About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breathtaking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveler, but anyone else can go and find it, too. More Information can be found on the SideTracked Website.
This cache also qualifies for the Disappearing RR Blues bonus cache. This series highlights the railways of NW Oregon.
About Vancouver Washington Train Station
Welcome to Vancouver, the original Vancouver, in Washington State. The Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway built today's Amtrak depot in 1908.
The depot was built as part of the opening of the railroad's Bridge across the Columbia River into Portland and the SP&S line along the northern bank of the Columbia River to Pasco. Also, in 1908, the Northern Pacific (which owned the SP&S) extended their line down from Kalama to Vancouver to eliminate the need to transfer railcars at Kalama onto ferries to reach Portland. The SP&S also opened a massive railyard to deal with all the rail traffic. Hence, today, the Vancouver Train station is in the middle of a busy railroad wye, which allows trains to go in any of three directions.
Francis A. Swingle of Kennewick, Washington, designed the depot. The Northern Pacific and SP&S railroads served this station until it turned over the money-losing passenger services to Amtrak in 1971. The depot was last renovated in 2009 and is beautiful inside and outside. It remains a busy station served by Amtrak's Coast Starlight, and Cascades services on the tracks by the western side of the depot and the Empire Builder on the platforms by the eastern side. In total, 16 Amtrak trains stop here daily, plus numerous freight trains on all the tracks around the building.
Note: The cache could not be closer to the station due to the station being surrounded by active railroad tracks, but the station building is visible from the cache location.