i will be going out to washington this August and have a couple questions. first can you railfan at the king street station in Seattle? second how many sounders and amtraks go into threre a day? and does BNSF or UP fo by the station and if so how many? fourth are there any shortlines or regionals around Mt. Vernon? thank you for the help any info will help.
There are plenty of look-outs for rail fans around King Street Station and near Qwest/Safeco Fields. The commuter trains are all stored and serviced south of KSS during the midday and you can get pretty good look at them. You can also see lots of trains from the SAM Sculpture Park at the north end of the downtown waterfront. Another excellent viewpoint is Carkeek Park in the north end of Seattle. There is a pedestrian bridge that goes from the park over the BNSF mainline and allows access to the beach. You can stand on the bridge and watch the trains pass underneath you or just hang out on the beach and wait, you'll see them coming.
Railroad wise, I can't think of much to see in Mt. Vernon. There is some sort of shortline up there but I don't think they see much action.