14-08-18 PHOTOS: Cascade Corridor - Part 1

2014 was a special year because I took not one, but two big Amtrak trips, the second of which was a unique opportunity to ride the Coast Starlight on a trip from Seattle to San Diego. Unfortunately there was a small problem with Union Pacific track work that would result in a bustitution between Portland and Eugene, Oregon, however this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as our trainset that departed Seattle wound up lacking a Pacific Parlor Car...an amenity that I came to appreciate in the second half of the trip. Still, despite the lack of Parlor Car I had great fun as you can see below.

You can see the full set of photos from Seattle to Portland here. Part 1 will cover the line from Seattle to Olympia.

After departing King St station we passed under the retractable roof of Seattle's Safeco field, home of the Mariners.

The yard for both Amtrak and Sounder passenger equipment is located south of the Stadiums. Here we see Sounder F59PHI #904 waiting for the return to service.

Sounder F59PHI #903 and a large number of P42's laying over at the Seattle engine terminal.

Union Pacific GP38-2's #606 and #667 hanging out at Argo Yard. UP operates to Seattle from Portland on BNSF trackage rights.

BN painted GP39-2 #2723 with a short train south of Argo Yard.

A light engine move with BN painted GP38-2 #2075 and BNSF GP39-2R #2918 waiting for us to cross over ahead of it at TUKWILA interlocking.

The new Tukwila Sounder station was built built with a third track upgrade in mind.

The old Northern Pacific station at Kent, WA is just a few blocks south of the new one.

A large lineup of GE road units at Auburn Yard including CP ES44AC #8841.

14-08-18a PHOTOS: Eugene Oregon

So some weeks before my Coast Starlight trip kicked off we got one of those Amtrak e-mails explaining how there would be a surprise service modification in the form of a Bustitution between Portland and Eugene due to a UP maintenance blitz on the Brooklyn Sub. Now I have experienced this type of Bus Bridge before and it actually didn't cost much time since buses, running direct without stops, can usually make better time than the train.

I'll get into the details of the bus ride as I get into the photo part of the post, but suffice ti say we made it to Eugene and got rolling again on our new Train 11 where I was able to document at least some of the former Southern Pacific line to San Francisco. You can see the full set of photos here.

We begin with our original Train 11 trainset waiting under the canopies at Portland Union Station with Amtrak P42DC #167 and Heritage baggage car #1721. This trainset would proceed to wye before picking up the group of northbound passengers.

Amtrak "Mae West" Talgo cab car #7911 was sitting at the head of the Cascades trainset that was waiting for the next northbound departure. Not only is it ugly, I doubt it will substantially enhance the safety of the passengers and crew if the train hits anything more than a compact car. Also is it just me or is this transit look extra long?

Starlight passengers wait for their bus or train inside.

Despite the "corridor" type service, the Portland station still features a non-electronic train board behind the ticket window.

You heard the tower...GO BY TRAIN!

View of the station as my bus departed northward across the Willamette River. You can see a better panorama here.

Although it took about 30-45 minutes for our bus to get out of Portland, the 2 hour express run to Eugene still has us less than an hour behind schedule. Note the Southern Pacific style station signs with the terminal mileage.

There the new Train 11 trainset was waiting, having arrived earlier that day with the northbound passengers. 

This train was equipped with a Pacific Parlor Car, #39972 "Nappa Valley", which turned out to be a huge plus. 

In recent months Amtrak had taken to substituting the second P42 for a P32-8WH, but for this trip we were treated to Surfliner F59PHI #461!!! The leading P42DC was #123.