Seattle, WA: BNSF/Great Northern Interbay Carshop and Balmer Railyard & Roundhouse

Railyard: (Satellite)

Roundhouse: (Satellite)

Car Shop: (Satellite)

Cerita Sakura posted two photos with the comment:

BNSF Interbay Roundhouse

Built in 1929 for the Great Northern Railway, Interbay has a 112 foot turntable and 15 stalls, 16 if you include the machine shop. In addition to the roundhouse, there is a diesel house, where multiple level ramps allow workers access to every part of a locomotive. Across the mainline is the BNSF Interbay Car Shop.

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Have end-cab switches become as rare as turntables?

amantastic, Jan 2022

1949/54 Shilshole Bay Quad @ 24,000

Viral Media posted

BNSF Balmer Mini-Hump 

The tiny “Mini-Hump” yard backs up to Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 and Pier 90 commercial moorage.  During World War II, these piers were large naval supply depots used to supply needed war materiel to Alaska and the Pacific. The yards played an important role in transporting goods to the supply depots.

The small classification yard at BNSF Balmer Yard is the smallest hump yard on BNSF, with just 16 short tracks in the bowl. Originally a single mechanical retarder controlled the descent of cars but was removed in 1994. It was replaced with hydraulic plungers that are attached to the inside of the rails similar to what UP uses at Roseville. Overall, the yard is over 80 acres and has 41 parallel tracks. The Interbay (Seattle) mini-hump was built by Great Northern Railway in 1960. It has been used on and off as various BNSF management has tried to optimize operations. The Balmer Mini-Hump is not a part of the major BNSF classification yards, and only is used for local traffic. In all, BNSF has eight major hump yards that use gravity to sort rail cars and build trains.

Viral Media posted

737 Fuselages

Boeing 737 fuselages in BNSF Balmer Yard waiting for transport to the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington. In 2018, BNSF delivered 10,000th fuselage to Renton by rail. In 2005, Boeing sold its Wichita division and Oklahoma operations to Spirit Aerosystems.  Today, they manufacture a significant part of the 737 fuselage, and BNSF transports them around 1,800 miles for final assembly to Washington State. At the Boeing final assembly plant in Renton, the wings, fuselage and landing gear are married together, as well as avionics and interiors are installed as it moves down the assembly line.