I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I made a pit stop at the old Northern Pacific depot in Chehalis, Wash. (now the Lewis County Historical Museum) and discovered a train viewing platform.

The platform, at the north end of the old depot, was built over top of a section of old-growth Douglas Fir on display there. Being elevated above the ground, it provides decent sight and photo lines in both directions along the Seattle Sub tracks, and is also covered to provide shelter from the rare rainstorms we get in the Pacific Northwest (LOL!!!).

I spent about an hour here and caught three trains: a southbound BNSF empty coal train with 2x2
power, the northbound Cascades #500, and a northbound BNSF manifest with a "Warbonnet" GE in the lead, still with the ATSF cigar band on the nose and "Santa Fe" on the carbody sides.

The manifest had been holding on Main 1 at the crossovers south of town (and visible from the platform), waiting for the coal train and the Amtrak to clear. The coal train had gone southbound on Main 2, and #500 had come northbound on Main 2 after the coal train had cleared.
After #500 had passed, the manifest got its highball and crossed over to head north on Main 2.

FYI, the north-facing signals at the Chehalis crossovers are approach-lit, giving a good indication of approaching trains. There are also grade crossings north and south of town for which the trains must whistle, giving additional early warning.