Renton Rocket street running with 737 fuselages, Renton, WA, 7-28-2015
Well, fellow railfans, I have a very special treat for you today. Something you, literally, can see nowhere else.
Here is the story, which is longer than the video!
On a summer afternoon I had parked by the mainline in south Seattle. There is an overpass that I though would be a good place to catch a northbound train.
While waiting and listening to my scanner the Renton Rocket local job snuck up on me going southbound.
The Renton Rocket services customers in Renton, with its primary task of delivering 737 fuselages to the Renton Boeing plant. The fuselages are made at the Spirit Aerosytems plant in Witchita, KS and brought to Renton via rail. Search my videos for "fuselage" and you'll several of my videos where I've caught fuselages on road trains coming into Seattle as well as on the Renton Rocket job.
A devious thought came into my head: could I get to downtown Renton before the Rocket did? Why? Because for three blocks in downtown Renton, the tracks run right down the middle of a public street.
Street running is pretty rare, especially on the big Class 1 railroads. Fuselages running in the street? Can't see that anywhere else on earth but here!
So I sprinted south to Renton. I figured I had a good chance to beat the Rocket because they had several well cars with garbage containers behind the fuselages. I presumed they'd drop those at the transfer facility first before heading over the Boeing plant.
I arrived on Houser Way S, where the tracks run. I drove down the street once, trying to figure the best shooting location.
I setup and waited, not knowing when they'd show up. I had my scanner on, hoping to hear the crew talking on the radio.
Finally I heard "foreman going in between, Rocket". That meant he was going in between cars to attach brake hoses or set/release handbrakes. The response was "Rocket, set and centered". That was the engineer telling the foreman that the air brakes were set and the reverser lever was in Neutral. And heard the term "Ryerson Steel" mentioned. That meant they were at Ryerson Steel, just a mile from my location.
I setup and waited for the train to arrive. They run about 10mph giving you plenty of time to view the train. You can't get much closer to a train than this! I was so close I really needed a wider angle lens to take in the cars.
Behind the locos were two coil cars. These are specialized flat cars used to carry large sheet metal coils. Ryerson receives rolls of sheet metal and turns them into various sheet products. These were empties they picked up at Ryerson.
The stars of the show are the two fuselages. This close up you can really see the details of how they attach them to the flat cars.
The fuselages are numbered 5558 and 5559. This means they're the 5,558th and 5,559th 737 Next Generation planes made. There were 1,988 of the original 737's made.
You may be able to hear some people talking in the background. There were some tourists behind me at the intersection. Once they saw the fuselages, they started taking pictures and chattering like mad at the scene before them.
Checking production lists on sites like Planespotters shows that 5558 was delivered on Sept 3rd to Lucky Air of China, tail #B-6016, it's a 737-800 variant.
Here she is on first flight: 2.bp.blogspot.c...
Here she is painted, landing at Shanghai: img.planespott...
5559 was delivered on Sept 9th to United Airlines, tail #N62889, it's a 737-900 variant.
Here she is painted: img1.jetphotos....
Who knows, one day you may be riding on a plane that you saw arriving to the plant where it was assembled!
Wicked cool, eh?
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This brings back a lot of memories for me. My grandma lived just south of here on 3rd and Burnett. As a child I got to watch the Milwaukee Road running east-west on Howser and the Northern Pacific's Sumas Line running north-south on Burnett. The interlocking diamonds were about where that one big intersection is where the video starts at. And of course a little bit west of the intersection was the old depot for the Spirit of Washington dinner train. Another long gone from the area train. Thanks for sharing.
@SeattleRailFan
9 жыл бұрын
+hydrofansteve Must have been great back in the days when the line was busy. At least this section is still in use! The depot is still there, just not used now I guess. You can still see evidence of the NP line in aerial photos. Or, for a real blast from the past, look up Renton at HistoricAerials. There you can see aerial photos going back to the 30's. Renton was quite a bit different back then!
The other cool thing about Renton is that it is one of only three remaining pieces of the Milwaukee Road main line still in service west of Terry Montana. This track once used to host electric boxcabs! Great video, I want to see this train in this location someday.
@SeattleRailFan
9 жыл бұрын
+mafarnz Yes, back in the day this was the Milwaukee Road mainline if my memory is correct so it'd have been a great railfanning location. Several blocks from here one of the Milwaukee Road electrical substations still survives. It's been converted to an office building, I've delivered to customers there. Big old brick building, looks solid enough to survive a 10.0 earthquake.
@Northwest_Railfan
8 жыл бұрын
Didn't realize this line was part of the line that is now a trail. if your ever near Kent checkout the former MILW line that is now UP. Also the old depot exsists as a dentist office, although it has been moved from it's original location.
Thanks for sharing. That is a unique scene.
I found your channel by accident, thanks to youtube putting a link in those suggestions on the right. Nicely done, and I appreciate the text info you put into them. Highball!
