Great Northern Bayside Switchyard
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Great Northern Bayside Switchyard
The rails just east of Marine View Drive were formerly the Great Northern Railway Bayside Switchyard. The tracks are now part of the BNSF Railway Company. Rail car switching operations no longer exist here. Today, BNSF primarily uses this area for train stopovers and crew changes for oil trains, coal trains, and mixed-cargo freight trains.
In the sawmill and shingle mill heyday, this stretch of track along the bayside waterfront from 9th Street to Everett Avenue was a beehive of activity. Here, numerous rail sidings and spur lines ran across Norton Avenue (present day Marine View Drive). Great Northern crews and their switch engines moved rail cars in and out of the waterfront mills for shipments of lumber and shingles to markets all over the U.S. This section of track was part of the Coast Line of the Great Northern Railway, the main line between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.
The Grand Avenue pedestrian bridge was built in 2019 to route storm drainage away from the north Everett neighborhoods. It provides excellent access to and from the waterfront.
Continue across the bridge to Grand Avenue Park. Walk south to the midpoint of the park at 17th Street. If the bridge is too difficult for you, walk south on Marine View Drive to the stoplight at 18th Street.
