When Edmonds resident Kevin O’Keeffe supplied a photo of the new mural at the Edmonds train station, he also offered this backstory:

For over five years when I was living in Seattle, I was an Amtrak docent in the National Park Trails and Rails program, with frequent one-day runs on the Coast Starlight to and from Portland. Less often but more enjoyable were the two-and-a-half-day round trips on the Empire Builder to beyond Glacier Park. Most of the volunteers preferred to drive and board at the Edmonds station rather than at the King Street station in Seattle.

Even aside from these trips, my wife and I would regularly go by rail to Whitefish, Montana, even after we stopped downhill skiing.  (The schedule allows a full day on the slopes after arrival, and on the day of the return.) Then, after riding by Glacier so many times as a docent, I realized it was time to get off the train and visit that fabulous park, and have done so almost annually in the past decade, including in combination with a one-week volunteer stint ai the Blackfoot reservation in Browning.

After COVID cutbacks, rail travel is rebounding and our new president is a fervent supporter. The yet-continued Canadian border closure affects not only travel to Vancouver, BC, but also the loss of two Cascade trains going north of Seattle, wherein from Edmonds you could take a southbound train through Seattle to Portland and Eugene, or connect with the Coast Starlight to Los Angeles.

Long-distance trains on the West Coast have been been returned to daily operation, and dining car operations are being resumed. Even better,  on-board chefs will soon be preparing meals. New fuel-efficient engines are being phased in along with new passenger cars. While Edmonds is a wonderful place to be, it is also great that we are well positioned to add rail travel to our ferry, highway and air modes of travel. All aboard!

— By Kevin O’Keeffe</div>