By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Residents, meanwhile, look forward to the future while keeping in touch with their past. The two are linked.

Auburn was a big railroad town a few decades ago. It was the junction of the Northern Pacific's transcontinental and coastal routes, and the railroad maintained extensive marshaling yards, a big roundhouse and a number of service buildings here.

Much of those operations shut down long ago, but railroads still play a major role in this city where Boeing -- not the railroads -- is the biggest employer. That's because trains still go through the town and block the intersections, keeping unhappy motorists cooling their heels.

"I rarely go to any community meeting that someone doesn't complain about being stopped for a train," Mayor Booth says. "One night I sat at a crossing for 26 minutes waiting for a train to pass."

Recognizing the problem, the Metropolitan King County Council in October approved money for designing improved railroad underpasses and overpasses at several locations, including one on South 277th Street between Kent and Auburn and one on Third Street Southwest in Auburn.

As many as 70 trains a day go through town on the north-south rail lines and five to 10 use the east-west Stampede Pass line that recently reopened, Krauss says.

City officials, local merchants and many residents, however, are looking forward to some new rail traffic in a couple of years. The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority is expected to begin commuter rail service to Auburn in 1998 and that will be a boon for the city, officials say.

"That's going to be wonderful," says Rydell, the Auburn Downtown Association official.

As for the present, things are booming.

The population has climbed above 36,000 without any major annexations, and there are more than 30,000 jobs in town. Besides Boeing, major employers include the General Services Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Auburn Regional Medical Center, the SuperMall and Emerald Downs.

"Auburn has changed a lot," Krauss says. "But there is a lot that hasn't changed. How the town works and how things happen here hasn't changed at all.

"It still has a small-town feel and there are a lot of people working to keep it that way," Krauss says. "This is not a town where you need to hire an attorney to come talk to the City Council. And people often just wander into the mayor's office. He keeps his door open."

They can do that almost any time after 5:30 a.m. That's when Mayor Booth usually shows up for work.

"People who have been out jogging or taking a morning walk drop by and tell me about the potholes they have noticed so we can take care of them," Booth says.

He goes to work that early so he can get caught up on his reading and paperwork, he says. Besides, it is the way he's always done things.

"When I was a kid in Eastern Washington, I got up at 4:15 in the morning to milk the cows. I guess I kind of got in the habit that way," Booth says.

Some things, apparently, never change -- regardless of relentless growth. For the people here, that works out just fine.Continued:

• Small-town values thrive despite area's rapid growth
• Helping hands are plentiful for those in need
• New SuperMall is sign of changing times for town
• Good bets for development don't always pan out