Ballard Terminal Railroad

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway stopped offering service on a three-mile spur through Seattle's Ballard neighborhood in January 1997 because only three companies were buying rail shipments, a traffic volume too low to sustain the line according to BNSF.

The locomotive's black, red and silver livery and nickname, "Li'l Beaver", pay tribute to the colors and mascot of nearby Ballard High School.

[citation needed] Eastside Freight Railroad once operated an EMD SW1200 locomotive now numbered MSN 109 built in 1963 for the Missouri Pacific.

[4][5] The Ballard Terminal Railroad spur begins at its connection to the BNSF mainline at the Shilshole yard just north of NW 68th Street.

Most of the railroad was originally part of the Great Northern Railway's main line, moved to the west when the Lake Washington Ship Canal was built.

On August 1, 2013, the Surface Transportation Board denied the request by Ballard Terminal Railroad Company to block rail removal along the Cross Kirkland Corridor.

A Ballard Terminal Railroad crossing about ten blocks south of where these tracks join the BNSF Railway
The EMD SW1 locomotive operated by the Ballard Terminal Railroad, nicknamed "Li'l Beaver."
Ballard Terminal Railroad train operating immediately north of the grounds of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks .