I was asked how the 1980 eruption affected passenger train service. I wasn't living in the Northwest then, so I don't have any personal knowledge.
On May 18, 1980, Amtrak appears to have been running the Coast Starlight, the Pioneer, and a PDX-SEA train called the Mount Rainier (timetables), as well as the three-day-a-week Empire Builder, which was still running via Yakima, so it would have been much closer to the mountain than the route used today. I would guess that the Builder and the Pioneer, which ran on the south bank of the Columbia River, would have been the most affected, being downwind of the mountain.
[SIZE=13.63636302948px]There is a very old AU thread [/SIZE]here[SIZE=13.63636302948px] with some information, but can anyone expand on it?[/SIZE]
On May 18, 1980, Amtrak appears to have been running the Coast Starlight, the Pioneer, and a PDX-SEA train called the Mount Rainier (timetables), as well as the three-day-a-week Empire Builder, which was still running via Yakima, so it would have been much closer to the mountain than the route used today. I would guess that the Builder and the Pioneer, which ran on the south bank of the Columbia River, would have been the most affected, being downwind of the mountain.
[SIZE=13.63636302948px]There is a very old AU thread [/SIZE]here[SIZE=13.63636302948px] with some information, but can anyone expand on it?[/SIZE]
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