And home to the even more handsome SP&S 700! (Sorry.. 700 is an NP design, and this old NP fan couldnt resist)
As a Seattleite, I'd advise Portland if you dont already have reservations. August is peak cruise season in Seattle and hotel rooms are hard to come by & can be expensive (even for the dives). If you want to see Seattle, go to PDX. Spend a day or two there & do an AMTRAK Cascades day trip up to the Emerald City.
You're right, the 700 is very handsome. That group of volunteers is to be commended for the way they've rescued and restored those engines. From an Amtrak perspective, it's interesting when they take the 4449 out on a longer excursion. They tuck one of the Amtrak units in between the steam engine and the vintage cars full of passengers. I had guessed that it was an extra engine should the steam unit have problems but then I got to wondering if it also supplies electrical for the passenger cars. In the steam days did the passenger cars have electrical? If so, where did it come from?
It is my understanding that the folks who run 4449 and those that run 700 use a seperate HEP power car for the trains. In the Pre-AMTRAK days (and even post AMTRAK for several years power to the passenger cars was provided by generators connected to the axles of the cars. The electricity was stored in large batteries under the car bodies & between the trucks.
Picture of an axle driven generator: http://trainweb.org/algoma/Images/Passenger/Coaches/431gen.jpg
Quite possibly 32 volts dc, requiring an inefficient motor-generator to get 110 ac for shaver outlets and fluorescent lights. And today we gripe when there aren't 110 volt outlets at every seat.
Thanks for starting that Seattle page - just added a few bits to it, hope more people here do also.
Well, a longer trip is qualitatively different from a short trip, but for sure either PDX or SEA is a good place to spend a few days with a loved one. I've done it several times. Safe, laid-back cities with rivers and seacoasts and rainy seasons [August will not be rainy season].
Tony, I think you are wise to keep things at a reasonable duration instead of trying to cram as much train time in as possible out of respect for your girlfriend. There should be plenty of nice scenery and interesting company and the service on the CS has been pretty friendly in my experience. You can't really go wrong with either PDX or SEA. My personal pick would probably be Seattle, mainly because I'm somewhat more familiar with it and the areas I've visited have a certain look and feel that I find to be a bit more curious and interesting. Portland does have a more interesting train station, in my view, but Seattle is also working on bringing what remains of theirs back to its former grandeur. Both cities can be somewhat expensive for hotels, but if cost becomes a factor you might choose to stay out near the airport and take the light rail systems into town. I'm not sure I'd want to bring my girlfriend to a dorm style hostel but that's another option for lower rates. On the flip side, if money is no object I would also suggest looking at Vancouver, BC. Basically I'd pick Vancouver, then Seattle, then Portland in that order, if it were up to me, but you can't really go wrong with any of them.
Aloha
It is, but not to LAX. You take the AmBus from Las Vegas, Nevada to Bakersfield. Ride the San Joaquin to Martinez. Then from there you catch the Coast Starlight to Portland. Thus, you've missed the "coast" portion of the Coast Starlight.
Aloha
