San Francisco to Seattle by Train

Someone told me that there is an overnight train service from S.F. to
Seattle that is very scenic and comfortable. We would like to do
this around the end of June

Can anyone tell me how to go about seeking information about this
please?

Cheers and thanks


Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!

"Daisy" writes:
Someone told me that there is an overnight train service from S.F. to
Seattle that is very scenic and comfortable.

It's one night and one day -- about 24 hours.

The train doesn't actually run from San Francisco, because the Golden
Gate Bridge is only for cars and there's no railway bridge; you can
board it at San Jose (departure 8:39 PM), Oakland (9:47 PM), or
Emeryville (10:12 PM). If you want to start from San Francisco itself,
there's a bus leaving at 8:50-9:15 PM (depending on which stop you
use) to join the train at Emeryville.

The train reaches Seattle at 8:30 PM the next day.

Or rather, those are the scheduled times, but major delays are very
possible. The train starts from Los Angeles, so it's possible it will
already be late before it reaches the Bay Area.

Full timetable including bus details in PDF at

http://www.amtrak.com/timetable/oct05/P11.pdf

Coming back, the train leaves Seattle at 10:00 AM and is scheduled to
arrive at Emeryville at 8:10 AM the next day, with the connecting bus
reaching its San Francisco stops at 8:55 - 9:30 AM.

You can sleep sitting in a coach if you like. I wouldn't, but some
don't mind it. The seats recline and are quite comfortable.

Or you can pay for sleeping-car space. The cheapest is the Roomette
(they used to call it an Economy Bedroom), which is basically a pair
of bunk beds which in the daytime convert into seats (one facing
backwards). For more money there is a Bedroom (formerly called a
Deluxe Bedroom), which is a good deal larger and has its own washroom
with a shower. If you have a room of either type, you don't need to
stay there in your room in the daytime; there is also a lounge car
for viewing the scenery (and movies are shown there at night).

Coach passengers can buy dining-car meals; sleeping-car passengers
get them free. Snacks and drinks can be bought in the lounge car.

Can anyone tell me how to go about seeking information about this
please?

Amtrak is at http://www.amtrak.com or 1-800-USA-RAIL. On their web
site, see the Traveling with Amtrak section for illustrations of the
sleeping-car spaces. (This train uses Superliner cars.) You may
also go to a travel agent.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "If any form of pleasure is exhibited, report
| to me and it will be prohibited." --DUCK SOUP

My text in this article is in the public domain.

"Daisy" wrote in message
...
Someone told me that there is an overnight train service from S.F. to
Seattle that is very scenic and comfortable. We would like to do
this around the end of June

Can anyone tell me how to go about seeking information about this
please?

Cheers and thanks


Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!

In addition to the other replies you can find out anything you want to know
about Amtrak at forums.amraktrains.com.

--
Dennis

Disclaimer: The above is my opinion. I do not guarantee it. Be sure to back
up any files involved and use at your own risk.



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In article ,
Mark Brader wrote:
If you have a room of either type, you don't need to stay there
in your room in the daytime; there is also a lounge car for viewing
the scenery (and movies are shown there at night).

That particular train has a regular lounge, as well as a lounge for
sleeping car passengers only (unless recent budget cuts have removed
it). The extra lounge was a very pleasant option.

Coach passengers can buy dining-car meals; sleeping-car passengers
get them free.

Revamping the lounge car service a few years ago seems to have
addressed this problem partially, but sleeping car passengers not
only get meals free, they get priority for them. Several years
ago, we decided to try going coach, thinking that sleeping in the
seats wouldn't be a big deal. Well, there are people coming and
going all night, so you'd better be a very sound sleeper. Anyway,
the bigger factor is we had nights where there were no spaces left
in the dining car by the time we were allowed to reserve. Given
that the other option was junk food, I was very very displeased by
this. The lounge car has some semi-edible stuff these days, and
the dining car seems correspondingly less busy. The last trip we
took -- which might well be the last, due to increasingly shoddy
service -- there was actually plenty of space in the dining car.

Despite these elements of dissatisfaction, I do think that it's
worth making the trip at least once. As another poster mentioned,
however, be prepared to arrive potentially well after midnight.

I (Mark Brader) just wrote:
(2) May I suggest staying with the same time format as in the article
you're responding to, for your readers' convenience?

