7&27

[Asher]

Am curious, would the Portland to Spokane and then back to Seattle be a scenic trip? I haven't looked at the connection times, but having never been to Spokane and not minding a overnight in Portland, I was thinking it would nice to hook it up with a Coast Starlight trip.

 

[montana mike]

I have been to SPK many times. Lovely city. The trek on #7 to SEA is a nice ride, after the sun comes up, along Puget Sound.

 

[Karl1459]

Spokane is a great city, but the trains are scheduled to arrive and leave in the wee hours of the morning. The scenery in the Columbia River Gorge is 5 star when the weather is good but is best viewed Spokane-Portland as it tends to get dark in the winter PDX-SPK.

 

[Palmetto]

Technically, you have a two-hour layover between #28 from Portland, and # 7 back to Seattle. Technically. It's close as connections go for LD trains, but if #7/27 arrives in Spokane on time, you're all set. You could also do #8 to 27 but have the same close call.

 

[SubwayNut]

If you're going for the same middle of the night turn. I would go #8 to #27. The Portland Section shares the same locomotives normally that do a "same night turn."

 

[KauaiJohn]

Portland to Spokane is one of the most beautiful trips heading up the river. It gets dark around the time the train veers north toward Spokane.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Things to consider: there is no Sightseer Lounge Car on the SEA section (#7/#8)and No Diner on the PDX- SPK section.

Thus you can have Dinner in the Diner between SEA and SPK, see Puget Sound and the Cascades up to the Cascades Tunnel in Daylight during the Daylight Saving Time period.

Then from SPK-PDX on #27, you will be given a Boxed Breakfast,if in a Sleeper, ( OK but not as good as the Boxed Dinner PDX-SPK on #28 ) and roll down the Columbia as the Sun comes up!

If I was going, I'd take a Cascades train PDX-SEA, ( early,)do #8 SEA-SPK, then #27 SPK-PDX.

 

[Rail Freak]

Things to consider: there is no Sightseer Lounge Car on the SEA section (#7/#8)and No Diner on the PDX- SPK section.

Thus you can have Dinner in the Diner between SEA and SPK, see Puget Sound and the Cascades up to the Cascades Tunnel in Daylight during the Daylight Saving Time period.

Then from SPK-PDX on #27, you will be given a Boxed Breakfast,if in a Sleeper, ( OK but not as good as the Boxed Dinner PDX-SPK on #28 ) and roll down the Columbia as the Sun comes up!

If I was going, I'd take a Cascades train PDX-SEA, ( early,)do #8 SEA-SPK, then #27 SPK-PDX.

DITTO!!!!!!!

 

[fairviewroad]

Suggestion:

Forget Spokane. As others have noted, the circle trip is possible, in theory, but requires a close-call/middle-of-the-night connection. Not much fun for a pleasure trip. Alternatively, you could spend 26 hours in Spokane, which is a nice enough city, but you'll either have to spring for a hotel room or else catch some ZZ's on a train station bench.

So here's the alternative: Stay on the train until you get to Whitefish or one of the Glacier Park area stops. You won't pay much more in railfare, and in fact it would likely be cheaper than paying for a hotel room in Spokane that you'd only be using half the night anyway. Then, you can putz around Whitefish during the day, or rent a car and do a whirlwind Glacier Park visit, then catch the westbound train in the evening over to Seattle.

 

[the_traveler]

I've done the PDX-SEA-SPK-PDX turn many times and never had any problems. And with #7 as late as it is and #8 into SPK close to OT, so much the better.