On the way back from Portland Monday, Amtrak's Cascades train was so crowded that the conductor was seating paying passengers at dining car tables because all the regular coach seats were full.

While the holiday helped created a nearly standing-room-only situation, Amtrak trains, both here in the Northwest and across the country, have been operating closer to capacity all year.

New figures show that nationwide Amtrak ridership is up 11 percent this fiscal year. And in the Northwest, ridership has been up steadily January through April.

Amtrak figures show patronage on the six daily Cascades trains that operate in the corridor from Eugene, Ore. to Vancouver, B.C., ridership was up 13 percent in January, 13.5 percent in February, 16.2 percent in March and 8.7 in April.

Those March and April figures were skewed because Easter was in March this year instead of April as it was last year.

Figures aren't yet in for May, but Amtrak regional spokeswoman Vernae Graham said those figures should be "very interesting."

Amtrak attributes about half the patronage gain to gas price increases and the economic slowdown and half to the growing interest in and availability of trains. Amtrak traffic nationwide has grown for four consecutive years even without the meteoric fuel price rises we've seen in the last few months.

Amtrak hopes to begin twice daily service from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. beginning later this summer. One train a day now connects the two cities, and another goes as far north as Bellingham before terminating. Track improvements and an agreement with the Canadian government will allow that train to continue on to Vancouver.

Tacoma now has 10 daily trains serving its station on Puyallup Avenue. Those trains are eight European-designed Talgo trains and two are conventional two-level streamliners, the north and southbound Coast Starlight, that connect Seattle with Los Angeles.

Since the Coast Starlight is a long distance train, its ridership is not counted in the Cascades corridor traffic.

Coast Starlight service was interrupted from mid-January to late April because of a major landslide in the Oregon Cascades.

Weyerhaeuser says it may sell its Westwood Shipping Line and four regional railroads, according to News Tribune news services.

The Westwood Shipping Line has four ships that carry forest products and containers to ports in Japan, Korea, China and North America, the Associated Press reports.

The railroads serve mills in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Washington.

In a statement Thursday, the company said it had not confirmed a timetable for completing what it calls an exploration of strategic alternatives as part of its asset restructuring, The Associated Press reports.

Bloomberg News says that Weyerhaeuser’s sales of units including fine-paper and industrial packaging have spurred speculation the company is moving to turn itself into a real estate investment trust to reduce taxes on profits from its 5.6 million acres of U.S. timberlands.

Divestitures “point in the direction of a REIT,” Longbow Research analyst Joshua Zaret said Thursday in a note to clients before the announcement.

Zaret said Weyerhaeuser Chief Executive Officer Daniel Fulton may provide more information about the company’s plans Friday at its annual gathering with investors in New York, Bloomberg reports.

The company agreed to sell its corrugated packaging and recycling businesses in March and last year spun off it fine-paper business.

Weyerhaeuser has closed mills and sold assets amid a slowdown in U.S. demand for lumber used in building construction and a slump in housing prices. Decreasing home construction and losses at its homebuilding unit led the company to report a worse-than-expected first-quarter loss of $148 million.

The proof of the profit-pudding has arrived and those monetary chickens have come home to roost – as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. releases its first-quarter numbers on state banks.

The January-March figures, out today, offer data from 82 FDIC-insured institutions in Washington. Among the numbers (compared to the first quarter of 2007:

• Total assets rose to $59.57 billion from $53.41 million.
• Total loans and leases rose to $48.07 billion from $42.60 billion.
• Total deposits rose to $43.82 billion from $40.73 billion.

Which looks fairly good. But consider:
• Net interest margin for the banks fell to 4.02 percent from 4.41percent.
• Net charge-offs as a percentage of all loans and leases rose to 0.27 percent from 0.04 percent.
• Return on assets fell to 0.56 percent from 1.27 percent.
• 21.9 percent of institutions were unprofitable, up from 11.9 percent a year ago.
• 40.24 percent of institutions had earnings gains, against 60.71 percent in 2007.
• For nonperforming assets (or bad loans), the figure was up to 1.42 percent of total assets against 0.27 percent a year ago.

If you're a Qwest mobile phone customer, count on a lot of change in the next couple of months.

Qwest is ending its longtime association with Sprint and hooking up with Verizon to provide cell phone service to Qwest customers. Qwest wireless calls now are handled on Sprint's cell network. Beginning in mid-summer, those calls will be handled on Verizon's network for Qwest customers who have arranged to move their service.

Just how the transition will happen is still developing, but the change has great possibilities for improving selection and service, but also great possibilities for chaos if the transition is not handled smoothly.

