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Sounder F7A

Sounder is a commuter rail service in the United States, more specifically Washington State. It is operated by the BNSF railway on behalf of Sound Transit. Sounder operates two services out of Seattle, with one going north to Everett (35 miles) and the other going south to Lakewood. The two lines meet at Seattle King Street station, which is also served by Amtrak's Cascade and Empire Builder services. The stations on the Lakewood line are as follows:

Tukwila
Kent
Auburn
Sumner
Puyallup
Tacoma Dome
South Tacoma
Lakewood

Meanwhile, these are the stations on the North Line:

Edmonds
Mukilteo
Everett

This is the same Everett where airplane manufacturer Boeing's factory is located. I believe the prototype Boeing 747 is on display somewhere in Everett, but don't quote me on that.

Services on the South Line began in September 2000, with North Line services beginning in December 2003. Mulkiteo station opened in 2008. The South Line originally terminated in Tacoma, being extended to Lakewood in October 2012. There are plans to extend the South Line even further, to Tillicum and DuPont. This extension is not expected to open until 2036.

Originally the North Line opened with just one train a day in each direction. This was increased to four trains by 2008. Services on this line are prone to frequent cancellations, as a result of mudslides in the area. However, work is underway to remedy the problem. As for services on the South Line, they initially started with just two trains a day in each direction. Puyallup and Kent stations opened on the 5th of February, 2001, with Tukwila being opened on March 12th of that year. As of 2018, there are now 13 trains a day in each direction on the South Line. Services to Everett are generally formed of just two coaches, while the Lakewood trains are often made up of six or seven coaches.

Time to talk about Sounder's motive power. They operate eleven EMD F59PHi's and three MPI MP40PH-3C's. The F59's were built between 1999 and 2002, and are numbered 901 to 911. The MP40's were built much more recently - arriving in 2012. These three are numbered 921, 922 and 923. All 14 Sounder locomotives have engines that meet the EPA's Tier 3 emission standards.

The carriage fleet is made up of 67 Bombardier Bi-Level cars, with 27 of them being cab-cars. Curiously, Sounder operate both the old and new styles of Bi-Level cab-car, with a third of their cab-cars being the new design. The old cars were built between 1999 and 2003, with the new cab-cars being built in 2017.

The number carried by this F7A carries on from the MP40PH-3C's numbers.