. Seattle's regrades were a series of hill recontours or removals
that eased what the City Fathers perceived as excessive topography inland,
while providing fill to relieve inadequate topography along the shore,
or in this case, out in Elliott Bay.
Served by both the BNSF and the UP today, Harbor Island has enough going
on that it is common to find switch crews of both railroads at work. The
access line to Harbor Island, paralleling South Spokane Street, is also
the route to West
Seattle, which brings still more rail traffic to the island.
BNSF gets here from Stacy Street Yard via a wye crowded by buildings,
under the West Seattle Freeway to Alaska Way Viaduct interchange, pausing
to switch industries in this area on the way.
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A connecting line from the Whatcom Yard direction connects the
East Marginal joint line with the Harbor Island joint line.
From Argo Yard, UP rail traffic to Harbor Island comes up the
north side of Duwamish Avenue South.
Recent expansion of rail traffic to Harbor Island and West Seattle,
with the expansion of Intermodal traffic in both areas, led to the construction
of a second rail trestle to the island across the East Channel, as well
as the new auto bridge to the south, linking Harbor Pointe Corporate Center
with Duwamish Avenue South.
There formerly was a second bridge, owned by the Milwaukee Road,
at this site somewhat further south still, with the connecting line to
the east passing just north of Ash Grove Cement, and on the island curving
around what are today the south and west sides of Harbor Pointe Corporate
Center.
The UP line turns off the BNSF line at the west end of the East Channel
trestles, to cross South Spokane Street at grade, and reach 11th
Avenue South and UP's Harbor Island yard. Harbor Island development
plans foresee eliminating this grade crossing, and having the UP follow
the BNSF route under the South Spokane Street Duwamish River bridge, then
swing east on a diagonal back to 11th Avenue South.
This UP switcher with cars is paused at the west end of the
East Channel bridge, while a crew member aligns the switch for the 11th
Avenue South line.
That same UP move continues onto the 11th Avenue South Line,
under the approaches to the high level West Seattle Freeway bridge.
A sunnier day, light UP power crosses South Spokane Street.
The BNSF line separates from the east-west trunk just east of the Duwamish
River drawbridge approach, and turns north along Klickitat Avenue South,
under the South Spokane Street Duwamish River bridge, to reach 16th
Avenue South, where there is a yard, and where BNSF's Harbor Island
customers are located. Recently BNSF has sometimes staged cars bound for
West Seattle in Harbor Island yard, presumably to avoid the longer run
and many busy street crossings involved in going all the way back to Stacy
Street.
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BNSF ...
A Milwaukee switcher comes under the old West Seattle Bridge,
on Harbor Island, circa 1967. Fishers is visible through the trestle work
under the bridge. The locomotive will cross the track to the NP Duwamish
River drawbridge. The Milwaukee crossed the East Waterway with its own
bridge from the southern tip of Harbor Island.
Looking at the same area today, the Milwaukee Road is gone,
tracks and all, the bridges are gone or replaces, an additional power pole
obscures the industry at the left, and Fishers Flour in the distance, soldiers
on. I'd like a scone now, please.
A BNSF transfer from West Seattle crosses the Duwamish to Harbor
Island. This is the former Northern Pacific bridge, The Milwaukee Road
track in the picture above crossed just to the left of this picture, but
is long gone.
To Harbor Island - 11th Ave
To Harbor Island - 16th Ave
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Spur & Spot
Alan Winston
awinston@scn.org
Ballard, Washington
6-7-98
