LAX to NYC via Seattle or Portland

[Dan O]

Had a good time taking the CZ to NYC so thinking about going via the Empire Builder. The trip would either be SWC from LAX to Chicago and most likely LSL to NYC and then NYC to Chicago to Seattle or Portland and back to LAX or the reverse trip.
I'm just wondering which would be best for making connections and whether scenery to and from Seattle would be better than Portland.
I would think the connection from CS to EB would be okay since it's overnight and the CS usually isn't super late. I'm slightly less confident with the EB making connection to the CS.
Going through Chicago it seems more likely going west would be a good connection vs going eastbound.
This type of trip would be in a sleeper.
Will post re recent trip when company leaves.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Sounds like a plan.

You might as well take the Empire Builder into Seattle, and start there on the Coast Starlight. This way you can “ACE” another route. No, it’s just a thing rail fans do. Ride trains from start point to end point. I got a few miles under my belt but the Empire Builder is the only train that I have been on start point to end point in both directions.

The whole Chicago issues depends on what time of year you travel. It’s always nice to take a day off between trains, but that schedule day off will not save you from missing your connection train.

 

[Steve4031]

I would plan for an overnight at each place you connect. The same-day connection in Portland could become a bus ride from someplace on the Empire Builder route to someplace on the Coast Starlight route.

 

[GAT]

I realize this might not be of interest, but have you thought of returning to LAX via the Crescent and Sunset Limited to avoid any route or stopover duplications? There would be only one connection, and you can time it so it's just one overnight or three in New Orleans.

 

[Dan O]

GAT... Thanks for the idea. That's worth considering if the schedule would work with the sunset limited.

Steve4031... Thanks for the idea and information.

Just-thinking... Thanks for the idea.

 

[fdaley]

If you've not done the Empire Builder before, the best scenery is through Glacier Park, which is reached pretty reliably in daylight year-round on the eastbound run. Westbound in the winter it's almost certainly in darkness. Also, transferring to/from the Coast Starlight at Portland allows a same-day connection, whereas changing at Seattle requires an overnight layover there, though as Steve4031 points out, an overnight at Portland is safer if you want to avoid any risk of bustitution.

Personally I would want to avoid the Crescent in its current incarnation, with has no diner and only an Amfleet lounge for all food service.

 

[JayPea]

Whenever I make the Empire Builder-Coast Starlight connection I always to to Seattle and stay overnight. To me the cost of a hotel is worth the price. I'd rather stay over than worry about the EB-CS connection in Portland.

 

[TC_NYC]

Whenever I make the Empire Builder-Coast Starlight connection I always to to Seattle and stay overnight. To me the cost of a hotel is worth the price. I'd rather stay over than worry about the EB-CS connection in Portland.

And there's a great Embassy Suites right next door to King Street Station in Seattle.

Personally, I would do the connection in Portland to catch the scenery on the Portland leg of the Empire Builder, which in my option is the 2nd most spectacular stretch of track in the system, 2nd only to the CZ over the Rockies.

 

[niemi24s]

The Westbound EB is scheduled to depart Pasco WA for Portland OR at 0645hrs and sunrise at Pasco tomorrow is 0720hrs, 35 minutes later. But civil twilight begins at about the scheduled departure time, so viewing of the spectacular Columbia River Gorge should be OK - getting brighter with time of day and the passage of days.

But to really see the Gorge heading East out of Portland the departure would need to be on time and would need to be after the middle of May - just getting to Pasco at the end of civil twilight. Ref: Sunrise and sunset times in Pasco, May 2023 I went that way some years ago in February and it was dark as the inside of a cow going up the Gorge.

But TC_NYC is spot on. I've driven up and down both sides of the Gorge and its views are quite spectacular.

 

[Willbridge]

Another alternative that adds time to the trip is to buy CHI to PDX via SEA (or vice versa) and use a rental car out of Portland for a round-trip into the Gorge and back (one-way on the Oregon side and the other on the Washington side). Use the Coast Starlight south of PDX.

Here's Wishram... the Oregon Trunk bridge downstream occasionally hosted the Starlight on detours before Amtrak invented total cancellations.

 

[Alice]

Another alternative that adds time to the trip is to buy CHI to PDX via SEA (or vice versa) and use a rental car out of Portland for a round-trip into the Gorge and back (one-way on the Oregon side and the other on the Washington side). Use the Coast Starlight south of PDX.

Here's Wishram... the Oregon Trunk bridge downstream occasionally hosted the Starlight on detours before Amtrak invented total cancellations.

View attachment 31263

The highways on both sides of the river are scenic. The historic road on the Oregon side is one of the most spectacular in the country. Rather than routing it for ease of driving, it was designed from the start to be scenic. That means it has steep sections, sharp turns, and other features that mean the driver needs to drive. The payoff is the viewpoints. Much has been obliterated by the freeway and other construction, and more recently sections are being converted to pedestrian and bicycle use where the road or cliffside rock wall have been damaged or are not up to modern standards. (Those sections also recommended.) If you like to drive, Willbridge's suggestion is a no-brainer.

 

[TC_NYC]

Here's Wishram... the Oregon Trunk bridge downstream occasionally hosted the Starlight on detours before Amtrak invented total cancellations.

Oh wow, never realized they had detoured the Starlight via the Gorge. Guessing it ran via Bend, OR?

 

[Willbridge]

Oh wow, never realized they had detoured the Starlight via the Gorge. Guessing it ran via Bend, OR?

Yes. It happened enough times that some railfans were able to get to K. Falls and ride it back. When it's done right it takes the same running time as the Coast Starlight between KFS and VAN.

 

[Willbridge]

The highways on both sides of the river are scenic. The historic road on the Oregon side is one of the most spectacular in the country. Rather than routing it for ease of driving, it was designed from the start to be scenic. That means it has steep sections, sharp turns, and other features that mean the driver needs to drive. The payoff is the viewpoints. Much has been obliterated by the freeway and other construction, and more recently sections are being converted to pedestrian and bicycle use where the road or cliffside rock wall have been damaged or are not up to modern standards. (Those sections also recommended.) If you like to drive, Willbridge's suggestion is a no-brainer.

My grandfather was on a commission that investigated working conditions for the construction of that highway. Prison labor did part of the work and skilled European craftsmen did other parts of it. It was meant for pleasure driving, as only wealthy people could afford an auto. The Union Pacific backed construction of it, as an attraction that would generate rail travel from afar.

While I was working at the Gray Line of Portland, Columbia Gorge tours were the most popular side trips for people traveling coastwise.

 

[Roomette11]

the Oregon Trunk bridge downstream occasionally hosted the Starlight on detours before Amtrak invented total cancellations.

Would love to take that ride….wow!

I agree with the support for the Portland leg of the Builder. I rode eastbound in October of 2014 and it was beautiful the whole time and stunning in places. Sunset was in Pasco.

I enjoyed Portland and it’s odd-but-pleasant variety of trains/streetcars.