Amtrak Cascades' Spanish Tilting Train: The Talgo 8 - Business Class

The shorter cars on Talgo allow a wider spacious body, but I think they must have drunk too much Rioja when they were designing the front end

The Cascades livery is chef's kiss, and I enjoy the Sounder livery as well. And once again, being able to chillax and have a can of Coke without having to worry about driving is the benefit of riding an intercity train like this one! Not to mention the wonderful scenery in the Pacific Northwest. You can't go wrong with a can of Coke. Talgo built a facility in Wisconsin in particular because initially Talgo 8's were made as part of an agreement in 2009 to supply two 14-car trainsets for the Amtrak Hiawatha Service. However, Governor Scott Walker rejected the federal funding and cancelled the project. The company expressed hope the plant would later be used to build trains for other US projects, which ended up being the Cascades thanks to the Oregon Department of Transportation purchasing two 13-car sets in early 2010, which were delivered in 2013. The two Hiawatha sets sat unused in Talgo's plant until 2014 when they were moved to a maintenance facility in Indiana as Michigan wanted to use them for the Wolverine. Three years later, Amtrak also proposed leasing or buying them in the wake of the 2017 Washington train derailment. However, these were eventually sold to Nigeria for use on the Lagos Rail Mass Transit

Ah yes, an Italian-style station with Spanish trains manufactured in the US...Mr. Worldwide! Mount Jefferson is a stratovolcano in Oregon, and is the state's second-highest summit. The volcano was first ascended by E. C. Cross and R. L. Farmer in 1888 and named after Thomas Jefferson, however before that, it was called Seekseekqua by Native Americans and Mount Vancouver by the British. It and the other Cascade volcanoes were formed thanks to the subduction of the oceanic Juan de Fuca tectonic plate under the continental North American tectonic plate, forming about 730,000 years ago. And man, I just love it when a train station has a neat clock tower, and King Street and Portland Union are no exceptions! Especially the nice touch of Portland Union having a Go by Train sign, because it's true! King Street's 242 feet tall clock tower was modeled after the Campanile di San Marco in Venice, and when the tower was built in the early 1900s, it was the tallest structure in Seattle! My favorite train station clock tower is the one at Hoboken Terminal because I used to live in Jersey City and so I've loved visiting Hoboken and just staring at the clock tower as well as looking down at it from the top of the Palisades. That one isn't as old as the King Street one as the Hoboken one is actually a replica as the original was replaced in the 1940s by a radio tower to use the clock tower's copper for WWII and said radio tower was finally removed in 2006.

Something I love about King Street Station is that when the Seattle City Council decided to buy the station from BNSF to restore it, the wanted to buy it from BNSF for $1 just to make it official. BNSF managed to raise the total to, 10 whole dollars.

Two pro tips: if it's a clear day, sit on the left heading south for great views of the Cascade volcanoes. And the locals pronounce it 'will-AM-ett'

I was told ( by a now retired Conductor ) that the colors of the Cascades are Evergreen and Double Latte!!😂

Sounds cool. Can't wait for it

The Talgo's are staying put but going to their state owner, Oregon. They'll continue running between Portland and Eugene. The Airos will be used for everything else, including Van BC to Eugene service.

Such an interesting train! I like that there are steps to cover the gap between train and platform and I hope they have them on the new train sets. At the stations I use on the NEC (EWK International and Philadelphia), where I am trying to manoeuvre a carryon and personal bag, there is nothing to do but swing the bags on/off then hope I make it over the gap.

Can't wait to see your next venture headed down on the Lake Shore. Depending on what time it gets through Utica, you just might see me either departing or arriving on one of my shifts working the Adirondack Railroad's "Gateway" train that runs to Tupper Lake.

Amtrak really does need to make business class a more consistent product. What is and isn't included should be clear, and the perks should be the same across all trains.

I will definitely say that ride is very smooth. I took the Talgo 6 and 8 trains to Portland. Talgo 8 is sleek but the seats are a little rigid. It’s too bad they use the Dupoint Bypass route instead of the Pudget sound route. It’s faster but the view of Pudget sound and islands near it looks amazing.

Thanks!

Nice job

Can't wait

Choo-choo!

Living in Vancouver, Canada, the Cascades provides a great service (7x more service than VIA provides Vancouver!) but the Business Class ticket isn't worth it on this route. Usually 3x the price with no free snacks and no lounge. The coach seats on the Talgo and Horizon cars are just fine.

Did you have to make sure it was bound for Eugene? I know the trainsets are owned by ODOT. The horizon cars have better coach class seats though. The service would be really transformative for the region, if fares were reduced, frequency was increased, and delays remedied. Looking forward to it🙂

Yaaaaaay!!!

Right now the only reason to take the Cascades is for the scenery. 😉👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻. When the Arrow seats finally arrive, now you’re talking business ☺️. Speaking of which, I think Amtrak needs to seriously upgrade its business class product including premium at your seat meal service much like onboard European premium trains.