Normally, when Spirit Aerospace ships out the Boeing 737 fuselage, we ship three. Rather unusual to only see two on a train. Thanks.
Wow, that's an awesome catch - thanks for sharing!
I love it man. keep up the good work
Good catch Todd...Thanks
What a cool thing to see. Looks like I may have to make a trip to Renton!
@SeattleRailFan
9 жыл бұрын
+Yard Limit It's worth it to get that close to such a unique cargo. If you do get down to Renton to have a look, I usually see the Rocket in the afternoons. The best way to know when to be there is to hang out up in south Seattle by the mainline. When you see the Rocket approaching headed southbound with fuselages, sprint on down to downtown Renton and wait for them to arrive. There is a small park on the west end of Houser Wy where you can wait in the shade. You can see the park a bit in my video when the train first hits the street. Afterwards, you could visit the Renton History Museum across from where I was. Its the white building with the flags in front right at the end of the video, across the intersection.
@YardLimit
9 жыл бұрын
+SeattleRailFan Thanks!
Wow! It's one things to have a train street running, but carrying fuselages at the same time? That's amazing! Thank you for sharing this! By the way, is this an actual mainline? The tracks through the street look too well built and maintained to be a spur or branch.
@SeattleRailFan
8 жыл бұрын
+Patrick3751 It's not currently a main track. Back in the day it was the mainline for the Milwaukee Road. Trains would come down from Seattle on tracks owned by other railroads mostly, then turn onto this section of Milwaukee Road track. They would pass through downtown Renton, then through Maple Valley to a tunnel under Snoqualmie Pass and to points east. After the demise of the Milwaukee Road, this section of track and the track from Renton, up to Bellevue and to Snohomish was a lightly used subdivision for Burlington Northern and BNSF with only a few customers plus the Boeing trains. A few years back they cut the line in Bellevue, so the only trains you see in downtown Renton now are the Boeing trains.
@duskrpg119
8 жыл бұрын
These tracks up north r abandon and severed or turn into a trail o this line is not a mainline but I wish the whole line will be back in service soon
Great story! Cool Pics!
Great video. I appreciate the work.
that was great I see them at times here in Spokane going to seattle thy are so cool to see.
@SeattleRailFan
9 жыл бұрын
+James Finborg Even better close up. They don't look so big when they're a hundred yards away sitting on the tarmac.
@MrJimmybgood
9 жыл бұрын
yea still a great shot of them close up. thank you again for sharing. I still love seattle a great city.
pretty cool I imaging they use the coil cars as Idlers, great video
@SeattleRailFan
8 жыл бұрын
+John Hall Nope, no idler cars are needed at the Boeing plant. The coil cars were picked up from Ryerson Steel a mile or so from my shooting location. They receive coils of sheet steel in the coil cars and use them to make their products.
@breadkrumz7983
8 жыл бұрын
Cool. Thanks for the info.
cool catch thanks for sharing
very great video!
hey can u get the crossing in Renton by the bigfoot java i love that crossing and it would be cool if u get a shot of it if u do thx
Nice video. I guess the train only runs during daytime due to the noise / horns etc. Another question: I saw a KZread clip with a couple of 737 fuselages in a river due to a de-railment. Were they scrapped? Cheers Adam
@SeattleRailFan
8 жыл бұрын
+FlyToChina0071 I'm not sure if this train only runs in the daytime or not. I see it regularly and it seems they leave Seattle in the morning, do their work south of the city then return late in the afternoon. I was shooting them at about 3:30pm. The street they run down is mostly businesses, but I would guess Renton doesn't want them blowing horns at night. Yes, the fuselages that were involved in last year's derailment were scrapped. They went to some recycling plant in the Midwest, if I recall.
@FlyToChina0071
8 жыл бұрын
+FlyToChina0071 OK & Thanks :-) Adam
Awesome video! How often do they run down the street or is it just when they have fuselages do deliver?
@SeattleRailFan
9 жыл бұрын
+Jeff Miller The only customer (as far as I know) past this section of track is Boeing, so the only time they run down this street is when they have fuselages to deliver. Boeing is producing 42 planes per month at Renton. The Rocket brings 2-4 fuselages per trip, so that's 10-20 trips each month. Prior to 2008, the fuselages used a different route, coming from the north to the Boeing plant. Since 2008, every 737 produced has come down this street.
What camera are you guys filming with!?! I just got a GoPro 4 silver!
@SeattleRailFan
8 жыл бұрын
+Joshua Sellars I use a Sony HDR-CX12. It's a few years old now, but takes great HD video.
I saw the 737 max
@SeattleRailFan
8 жыл бұрын
+Tiffany Douglas It's practically a daily occurrence. Boeing is making 42 737's a month now, soon to ramp up to 52 then 60. Every 737 fuselage comes down this street.