First Train

Today marks 114 years since the first Northern Pacific passenger train reached Ellensburg. So here's a picture of the train depot in Ellensburg. It wasn't there when a the first train arrived, a small wooden depot was, this lovely old building was openned in 1910. I have many fond memories of walking down to the tracks in my early days in Ellensburg. Back then the Burlington Northern had abandoned the old Northern Pacific line over the Cascades, mostly due to the tunnel at Stampede Pass was too short for container traffic. So the depot and the yard were quiet. I remember sitting out on a loading dock taking in the early evening sun and realizing as I scanned the horizon, that this was the west, the golden hills and the endless blue sky, a scene that I figured was nearly the same in countless towns across the west and as far east as Minnesota. Peaceful and beautiful, even the McDonald's and Burger King signs down by the interstate seemed to be fit into the scene well. Eventually the trains came back, and I had to trade the peaceful old train yard and depot for the lonesome sound of a train's whistle on a cold and dark December's night.

Dan