All Things Cascades incl Vancouver

so, when will the evening departure from Vancouver go back to talgo equipment?

bdawe wrote:so, when will the evening departure from Vancouver go back to talgo equipment?

Oh, it must be maintenance rotation season! I'm hearing May thru the grapevine...

What is puzzling is why the new Talgos are not used to Vancouver, BC ? They will be used once the additional SEA <> PDX trains start later this year.

As in there's additional talgo sets not being used right now?

The ODOT/new sets are used to Vancouver BC. They're in the set rotation like the 5 original sets.

One of the older sets has been out of service for the last month or so for a combination of Siemens Charger and Point Defiance Bypass tests. Once that's done and whatever annual maintenance is done, the Superliners will vanish. The endless mudslides messed up the rotation pretty well too.

Also, has everyone else been seeing more F59PHIs lately? There were a couple weeks I hardly saw any, but now they're back again. I know 469 went to Chicago and back, but the others?

So I ran across a 1970 BN timetable..
http://www.fobnr.org/timetables/passeng ... 042670.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Whats interesting is that it shows Seattle-Vancouver BC at 3.75 hours.

It's the border and Vancouver...
Seattle-Bellingham was 2:19, now 2:12, Bellingham-Seattle 2:24, now 2:23, so a few minutes faster with Talgo equipment.
Bellingham-Vancouver was 1:26, now 1:50, Vancouver-Bellingham was 1:31, now 2:02...

Yeah...that makes a bit more sense. At the time, Canada Customs/Immigration Canada inspected passengers at White Rock; this was a change in I think in 1967 when the stopped inspecting passengers while the train was in motion from New Westminster to the Great Northern Terminal. US Customs & Immigration always did their inspection at Blaine until Pre-Clearence was added in 2001.

I noticed on the New Westminster sub that CN have been posting new speed limit signs (speed boards?) while I was out for a ride the other day.

All the ones I noticed read '25', which seemed lower than the old ones. Did CN lower the speeds between New Westminster and Vancouver?

Hmm...CN posted them? I thought BNSF still had its local guys do all the signs still...

They're in the CN style, rather than the BNSF style. Hasn't CN taken over maintenance beyond New Westminster?

AgentSkelly wrote:So I ran across a 1970 BN timetable..
http://www.fobnr.org/timetables/passeng ... 042670.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Whats interesting is that it shows Seattle-Vancouver BC at 3.75 hours.

Thanks for sharing this. The map alone is a treasure.

As a fantasy player, I've been dreaming of an LD circle line. PRIIA allows new LD lines that begin and end at certain designated cities. I wish for more service in the far Midwest, the plains states, without needing to go all transcontinental. So. How about CHI-St Paul-Willmar MN-Sioux Falls SD-Sioux City IA-Lincoln-Omaha-St Joseph MO-Kansas City-Brookfield MO-Quincy IL-Galesburg IL-CHI. The Burlington Northern map shows such a route was possible back in 1970. Now to figure out if all the needed tracks and right of way remains.

It's also helpful to see two possible routes Grand Forks-Winnipeg, with a timetable for the most likely route. About 7 hours for 325 miles St Paul-St Cloud-Fargo-Grand Forks, on the Empire Builder today. Then another 180 miles in 4 hrs 30 min Grand Forks-Winnipeg. That's not too bad. And it wouldn't need a diner. LOL.

Woody: Sioux Falls - Sioux City is partly short line but still there. Otherwise - Sioux City to Omaha via Lincoln??

A circle route would be one way of getting past 750.

WSDOT 1402,1404(Chargers) should be on # 14 heading north to Seattle by now.
How long before they are in service?

mtuandrew wrote:Woody: Sioux Falls - Sioux City is partly short line but still there. Otherwise - Sioux City to Omaha via Lincoln??

A circle route would be one way of getting past 750.

I'm interested in getting better service to Lincoln. It has about the highest growth rate of any city in the Upper Plains States, between the Mississippi and the Front Range and north of Oklahoma. Any state capital gets extra ridership from lobbyists and lawyers, state officials and citizens on official business. The Univ of Nebraska would attract fans attending games of the varsity/quasi-professional teams on campus, as well as supplying student riders as other colleges do.

After squinting at the maps, I wasn't sure I could fit Lincoln into this itinerary. I just stuck it in there anyway. LOL.

Meanwhile, we're way off topic. I'll post more circle route notions when another fantasy thread comes along.