Coast Starlight Consist

[njdon]

I'll be traveling on the Coast Starlight, LA to SEA, on June 3rd. Is there anyway to know whether or not the PPC will be on the train and whether or not there will bustiutions(sp?)

Thanks

 

[zephyr17]

Impossible to know those things this far in advance. There are enough PPCs to cover all Coast Starlight trainsets and one "protection" one stationed in LA. If the PPC is bad-ordered and no protection car is available, you'll likely either get a Diner-Lounge or a Sightseer lounge substituting for the PPC. But you can't know if one is going to get sick a month and a half in advance. Since they are well over 50 years old, problems do crop up with regularity, though.

Same thing goes for bustitutions. If there is a problem in a month and a half the requires a bustitution (say a fire in one of the tunnels on Willamette Pass, which caused a Klamath Falls-Portland bustitution on one of my trips), then you'll be bustituted. Otherwise you won't be. The good news is that weather won't be a problem in June (slides along the Coast line, flooding in the Sacramento River canyon, slides in the Cascades and slides in Washington tend to be winter problems).

 

[tomfuller]

Honestly no way to tell you. I can tell you that I saw it yesterday morning in Oregon and it did not have the PPC. Bustitutions happen when mudslides stop train traffic south of Seattle.

You might consider riding the CS to Portland and then taking a later Cascades Talgo train to Seattle.

 

[Karl1459]

Honestly no way to tell you. I can tell you that I saw it yesterday morning in Oregon and it did not have the PPC. Bustitutions happen when mudslides stop train traffic south of Seattle.You might consider riding the CS to Portland and then taking a later Cascades Talgo train to Seattle.

Most of the mudslide issues in the NW are north of Seattle, affecting the EB and Cascades (and BNSF freight), though there was one near Wilamette pass last year. While derailments, bridge or tunnel fires, and equipment failures can happen anywhere the line LA to San Jose is important secondary, and from there to Seattle UP or BNSF primary main line and they do keep the line in good condition and DO NOT like to tie up their freight traffic.

 

[zephyr17]

While the slide zone around Everett has been particularly active, there historically have been slides on line by the Sound out of Tacoma, particularly between the tunnel and Steilacoom and also further south around Castle Rock and Kelso, which is why I mentioned Washington. But any of the slide areas don't tend to be a problem in June.