This is the first trip report that I've ever done, so please forgive me if it's kind of choppy.On September 8th, my mother and I took the northbound Cascades out of Seattle to Vancouver BC to begin our 6 day foray of BC and Alberta.
My mom and I took the bus from our suburban city to the downtown Seattle bus tunnel and arrived at King Street Station around 7 AM. There was already a lineup for seating at the Cascades kiosk, which was a surprise because when I've taken this train in the past, they've never called for seating that early. Granted, the last trip I took on this train was 2 years ago.
Since my mom and I were Business Class passengers, we were able to check our luggage immediately despite the long line and were also among the first Business Class passengers checked in. We got seats on the left side of the train, which is my preference since that's the Puget Sound side going northbound.
By the time we'd gotten our carry-on luggage situated and the conductor(?) came around to check our seating passes, the dining car was full. On the upside, we were first to sign on to the waiting list and we went back to our seats to wait. Meanwhile, the train's 7:45 AM departure time came and went. We sat and sat and sat and finally at around 8:30, there was an announcement that the brakes were having a problem and that we'd be departing in 10 minutes. We finally pulled out of KSS around 8:38, I believe.
I don't remember what time we were called for breakfast, but I do know it was when we pulled into Everett station, so I believe it was about an hour after we put our name on the list. My mom had the pancakes and I had the "Orchard Stuffed French Toast", which was actually two thick slices of French toast with a thin layer of cream cheese in between them. It was tasty, but too rich for me. The dining car attendant was cheerful and helpful.
The film that was shown was Harry Potter 3. While I like the HP books and movies, I'd just seen this one in August, so I got a nice nap.
We didn't make up much time and promptly lost several minutes on the approach to Vancouver when we sat in the yard outside of the station. We arrived in Vancouver around 1PM, approximately an hour and 20 minutes late. I'm not complaining though, because the train had mechanical problems and this is the first time that I've ridden a Cascades that arrived in Vancouver late.
The only complaint that I had was the amount of time it took to announce what was going on with the train at King Street Station. Sitting on the platform for 45 minutes after departure without explanation was a tad annoying to say the least. However, reading this board has made me somewhat Amtrak saavy and reading about the hours long delays of some routes, I think we got off easy.
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