Canadian Interlude: CN train

photo by Ballard Avenue

We decided to leave Ballard last week and head north to visit our Canadian friends. We rode the excellent Amtrak Cascades service. All was well until we were done wrong by the railroad dispatcher. At Bellingham we found ourselves stuck behind a slow-moving freight train. We trundled north at a mere 20 mph. To add insult to injury, we had to stop as we approached the junction with the Canadian National Railway line south of Vancouver, BC. We watched Canada's longest freight train pass before us. To add more insult to injury, we had to wait even longer as a Canadian Pacific Railway train then passed by. Normally we don't mind watching trains go by but this was a little much.