Second Part of three on my Amtrip (Cascades, SEA->VAC)

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

norfolkwesternhenry

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Jun 6, 2016
Messages
474
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Ok, arrived in Vancouver, doing well, listening to music in my Air BnB room, my dad went out for beer. Here is my report. We got up around 6:00 AM, and packed up, and headed out to breakfast, where we went to a place that I can't remember, good ham and cheese croissant, then headed to King Street Station, where we waited in line for about seven or eight minutes, and the seat assigner assigned me and my dad tickets across the aisle, (seats 30/32 in car 6) which since it was a full train meant we would be sitting next to strangers, so I headed to the "dining" car which is pretty much café seating now, where I found two empty seats, on the 1 side of a 2x1 area, and brought my dad into the car, where we settled down, as we departed King Street Station. As we departed SEA, the conductor started his long speech about stops, crossing the US/Canadian border, getting off in VAC, etc. As we got through the Great Northern Tunnel, we sped up to about fifty for a while, on a speed limit sign, F is freight, P is Passenger, What is "T"? Then we followed the coast until close to the border, where I turned my phone cellular/data off to avoid roaming charges, wile using the Wi-Fi, which was excellent, by the way. After a while, we were nearing Vancouver, I could tell by the Sky-Train commuter rail implemented through out the city, which by the way is not anywhere near where I am staying. After a while, we got into the Pacific Central Station yard, which included a Via Canadian ready to depart to Toronto, with ELEVEN sleeper plus cars, two coach cars, two "Prestige" cars, TWO dining cars (sleeper only), two Skyline cars, a baggage car, and a Park car. Then we slowed to just a crawl of about 0.8 MPH, which I eventually figured out was so they could unload the luggage without a bunch of luggage trolleys everywhere. Then they detrained everybody car by car, and eventually we got to security, which was not too tight, more of an honor system, although my dad filled out the form they handed out after Bellingham, so I don't know what was on the form. After we got out, we had lunch, and headed to our Air BnB room. If any questions, call 1-800-Henrywisheshecoulddothisphonenumberthing, or reply down below, you can also check out the previous report under "Another Amtrip", my URL stuff is wonky so I can't provide a link. See you! (will be taking #2 VAC-Winnipeg on Friday, if anybody is also taking it.)
 
T on the speed boards stands for "Talgo", the cascades trains operate with a passive tilt system that allows for faster speeds in curves.
 
Sounds like you and your Dad are having a great trip so far. Looking forward to hearing about your ride on the Canadian (I bet they remember to give you your bacon! :p )....Have a terrific rest of your trip! :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top