Michigan Exposures: Riding on the Coast Starlight

So the next leg on my journey was the Coast Starlight. The Coast Starlight is a train that runs daily from Seattle to Los Angeles. I would only be taking it as far as Emeryville though.

Before Amtrak's line, there was no one passenger train that ran the length of the west coast. The closest would have been the Southern Pacific's West Coast line that ran from Los Angeles to Portland. You could continue on a Great Northern train to Seattle. There was also the Coast Daylight that ran between Los Angeles and San Francisco and if you wanted to continue on, you could hop on the Cascades but again that would only take you as far as Portland.

The Coast Starlight had a number of issues with lateness. At one time, it had an ontime rating of 2% which earned it the nickname of Coast Starlate. There were a number of issues that led to this but the biggest was the Union Pacific giving priority to freight trains (much like everywhere else). Eventually, things were worked out and the Coast Starlight now has a pretty good ontime rating.

So a final view of Seattle before heading into the station.

I really like the old school train stations. I know that I say it all the time, but I wish Ann Arbor used the Gandy Dancer instead of the station they have.

This is the way a train station should look, if you ask me.

Okay, we'll give you one more view of Seattle.

The tower on the train station. It was based on tower in Italy.

And it was raining as I was heading out but that makes for a cool picture I think.

Looking up at the tower.

Getting ready to board. I will have to say that I've been pretty impressed with the Amtrak staff that I've run into. For the most part, they are very friendly and helpful. In all honesty, I prefer dealing with Amtrak's staff over the Airline staffs.

A shot of my home for the next day. Fortunately this leg was only an overnight one but the seats are pretty comfortable and it was doubly so because I had both of them to myself.

As we were getting ready to head out, a BNSF train decided to pass.

This is one of Boeing's final assembly plants. They build the 737 and P-8 here. I think they may also build an AWAC version of the 737 but I have no idea what its designation is. I guess taking a picture of a plane from a train would be part of my trifecta. Just need a ship in there somewhere.

This used to be a warehouse for the storage of supplies that were heading out to the Pacific Portion of World War II. Part of it is used by the GSA.

This was a power station that used hydropower from one of the nearby rivers. I think it is now idle.

A pair of Union Pacific engines. I was most impressed by the grafitti covered engine because you don't typically see an engine covered in grafitti.

A pair of Navy pre-positioning ships that are docked in Tacoma. These are operated by civillian crews though.

This is a memorial to the Asian descent residents of Tacoma. At one time, they were kicked out of the city and that became a model for kicking them out of other cities. And there was really no reason to do so other than they were different. Shame we have to have so many black marks in our history.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The bridge that is inbound would be the bridge that replaced the one that was destroyed by high winds. It was constructed in 1950 and used many of the lessons learned from the other bridge. There are still parts of the old bridge in the water.

The bridge on the left was completed in 2007. The bridge on the right is used for westbound traffic and the other is used for eastbound traffic.

I like this picture for the most part. They are pretty cool looking bridges.

A lone tug pulling a barge through the Tacoma Narrows.

One of several ferries that ply the area.

I loved the fact that the water was smoothe enough for a nice reflection.

Another island.

A shot of the Olympia-Lacey station. As you can see, it was still raining. The rain would plague me for most of the day.

A grain elevator.

I kind of wish I would have noted some of the rivers that I passed because there were some really nice looking ones. One of the nice things about taking the train is that you get to pass through areas that aren't otherwise travelled, so you get a nice pristine view of the country.

The Kelso station.

As we were chugging along, I got the treat of seeing an Apache in action.

And what's better than seeing one Apache? Seeing two of them.

Another shot of the sightseeing cars. I love the views that you get from them but I kind of wish they had some sort of anti-reflective coating on the glass.

A shot of the dining car. I would have to say that one of the pleasant suprises about food on the train is that it is quite good. The prices aren't too bad considering that they have a captive audience. Another fun aspect is that they use community seating, so you get to meet some new and sometimes interesting people.

A tugboat from Foss Maritime. The company was founded in 1889 by Thea Foss in Tacoma, Washington. She started out by buying a tugboat and painting it green. She would take fishermen out. Eventually they branched out into other vessels and became the largest tug operation on the west coast. Thea was the basis for the movie "Tugboat Annie".

One of the shipped docked in Portland.

I'm not sure of the bridge in this picture but I do like the looks of it.

Probably one of my favorite stations and if you haven't, you should heed the advice and go somewhere by train.

One of the engines used by the Amtrak Cascades line.

I'm pretty sure this is the Empire Builder.

A more overall shot of the station.

Another view of the Cascades engine.

A better overall view of the station.

Another bridge in Portland.

A rain soaked view of the Portland skyline.

I just liked the looks of this building.

A typical scene from Oregon and Washington, a farm with mountains in the background.

As I was eating dinner, I missed what probably would have been the shot of the whole trip. We pass along a river for quite a while and there was rainbow at one point. I guess a cloud covered mountain scene will work.

I think this is the river we passed for a long time.

A lone Union Pacific engine.

One of the last pictures I took during the day. I tried to get a picture of Crater Lake but it was way too dark.

An early morning shot of the Sacramento skyline.

We stayed at the Sacramento station for quite a while, so I got to get some pictures as the sun was rising.

A shot of the engines as they are being fueled. I thought the engine in the front was kind of unusual for Amtrak. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a better picture of it.