James Goedert is pretty much always on track, but he has a whale of a hobby.

“Not too many other railroaders are involved in this kind of thing,” said Goedert, who lives near Gig Harbor in Pierce County.

Goedert, 52, is a signal inspector for Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway. He’s also a historical detective, searching for indications of mammal life millions of years ago.

He’ll share some of his experiences as one of the featured speakers at this year’s Ways of Whales workshop on Saturday, Jan. 24 in Coupeville.

The popular day-long symposium is sponsored by the Orca Network and is a favorite regional gathering of whale experts and those who want to learn more about whales.

Geodert will tell of his fossils from the earliest-known whales, including one that is among the most primitive baleen whales yet described by scientists.

“This is an exciting discovery,” he said. “We are finding whale fossils here in Washington state that are so different that they are tough to classify, and they complicate current definitions of some types of whales.”

He said some of these new characteristics are significant enough that scientists may have to rethink the origins of some of today’s whales.

“Some of the fossils are so primitive, or display a mix of primitive and derived (advanced) characteristics, such as small baleen whales with teeth,” he said.

“But we also have the oldest whales in the North Pacific, and some seem more advanced than whales of similar age from elsewhere.

“It makes us wonder whether perhaps some of the modern groups evolved in this part of the Pacific Ocean and then spread to other parts of the world,” he added.

Goedert said he has been looking for fossils for 35 years and has found nearly 500 of them. He does most of his fossil hunting on weekends, and a little research each evening.

“I have looked for fossils as long as I can remember,” he said. “One day I found some bones, took them to a scientist, and he taught me what to look for.”

Goedert said the oldest fossils he has found, North Pacific whale skulls and other bits, date back to the Eocene and Oligocene geologic epochs more than 40 million years ago.

The largest skull, six feet long, was found on the Olympic Peninsula near Twin Rivers, west of the town of Joyce. The smallest ones are about the size of a seal, he said.

No fossils have been found so far on Whidbey Island, he added.

“We have never found any fossil whales on the island, nor has anyone else to my knowledge,” he said. “All of our finds are from farther west along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and in southwest Washington.”

Some of Goedert’s discoveries are at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum in Seattle, where he is an affiliate curator, he said. But most are at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.

“They were the most interested,” he said, “and early on they paid for my gas and motels.”

A few other of his discoveries are in a museum in Sapporo, Japan, and one is in the Victoria Museum in Melbourne, Australia, he said.

“Both the Burke and the Los Angeles Museum have specimens that are scientifically important, but are just sitting in storage,” Goedert said. “They are difficult to prepare out of the rock, and funding is scarce, but the interest is low as well.”

Goedert, a Washington state native, has a degree from Clark College in Vancouver. He has assisted friends from Germany in field work in western Washington, and aided a Japanese researcher looking for microfossils, “something nobody has studied from this region.”

He also has been a speaker at several scientific meetings in the United States, German, Japan, China, France and Australia.

“These days I will only donate specimens to museums that will do something with them, and I don’t care what country they are in,” he said.

Goedert is but one of several speakers at this year’s Ways of the Whales workshop, said Susan Berta of Orca Network.

“There will be a strong focus on orca whales, especially the endangered Southern Resident orca community which has recently lost seven members,” she said.

“The presentations range from scientific research to beautiful photos and stories of whales, so there is something for everyone,” she added.

The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Coupeville Recreation Hall, 901 NW Alexander St. It is co-sponsored by the Russell Family Foundation and the Captain Whidbey Inn.

Cost is $20 per person, and pre-registration is recommended because of limited seating, Berta said.

Register online at http://www.orcanetwork.org/news/wowform.html, by e-mail at info@orcanetwork.org or by calling 360-678-3451.