One of the most scenic rail journeys in North America, the BNSF Stevens Pass route crosses the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, linking the ports and timber industry in Seattle and the Puget Sound region with Minneapolis/St. Paul and the railroad gateway city of Chicago. The line is an important conduit for container traffic, grain, and general freight, including finished lumber, paper products, and automobiles.

A little history

Built in 1893, in the days of James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railroad, the route originally crossed the 4,056-ft (1,236 m) summit of Stevens Pass via a series of steep switchbacks. The first Cascade tunnel, completed in 1900, shortened the route and reduced the climb required to go over the pass. A second, far longer, tunnel was finished in 1929 and remains one of the longest railroad tunnels in the western hemisphere. Bored through 7.8 miles (12.5 km) of rock, it further decreased the number of curves and snow sheds on the route and reduced the maximum elevation of the route to 2,881 feet (878 m).

A West-to-East tour of the route

In Microsoft Train Simulator 2, the Stevens Pass route begins in the Puget Sound port city of Everett, then heads southeast along the Snohomish and Skykomish rivers, with the Cascades looming ahead. At the small town of Gold Bar the route begins its climb into the mountains.

A truss bridge over the Wallace River between Sultan and Gold Bar,
with the nose of the research train (an SD-40-2) in the foreground

About 20 miles to the southeast is the old railway town of Skykomish, tiny now, but a gathering place for railfans from near and far, no matter what the weather. The scenery is now changing from cascade foothills to more rugged terrain, with lots of distant mountain views.

View of Mount Index and the Skykomish River

Now east of Skykomish, the climb steepens to a 2.2% grade for the 17 miles to the Cascade Tunnel. The track winds through thick forests as it passes over numerous bridges and through numerous rock cuts on its way to the west portal of the Cascade Tunnel.

A narrow rock cut near Scenic, WA.
The dark shadowed area is the passage way for the train.

The original, shorter tunnel had shown that steam locomotives and long tunnels make for a toxic environment, and the route was electrified between Skykomish (in the west) and Wenatchee (in the east) in 1909. Electric locomotives continued pulling trains on this part of the route after the longer second Cascade tunnel opened in 1929, and remained in service until 1956, when the Great Northern Railroad installed a massive ventilation system in the tunnel, allowing diesel-electric locomotives to safely run the entire length of the route.

The East portal of the Cascade Tunnel

After a train passes through the tunnel, massive doors shut behind it and the ventilation system runs for approximately 30 minutes to clear the tunnel interior of diesel smoke and fumes. This allows subsequent trains to pass safely through the tunnel.

The Cascade Tunnel with its ventilation door shut

Eastbound trains approaching the tunnel wait on a siding on the west side of the tunnel, near Scenic, for the ventilation system to purge the tunnel. A special signal indicates when it is safe to proceed. Eastbound trains wait for passage through the tunnel at Berne.

After the tunnel, the route wends its way down the east slope of the Cascades over the Gaynor trestle, through the Chumstick Valley, past the faux-Bavarian town of Leavenworth, then down to the plateau leading into the fields and orchards of eastern Washington. This is apple country, a remarkable contrast to the alpine scenery to the west.

The arid terrain near Wenatchee is in stark contrast
to the forest on the west side of the pass.

The route ends at the central Washington city of Wenatchee and its appropriately-named Apple Yard terminal.

Apple Yard terminal in Wenatchee, WA

Something for everyone

The Stevens Pass route provides a variety of terrain, operational challenges, and impressive scenery that varies with the seasons.

Fall foliage high in the Cascades

The route's numerous tunnels and bridges display the ingenuity with which the railroads solved the many challenges of developing a route through the Cascade mountain range.

Foss Creek Bridge

Its views of the Puget Sound area to the west and the rivers to the east, the climb into the Cascade mountains, the forests on either side of the pass, the changing foliage and climate zones, and the orchards with their seasonal color—all make this a unique railroading experience.