Sorry, that was rude to post. I meant it to be private email.
However, I do feel as a general rule that where terminology varies,
it's as well to stay with one variation within a thread.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "You often seem quite gracious, in your way."
| --Steve Summit

Tom Box wrote:
Mark Brader ) writes:
Or rather, those are the scheduled times, but major delays are very
possible.

An illustration of this point: the arrivals in Seattle for the last
five days have been at 21:42, 03:46, 22:43, 00:20, 01:36. The
best performance was 1 h 12 min late, the worst was 7 h 16 min late.

When I took it in June 2005, it arrived in Seattle at about 0830, or 12
hours late. There was never any attempt to make up for lost time, and
we got farther behind schedule at every station. Once, we were in
danger of making it to the next station in less than the scheduled
interval (still several hours late), but they prevented that by having
the train stop in the middle of nowhere for a couple hours. One
benefit of being so late was that we got to see the Trinity Alps in
daylight.

I frequently see the southbound train go by here in San Jose, and when
I do, it is usually 6-10 hours late.

On Sat, 4 Mar 2006 08:15:01 -0800, "Dennis Marks"
wrote:


"Daisy" wrote in message
.. .
Someone told me that there is an overnight train service from S.F. to
Seattle that is very scenic and comfortable. We would like to do
this around the end of June

Can anyone tell me how to go about seeking information about this
please?

Cheers and thanks


Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!

In addition to the other replies you can find out anything you want to know
about Amtrak at forums.amraktrains.com.

Right then - thanks all for your experiences and/or observations.
And here I was thinking that all those awful delays on Italian trains
was because Italian trains are always late! I didn't realise
American trains fall into the same category.

My husband and I are in our seventies - but quite fit and mobile.
However, I don't fancy sleeping on a reclining seat on a train. We
have only ever travelled in sleeping cars on (European) trains - and
will have had to endure a 12-hour overnight flight from New Zealand to
San Francisco before we travel north.

Is there any other way, besides driving a car, to get from San
Francisco to Seattle? I can't seem to find anything on the Internet
so perhaps this sort of trip is not provided for tourists as part of
any other tour or on its own.


Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:21:19 +1300, Daisy
wrote:

[snip]
Is there any other way, besides driving a car, to get from San
Francisco to Seattle?
[snip]

Bus (I wouldn't do it) or, of course, plane. I'd suggest the plane.

Michael

If you would like to send a private email to me, please take out the NOTRASH. Please do not email me something which you also posted.

"Daisy" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 4 Mar 2006 08:15:01 -0800, "Dennis Marks"
wrote:


"Daisy" wrote in message
. ..
Someone told me that there is an overnight train service from S.F. to
Seattle that is very scenic and comfortable. We would like to do
this around the end of June

Can anyone tell me how to go about seeking information about this
please?

Cheers and thanks


Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!

In addition to the other replies you can find out anything you want to
know
about Amtrak at forums.amraktrains.com.

Right then - thanks all for your experiences and/or observations.
And here I was thinking that all those awful delays on Italian trains
was because Italian trains are always late! I didn't realise
American trains fall into the same category.

My husband and I are in our seventies - but quite fit and mobile.
However, I don't fancy sleeping on a reclining seat on a train. We
have only ever travelled in sleeping cars on (European) trains - and
will have had to endure a 12-hour overnight flight from New Zealand to
San Francisco before we travel north.

Is there any other way, besides driving a car, to get from San
Francisco to Seattle? I can't seem to find anything on the Internet
so perhaps this sort of trip is not provided for tourists as part of
any other tour or on its own.


Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!

Airplanes. Greyhound bus. www.greyhound.com Over 62 has good prices, and
look into companion fares.

"Daisy":
My husband and I are in our seventies - but quite fit and mobile.
However, I don't fancy sleeping on a reclining seat on a train. We
have only ever travelled in sleeping cars on (European) trains ...

Is there any other way, besides driving a car, to get from San
Francisco to Seattle?

"Bill":
Airplanes. Greyhound bus...

If Daisy doesn't want to sleep in a train coach seat, I can't imagine
she'll prefer a bus. If they don't want to drive, then it's got to be
air travel for speed, or rail for comfort (using a roomette or bedroom).
--
Mark Brader I "need to know" *everything*! How else
Toronto can I judge whether I need to know it?
-- Lynn & Jay: YES, PRIME MINISTER