My daughter and got on our big yellow xtracycle and took the last Seattle Train Yard Tour scheduled so far (previously on Bikehugger. We had a great time and and I learned quite a bit about… trains. For instance, the dumpster trash in Seattle is loaded on to stinkies and sent to the far reaches of the state? My daughter’s reached the age of omniscience so even though she didn’t actually learn anything she was reminded of a few facts and had a good time. More details inside and photos at the Bikehugger urban sightings pool.
The tour was just about 3 hours, as promised, maybe only an hour of actual riding at a social pace. The great thing about a train yard tour is that trains don’t like to go up hill so the route was almost entirely flat. We stopped at 3 of the major train yards, sometimes on bridges or overpasses 
so we could see what was going on in the yard.
Our guide was very knowledgeable about lines coming in to Seattle, the contents of the trains and where they headed out from here. He never described himself as a railfan, but I think he’d fall into that camp. We had a couple other hard core train spotters along on the tour, but mostly it was just average Seattle citizens coming to find out more about one of the many commerce channels we have coming into the city.
Unfortunately, our guide only runs the tour intermittently, so you’ll have to wait until the next time it comes around. Check back on his site for future events and other tours.
That’s great. I’m going to be organizing and leading a bike tour of Seattle area sustainable/green buildings this summer and could use some tips on leading a guided tour.
How big was your group? What do you think the practical limit for a group riding on regular traffic roads is (assuming we will be following the rules of the road- aka no corking)? Did you guys re-group after every intersection, or just let people string-out and then catch back up? Any tips would be appreciated. (Obviously I’ve gleamed a few ideas from our “Ride Civil” group, but I’m trying to envision more riders).
Awesome way to spend some time with the little one. Bonus if you learn something along the way.
@ nate, i really think it depends on the composition of the group, and where you are biking. for part of the tour we were in industrial areas on a sunday when there was little traffic; we were also on the waterfront bike path and therefore not on surface streets for other part of the tour.
it is hard to know how fast or how slow to bike. the tour guide knows where to go, but not what the best speed is. and within the group there will be different preferences. i think a good policy is, when leaving each stop, tell the group where you are going next and the route you will be taking, so everyone knows up front. consider letting different members of the group “lead” the ride from stop to stop, once you have informed them of the route and destination. that way each person will have a chance to set the pace at a different part of the ride.