Hillside - a photo on Flickriver

Hillside

            CSX 5370 leads an eastbound Herzog ballast train through the curves of the Yakima River Canyon at the former timetable location of 'Hillside'.

Hillside was once home to a 4,400ft siding which lasted from when the Northern Pacific first built through the canyon in 1887 until 1971, one year after the Burlington Northern merger.  The sidings at Hillside, nearby Roza, and Umtanum were removed in early 1971 as the newly formed BN began rationalizing its trackage, and downgraded the Fourth Subdivision to a secondary route.  When the June, 1972 timetables were issued, these locations were no longer named places.

When BN shifted the majority of through trains from the ex-NP mainline across the Cascades to the former GN and a portion of the ex-SP&S, they quickly realized that four sidings in 23 miles of track were completely unnecessary.  Only the longest of these passing tracks in the canyon at Wymer was retained.

Traffic on the Stampede, and Yakima Valley Subdivisions can go from almost none in a day, to several trains in the span of a few hours.  All traffic over the Stampede Sub is eastbound, consisting of empty grain, and crude oil trains.  

When heading east on Interstate 90 late on the evening of the 27th, I intercepted a transmission from a defect detector 20 miles ahead of me, announcing the passing of a short, 164 car train.  Clear roads ahead of me allowed me to eventually catch this ballast train near the south end of the Yakima Canyon.  With summer vacation traffic over for the year, and a week early for the surge of fall fisherman, I was the only car on the road.  In addition to aiding my speedy travel, the absence of vehicle traffic allowed for the headlights of the train to be the only major light source in frame.  The glow of the Roza dam around the next bend in the river is visible as well.

This image is a composite of four 30 second long time exposures, stitched together in Photoshop.  I underestimated how slow the train would travel through this section, and grossly misjudged my camera settings for the exposures.  I typically would set up well in advance, and take several practice images before the train arrived, but the train's head start on me and chase down the canyon prevented this.

Taken in: United States / Washington / Hillside Siding (show map)

Taken on: September 27, 2025

Tags:

BNSF

Yakima Valley Subdivision

Yakima River Canyon

Ballast Train

Time Exposure

Glint « less

Sets appears in: • BNSF in Central Washington

Groups appears in: • Night Images • North American Railfanning more » • BNSF - Burlington Northern Santa Fe • Your Best Railway Photographs (no 30/60 group restriction) • Railway Photographers • Steel Rails Across North America. • Freight trains • Quality and Exceptional Railway Photographs • Western US Rails • Pacific Northwest Railroad Photography • Trainspottingmaps.com • Railfan Atlas • Rail Pictures North America « less

Camera: Nikon D850, f/6.3, 30 sec, 27mm, ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D850
Lens:	24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/6.3
Exposure Time:	30
Focal Length:	27mm
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	-1 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)
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