Speaking about Spokane...

Hello-- will be arriving in Spokane on the eastbound Empire Builder from Portland, and looking for a hotel convenient to the station if possible, as well as tips on how to spend the next day. Thanks!

Last fall, we stayed at the Historic Davenport Hotel...not because it was a bargain or anything but it was included in our river cruise on the American Empress. The hotel is not too far from the station. After our arrival on #28 from PDX, a call to the hotel had a shuttle van headed our way to pick us up. The beautifully restored hotel was actually pretty nice and interesting (mainly because of the "historic" part). We didn't do any sightseeing in SPK except for my walking around town in the vicinity of the hotel taking pictures. I enjoyed the stay and would do it again.

A must-see in Spokane is Riverfront Park. It is the site of the World's Fair that was held in Spokane, Expo '74, in, well, 1974. Riverfront Park was once a tangle of warehouses, railroad tracks, and trestles, all of which was torn down to make way for the World's Fair. Only the Clock Tower in the park survived. It was part of the Great Northern Railroad station. Be sure to see the falls of the Spokane River, too. I'm sure other cities make the same claim but they are reputed to be among the most spectacular waterfalls in any downtown area in any city in the U.S. I live an hour from Spokane so have not had much reason to stay at hotels there so I don't have anything as far as recommendations go.

Technically this does relate to Spokane...

Spokane only has graveyard shift service by the Empire Builder. The state of Washington (with Oregon) funds pretty good Cascades service on top of the Coast Starlight. Why not fund a state supported Seattle-Spokane train to serve Spokane outside of the graveyard shift? It would serve the two biggest metros of the state (or what I think are the two biggest metros of the state). It's a little over 300 miles and 8 hours, a little shorter in length and time than the Pennsylvanian. A lot of states refuse to fund state supported trains but Washington does fund the Cascades so maybe we have a chance.

This is one of your Best proposals Philly,Jeff will like this! ( and you didn't even propose killing the Cardinal to do it!)

This is one of your Best proposals Philly,Jeff will like this!

I believe the state studied Seattle - Spokane service over the Stampede Pass route in the 1990s. I don't know if it's been seriously looked at more recently than that.

Eric S said:

I believe the state studied Seattle - Spokane service over the Stampede Pass route in the 1990s. I don't know if it's been seriously looked at more recently than that.

Click to expand...

It is included in the 2010 study to revive the North Coast Hiawatha, CHI-Seattle, or the Sacajawea as I prefer to call it..

That study needs more study. It exclaimed over the scenery crossing the Cascades Range. Then it offered a proposed timetable which put the mountain crossing times after sunset and before sunrise for half the year or more. Nice departures and arrivals in Seattle, tho.

Srsly, both splits of the Empire Builder get a lot of riders Spokane-Seattle/Portland despite the ungodly hours of the Spokane arrivals and departures. And there's a lot of on-offs in Pasco, a fair-sized city about midway on the Spokane-Portland segment of the Builder.

WSDOT is aware of the potential, but it is a highway department after all. Reportedly, and unsurprisingly, WSDOT is looking forward to smoking a cigarette and taking a nap after it finishes the current $1 Billion round of upgrades Seattle-Portland.

When it wakes from the coming nap, WSDOT's likely priorities are

1) more time-shaving, frequency-adding, OTP-improving upgrades to the main trunk line Seattle-Portland,

2) upgrades up to the Canadian border Seattle-Edmunds-Everett-Mt Vernon-Bellingham-(Vancouver, B.C.),

and

3) Spokane-Pasco-Yakima-Seattle.

We'll see how the priorities sort out in a year or so, after the Cascades frequencies go from 4 trains to 6 a day (each way). Nothing succeeds like success, so if the upgraded Cascades route is breaking ridership forecasts, events (and politicians) could force WSDOT to do more trains sooner than it now plans.