The Woodinville Subdivision is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line that was formerly owned by

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

. It takes its name from one of its original end points in

Woodinville Woodinville is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a part of the Seattle metropolitan area. There is also a much larger population with Woodinville mailing addresses in adjacent unincorporated areas of King ( Cottage Lake) and ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The line extends approximately in east

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

and

Snohomish County Snohomish County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. With a population of 827,957 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous county in Washington, after nearby King and Pierce counties, and the 75th-most populous ...

. The line's ownership has been transferred in a deal involving King County and the

Port of Seattle The Port of Seattle is a government agency overseeing the seaport and airport of Seattle, Washington, United States. With a portfolio of properties ranging from parks and waterfront real estate, to one of the largest airports and container t ...

. The section from Snohomish to Woodinville was operated, on contract, by a company called Eastside Rail Freight, which is associated with the

Ballard Terminal Railroad The Ballard Terminal Railroad Company LLC operates two Class III short line terminal railroads in western Washington, United States. Founded in 1997 to operate a three-mile spur through Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, the Ballard Terminal Rai ...

and Meeker Southern. However, train traffic on the subdivision is exceedingly rare, with the Seattle region's rail operations now conducted on other higher capacity routes.

Route

The line was completed more than a century ago, between 1887-1904 by the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway and by

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by 38th United States Congress, Congress in 1864 and given ...

. The northern section between present day Woodinville and Snohomish was completed in 1888 and the section between Renton and Woodinville known as "The Belt Line" was completed in 1904. By 1902

held all interest in the line it (later became part of the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the e ...

and then the

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, tr ...

). The route begins in the area of Renton and Tukwila, at a place called Black River Junction. The rails run north along the eastern shore of

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

through

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

and several smaller cities before reaching its northern

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

in the small rural city of Snohomish. The railroad is mostly single tracked with a few passing sidings to allow trains to pass each other and spurs for local industries. It is a former

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference The Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) was an NCAA Division I conference that only sponsored women’s fiel ...

branch line. The route also includes a branch line from

to downtown Redmond; this is a remnant from which the tracks have been removed off a former

line to North Bend via

Issaquah Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the "Issaquah Alp ...

where the tracks have also been removed. A major feature of the railroad is the spectacular Wilburton Trestle, which was originally constructed in 1904. It was the longest wooden trestle in use in the Northwest until 2008. In June 2008, work commenced on the widening of I-405 south of Bellevue. As a result, the line was severed at the point at which it crosses the southbound lanes, just south of the railroad trestle. Currently there are no plans to reinstate the track now that the widening project has been completed.

Uses

The line was primarily used for local freight traffic.

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

uses the line to deliver

737 737 most commonly refers to: * Boeing 737, an American narrow-body passenger airplane ** Boeing 737 Classic ** Boeing 737 MAX ** Boeing 737 Next Generation * AD 737, a year in the common era * 737 BC, a year * 737 (number), a number 737 may als ...

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

s to its Renton plant from its supplier

Spirit AeroSystems Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fus ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. Trains for the Boeing plant at Renton travel through Seattle and enter the factory from the south. A bridge north of Renton depot was replaced in order to accommodate the width of the Boeing 737 fuselages transported by rail. The line also used to serve as a bypass during outages for the only other north-south rail route between the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

and

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

, the Seattle/Scenic Subdivision, which runs through downtown Seattle and along

. The line was also used by trains whose loads were too bulky to fit through the century-old Great Northern Tunnel that runs underneath

downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

. However, its numerous sharp curves and bends, at-grade street crossings, and poor rail condition required trains to reduce speeds to no more than when being used as a bypass. After a rainstorm washed out part of the Seattle line in 1997, a freight train derailed navigating the line as such. Until 2007, the line was also used by the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...

. The Spirit of Washington's contract to use the railroad ended on July 31, 2007, and efforts to renew it have been rejected by both BNSF Railroad and King County. Eastside Freight Railroad is currently non-operational due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Their SW1200 is currently on the Meeker Southern Railroad, with its reporting mark changed to MSN 109.

Sale and dismantling

In 2003, BNSF announced that it was looking to sell the line because of declining freight revenues and rising maintenance costs. The

purchased the right of way in 2008 for conversion to public-access

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

. In 2012 the City of Kirkland purchased the portion of the line running within the city limits, intending to convert to a trail. The

's federal lawsuit to stop Kirkland's trail plans was dismissed in Seattle on May 9, 2013. In January, 2015, the Kirkland portion of the Eastside Rail Corridor, with compacted gravel surfacing, opened for pedestrians and bicyclists. Snohomish County acquired the right of way from Snohomish to the King County line at Woodinville in 2016. Snohomish county plans to continue with rail and trail in this part of the corridor.

References

{{Reflist, refs = {{Cite press release , title=Federal Judge dismisses injunction claim about Cross Kirkland Corridor rail removal , publisher=City of Kirkland , url=http://www.kirklandwa.gov/News_Room/NR0509CKCDismiss.htm , date=May 9, 2013 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112043657/http://www.kirklandwa.gov/News_Room/NR0509CKCDismiss.htm , archivedate=November 12, 2013 , df=mdy {{Citation, title = Cross Kirkland Corridor Informational Brochure: The A, B, C Update , publisher = City of Kirkland Public Works Department , url = http://www.kirklandwa.gov/Assets/CMO/CMO+PDFs/Cross+Kirkland+Corridor+ABC+Brochure.pdf , date = December 5, 2012 , access-date = December 16, 2012 {{Cite web, title = The Eastside Railroad , publisher = Eastside Rail Now! , url = http://www.eastsiderailnow.org/route.html , date = February 7, 2008 {{Cite news, title = Rail-to-trail plan sparks debate over Eastside line , author = Ervin, Keith , newspaper = The Seattle Times , url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003547239_railline30m.html , date = January 30, 2007 , access-date = April 9, 2008 {{Cite news, title = Group Wants Dinner Train To Relocate To Snohomish , publisher = KIRO , url = http://www.kirotv.com/news/11202743/detail.html , date = March 8, 2007 , access-date = April 9, 2008 {{Cite web, title = Railroad History , publisher = Centennialtrail , url = http://centennialtrail.com/past-forward/the-railroads/railroad_history , date = 2017 , access-date = June 28, 2017 {{Cite web, title = Seattle,_Lake_Shore_and_Eastern_Railway , publisher = Wikipedia , url = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle,_Lake_Shore_and_Eastern_Railway , date = April 18, 2017 , access-date = June 28, 2017 {{Circular reference, date=November 2017 {{Cite web, title = Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company , publisher = History Link , url = http://www.historylink.org/File/1736 , date = November 18, 1999 , access-date = June 28, 2017 {{Cite web, title = Timeline , publisher = woodinville-heritage-society , url = http://www.woodinvilleheritage.org/timeline/ , date = 2012 , access-date = June 28, 2017 http://www.woodinvilleheritage.org/timeline/

External links

Cross Kirkland Corridor

Eastside Rail Now!
a grassroots movement to preserve the Eastside route BNSF Railway lines Heritage railroads in Washington (state) Rail infrastructure in Washington (state) Transportation in King County, Washington Transportation in Snohomish County, Washington Woodinville, Washington