"Basically, we don't have many details yet," said Dana Dyksterhuis, a local Qwest spokeswoman.

"Our customers will learn more by sometime this summer," she said.

The two companies, naturally, are touting the change as a positive development. The new association with Verizon will give Qwest customers access to a greater variety of high-tech phones and what the two companies say will be a more reliable network.

But unclear is how much hassle the change will mean for customers.

Will Qwest users have to get new phones? Yes, said Dyksterhuis. Verizon will provide customers with a new phone comparable to the one they have now at no charge although it may be necessary for customers to sign up for another two-year commitment. Upgraded phones will cost extra.

Will the existing time plans remain in place? The Qwest spokeswoman couldn't say.

If the Verizon plan is more expensive for the same number of minutes, can I cancel without paying a penalty? That too is undetermined.

If I don't move to Qwest/Verizon from Qwest/Sprint, what happens when Qwest's contract with Sprint to provide service ends early next year? Again, Qwest said those details are still being worked out. She said Qwest wants to make sure that its customers are treated right.

If Qwest ends my service before the end of our 2-year contract, will they owe me the $200 or so penalty they'd ask me to pay if I terminated my relationship with them before the contract expired? No answer there yet either.

Construction of the first major building in the billion-dollar Point Ruston development near Point Defiance Park is finally underway.

Seventy-two concrete trucks poured the foundation for the eight-story, 143-unit Copperline condominium building beginning Wednesday.

Excavation had been going on for that foundation for several weeks, said developer Mike Cohen.

"We didn't want to make a big deal of the digging because we've been moving dirt around on the site for months," Cohen said.

The building is the first to rise on the former site of the Asarco copper smelter at the north end of Ruston Way along the Commencement Bay shoreline.

Pumping concrete for Copperline condo foundation

Cohen has cash reservation deposits on 25 of the units. Those deposits range from $50,000 to be among the first 20 owners to have priority selection rights for the most select units to $10,000 for owners with lower priority selection rights.

Units in the structure will range from the $300,000 range for the smaller units 800 square feet to $2 million for units with 3,100 square feet. Not included in those figures are decks that range up to 750 square feet more.

One parking spot is included in the three-story garage for every bedroom. The building's ground floor will include some 25,000 square feet of retail.

Cohen said he's had preliminary discussions with business people who are interested in creating a brew-pub kind of restaurant, opening an insurance office, a home accessory story and a tile company.

The developer said he hopes the first occupants will be able to move in in about 14 months with the final units being done in 18 months.

He plans to begin a second condo building of about 100 units in about nine months. Cohen said he's got a list of about 600 prospects who've registered on the Point Ruston Web site.

After the second structure, Cohen hopes to begin a Silver Cloud hotel structure and buildings near the urban village center that will contain restaurants and more shops.

Meanwhile on the hill above the old smelter site, construction has begun on three homes on what Cohen calls "Stack Hill," the site of the smelter smokestack.

One of those homes will be a display model. One is a custom home and the other is being built on speculation and will be for sale.

The manager of the Tacoma Costco told me recently that the warehouse store does well during times of economic downturn because shoppers come looking for deals.

Looks like he was right.

Costco reported a 32 percent increase in its fiscal third quarter profits today, according to The Associated Press.

Here's the story:

Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a 32 percent jump in its fiscal third-quarter profit Thursday, topping Wall Street expectations, as cash-squeezed customers flocked to its warehouse clubs in search of bargains on food and toiletries.

But shares sank $1.48, or 2 percent, to $71.76 in midday trading after the company said Wall Street’s forecast for the fourth quarter might be too high.

Costco reported net income rose to $295.1 million, or 67 cents per share, from $224 million, or 49 cents per share, a year ago, which included a $30.3 million charge.

Sales increased 13 percent to $16.26 billion from $14.34 billion in the year-ago period. Including membership fees, revenue rose to $16.61 billion from $14.66 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected a profit of 65 cents per share on revenue of $16.35 billion.

Net sales for the first three quarters of fiscal 2008 increased 12 percent to $48.35 billion from $43 billion during the same period last year. Excluding the sales return reserve adjustments recorded in the second and third quarters of fiscal 2007, which totaled $452.6 million, the net sales increase would have been 11 percent.

Don’t look for any official announcements until early this summer – but the Seattle owners of the Foremost Dairy complex at South 25th Street and Pacific Avenue have met with city officials concerning permits for renovation.

Word is that the owners will be looking for tenants to occupy both retail and office space.

The purchase of the ca. 1927, 60,000-square-foot, four-building complex was announced a year ago. Powder Coating Systems Inc. continues to occupy 16,000 square feet of the site.