Coast Starlight - SB or NB?

[rms492rm]

Hello, which is better in terms of scenery: Northbound or southbound on the Coast Starlight.

I am riding the entire route (Seattle-Los Angeles), but can only due it one-way.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Hello, which is better in terms of scenery: Northbound or southbound on the Coast Starlight.I am riding the entire route (Seattle-Los Angeles), but can only due it one-way.

To each his own but IMHO the North Bound #14 is the way to go,the Ocean out of LAX is assured and the morning scenery in Oregon/Washington

is pretty nice too!On the South Bound #11 lots of time its late and it gets dark before the great ocean views!Enjoy,be sure and book a sleeper so you can experience the PPC!

 

[Rob_C]

Northbound, unless you're taking it in June or July in which case it doesn't really matter.

Rob

 

[zephyr17]

Northbound, unless you're taking it in June or July in which case it doesn't really matter.
Rob

I've ridden it on average once a year since 1990. Northbound, hands down.

 

[jmbgeg]

Northbound for the reasons others referenced.

 

[manchacrr]

Northbound, especially for the scenery across Cascades Summit in Oregon.

 

[the_traveler]

I would also say NB. I am on the CS right now and at 8:30 it is getting dark just past Chelmult. The CA coastline may be in the dark. Also the NB gets to use the Traxx Lounge at LAUS - the SB does not!

 

[JayPea]

When I took the CS southbound a couple of weeks ago, we got to see the shorline the whole way south, and were about half an hour late the whole time. So it should be fine if you stay on time all the way.

 

[nferr]

When I took the CS southbound a couple of weeks ago, we got to see the shorline the whole way south, and were about half an hour late the whole time. So it should be fine if you stay on time all the way.

I rode it northbound once and we kept falling behind schedule so that most of the ride north of San Francisco came in the daytime. We eventually fell about ten or twelve hours behind schedule and ended being bussed from Portland to Seattle as they turned the train in Portland. The daytime scenery around Mt. Hood was great but the bus ride around four in the morning was not so great. Especially when you had to vacate your nice cozy sleeper.

 

[zephyr17]

When I took the CS southbound a couple of weeks ago, we got to see the shorline the whole way south, and were about half an hour late the whole time. So it should be fine if you stay on time all the way.

I rode it northbound once and we kept falling behind schedule so that most of the ride north of San Francisco came in the daytime. We eventually fell about ten or twelve hours behind schedule and ended being bussed from Portland to Seattle as they turned the train in Portland. The daytime scenery around Mt. Hood was great but the bus ride around four in the morning was not so great. Especially when you had to vacate your nice cozy sleeper.

UP has much improved their dispatching, threat of legal action from Amtrak and the new teeth that the PRIIA gave the STB to enforce passenger train priority have had dramatic effect. The reduction of freight traffic is probably something of a factor as well.

The Starlight has an 87% on time record over the past year, and the routine 6 - 12 hour late trains of a couple of years are a thing of the past. Chances are excellent that a Starlight trip now will be pretty close to schedule. That means you will get the coastal running on the SB in the afternoon, and you will go over the Cascades NB late morning. The NB is preferable, because you get BOTH the coastal running and the Cascades, where the SB, it is pretty dark most of the year by the time you really start climbing the pass past Oakridge.

 

[jmbgeg]

When I took the CS southbound a couple of weeks ago, we got to see the shorline the whole way south, and were about half an hour late the whole time. So it should be fine if you stay on time all the way.

I rode it northbound once and we kept falling behind schedule so that most of the ride north of San Francisco came in the daytime. We eventually fell about ten or twelve hours behind schedule and ended being bussed from Portland to Seattle as they turned the train in Portland. The daytime scenery around Mt. Hood was great but the bus ride around four in the morning was not so great. Especially when you had to vacate your nice cozy sleeper.

I hate bustitutions. I was traveling southbound on the CS in May and there was a derailment on a bridge south of Albany, OR. They held us in Albany from about 4:30 PM until 2:00 a.m. before the train continued south. The buses were sent to Albany and sat outside idliing after midnight. It's tough to sleep when you are worried about getting yanked off the sleeper and put on a bus, which would have taken us to Klamath Falls or Sacramento to connect with a new train.