Everett (Tunnel Junction)

The Everett Tunnel west portal sits where BNSF's Scenic Subdivision dives underground to pass beneath downtown Everett for approximately 1.5 miles (seven blocks), emerging on the east side near Oakes Avenue. The spot is located along the Pigeon Creek Trail area near West Marine View Drive, where the upper BNSF line (Scenic Subdivision heading east toward Stevens Pass) separates from the lower Bayside Main Line that continues along the Port of Everett waterfront toward Delta Yard and points north.

The Washington Trails Association describes the trail as running alongside the BNSF tracks where "the upper line turns and dives into a tunnel that takes it to downtown Everett." This junction creates the spot's unique appeal: you can observe trains splitting between two separate routes. The tunnel itself is single-track concrete, making it an operational bottleneck for the entire corridor between Seattle and the Cascade Range. Dispatchers must carefully sequence trains through the bore, which means you'll often see trains waiting their turn — providing extended photo opportunities.

Access to the immediate tunnel portal area has become restricted over the years. The Bond Street underpass, which was the last legal pedestrian crossing from Rucker Hill to the Pigeon Creek Trail, was closed around 2014 by BNSF due to safety concerns. Visitors should verify current public access points before planning a trip, as the situation may have changed. Terminal Avenue provides the nearest approach from the east side.

The west portal area occupies a narrow corridor between Possession Sound to the west and the first terraced bluffs of Everett's downtown to the east. The Port of Everett's industrial waterfront, one of the largest marinas on the West Coast, dominates the immediate surroundings. To the northwest, Naval Station Everett is visible across the water. On clear days, the Olympic Mountains rise across Puget Sound to the west, while Mount Baker appears to the north.

The Pacific Northwest marine climate shapes the experience year-round. Morning fog frequently rolls in off the sound, creating atmospheric conditions where trains materialize from mist — particularly dramatic when emerging from the tunnel portal. The marine layer typically burns off by midday in summer. Vegetation along the right-of-way includes lowland alder, big-leaf maple, and the ubiquitous Pacific Northwest blackberry thickets. Elevation change from the waterfront to downtown is modest, roughly 30 feet, but enough to create varied vantage points. Winter brings frequent rain and overcast skies but temperatures rarely drop below freezing at this sea-level location. Summer afternoons can deliver crisp lighting with Mount Baker visible to the north.

BNSF's Scenic Subdivision is the former Great Northern Railway's Stevens Pass route, running 155 miles from Seattle to Wenatchee. It forms part of BNSF's Northern Transcon corridor. A Washington State DOT freight rail study documented an average of 40 freight trains per day between Seattle and Everett, with 25 per day continuing east from Everett to Spokane via Stevens Pass and the 7.8-mile Cascade Tunnel. The Scenic Subdivision east of Everett is capacity-constrained to about 30 trains per day due to Cascade Tunnel ventilation limits.

Passenger service through the tunnel includes Amtrak Cascades (4 daily trains on the Seattle-Vancouver BC corridor), Amtrak's Empire Builder (2 daily, one each direction between Seattle and Chicago via Stevens Pass), and Sound Transit's Sounder North Line commuter rail (4 weekday round trips as of September 2024, when service was restored from the COVID-reduced 2 round trips). Sounder N Line operates 2-3 car trainsets running southbound from Everett in the morning (departures at 6:15, 6:45, 7:15, and 7:45 AM) and northbound in the afternoon/evening.

BNSF freight through Everett is dominated by intermodal double-stack container trains moving between Pacific Northwest ports and inland distribution hubs. Manifest freight, grain unit trains, and the notable H-EVEROO "trash train" (municipal waste from Everett to the Republic Services landfill at Roosevelt, WA in the Columbia River Gorge) are also common.

The west portal area offers the most dramatic shots as trains emerge from or enter the 1.5-mile tunnel bore. The single-track portal with its concrete headwall creates a natural framing element. Trains accelerating out of the tunnel or braking before entry provide different compositions.

The Pigeon Creek Trail area (when accessible) provides perspectives looking east toward the portal, with the ability to capture trains against the backdrop of Port of Everett facilities and Possession Sound. The junction where the Scenic Subdivision separates from the Bayside Main Line offers shots of diverging/converging movements — useful for capturing the operational complexity of the spot.

For Sounder and Amtrak service, Everett Station (opened February 4, 2002) about a mile east provides a more accessible platform-level shooting location with modern station architecture as a backdrop. The station area is fully public and offers good sightlines.

Morning light from the east illuminates westbound trains emerging from the tunnel. Afternoon light favors eastbound movements. The marine overcast common in the Pacific Northwest creates soft, even lighting that works well for train photography year-round, though it limits dramatic shadow contrast. A 70-200mm zoom covers most compositions; wider angles capture the tunnel portal in context with the surrounding terrain.

The Great Northern Railway reached Everett in 1893 during its push toward Puget Sound. Construction of the downtown tunnel began in 1892 and took approximately a decade to complete, running east-west beneath the central business district for seven blocks from Oakes Avenue to West Marine View Drive. The single-track concrete bore allowed James J. Hill's Great Northern to bypass congested street-level trackage through the growing city while maintaining grade for the climb east toward Stevens Pass and the original Cascade Tunnel (replaced by the current 7.8-mile tunnel in 1929).

Everett's role as a rail hub was cemented by its position between Puget Sound (for maritime connections), the Boeing aircraft assembly complex at Paine Field (which began operations in 1967), and the timber and mineral resources of the Cascade Range. The original Everett passenger station was built around 1900 on Bond Street and later served as BNSF offices. A new multimodal Everett Station opened on February 4, 2002, serving Amtrak, Sounder commuter rail, and local bus connections.

Delta Yard, located north of the tunnel along the Snohomish River, remains an active BNSF facility handling classification, garbage train staging (for the H-EVEROO service), and local switching. The yard has undergone a $35 million upgrade program to increase capacity for the growing freight and commuter demands in the Everett area.

The Everett Tunnel is one of the few urban railroad tunnels in the Pacific Northwest that remains in active heavy-freight and passenger service. Its single-track bore creates a genuine operational bottleneck on the corridor between Seattle and Stevens Pass, making it an interesting spot for observing dispatching strategy as trains are sequenced through the bore.

The junction where the Scenic Subdivision enters the tunnel while the Bayside Main Line continues along the waterfront gives this spot a rare dual-route characteristic. Few locations allow you to watch the same railroad corridor split between an urban tunnel and a coastal mainline within a single field of view.

The diversity of traffic is notable: BNSF intermodal and manifest freight, grain trains, the distinctive trash train service, Amtrak long-distance and corridor trains, and commuter rail all share this same infrastructure. The proximity to the Port of Everett, Naval Station Everett, and the Boeing Everett Factory (the world's largest building by volume) adds industrial context that few railfan locations can match.