Train across USA: #1 Coast Starlight sleeper class service Seattle-Portland, Oregon 2016-05-09
A Coast Starlight train--Amtrak's signature long-haul West Coast train--leaves Seattle's refurbished King Street Station destined for Los Angeles.
Amtrak's guide to highlights of this route, the Coast Starlight route:
Online passenger reviews of the Coast Starlight:
This video series covers the trip from Seattle's King Street Station past south Puget Sound, and crossing the Columbia River to Union Station in Portland, whose name, as mentioned by on board volunteers, was decided upon by a coin-flip. Portland is the largest city in the state of Oregon, while Salem (an hour south of Portland to be seen on the next video on this trip), is the capital city of Oregon.
The series continues with a stop in Eugene, the upper Willamette River, sunset in the Cascade, and an early morning arrival in Sacramento, California's capital city.
Additionally linked videos carry the trip east on Amtrak's California Zephyr through Nevada, Utah,, and the Great Plains, before crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois and, a few hours after, arriving in Chicago.
After yet one more night, Amtrak's The City of New Orleans signature service brings the trip to its destination at, New Orleans, in Louisiana.
This video cover the Seattle-to-Portland section of this rail journey. On board service and amenities are announced at appropriate times. These are supplemented and additional highlights are introduced by the time-stamp log below and by on-screen annotations throughout this video.
On the Coast Starlight, Parlour Car access (where a fee-based wine-tasting hour is offered south of Portland--shown on the next video) is exclusively for business class and sleeping car passengers.
0:01-4:10 Trip information announcements from train crew & National Parks Service interpreters
0:01 Century Link Field: Home of the Seattle Seahawks
4:15-5:30 Leaving King Street Station, Seattle
Century Link Field: Home of the Seattle Seahawks
5:47-7:58 Parlour Car service information
6:00-6:47 Safeco Field, Seattle
8:58-10:12 Cafe car aservice information
10:25-12:03 Restroom location and safety announcement
12:05-13:40 Parlour Car dining options announcement
14:33 Tacoma WA station stop
14:45-14:55 Point Ruston, Tacoma WA
15:19-15:50 Nelson Bennett Tunnel, Point Defiance, Tacoma WA
16:00 Tacoma Narrows, South Puget Sound
16:55-17:55 Tacoma Narrows Bridge, WA
[Original bridge collpased in 1940:
20:00-23:05 University Place, WA
23:08-25:45 Steilacoom, WA
23:50-24:00 Sunnyside Beach Park, Steilacoom, WA
24:35-24:55 Pierce County Ferry, Steilacoom WA
25:25 McNeil Island
25:40-27:05 Ketron Island WA
27:35-29:55 Anderson Island, WA
36:10 Centralia WA station stop
36:50-37:05 Parlour Car vending case & lunch service
37:05 Train leaving Centralia WA
37:34-38:00 Parlour Car table service
38:00-38:40 Dining car procedure announcement
40:38 Longview-Kelso WA station stop
40:50 Cowlitz River, WA
40:54-41:30 Columbia River through Cowlitz County, WA
41:30-41:44 Interstate 5 southbound through Cowlitz County, WA
41:44-41:54 Columbia River through Cowlitz County, WA
41:54-42:19 Interstate 5 southbound through Cowlitz County, WA
42:20-42:28 Port of Vancouver, WA
42:30 Vancouver, WA station stop
42:38-43:25 Crossing Columbia River from Washington to Oregon
42:38-43:15 Portland, OR station stop procedure announcement
43:18 National Park Service interpretative announcement on Columbia River
44:15 Hayden Island, Portland, OR
44:15-44:45 Crossing North Portland Harbor on Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge
45:05-45:45 Crossing Willamette River Bridge to downtown Portland, OR
45:10-45:45 National Park Service interpretative announcement on naming of City of Portland
52:00 Arriving at Union Station, Portland, OR
URL to playlist of this entire trip: