The first element of Sound Transit's Link light rail system was not the often-controversial line through downtown Seattle, Wash., but the smaller connecting line in nearby Tacoma.

"Tacoma Link" connects the Tacoma Dome Transit Center with the city's central business district, using a small fleet of Czech-built Skoda streetcars similar to those used on the Portland, Ore. Streetcar. Car #1003 is crossing D Street at 25th as it departs the transit center.

Behind it is Freighthouse Square, a former Milwaukee Road freight house that is now a retail shopping area. Directly behind the building are the platforms for Sound Transit's "Sounder" regional rail line to Seattle, which uses a short stretch of Tacoma Rail's ex-MILW trackage before entering the BNSF Seattle Sub at Reservation interlocking.

Photographed by Thomas McCann, August 28, 2003.
Added to the photo archive by Thomas McCann, November 30, 2006.

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