Passenger Trains > Pacific Northwest pool trains

Recently someone else posted about pool service offered by various railroads between certain
city pairs.   Thought I'd offer schedules for what was available in 1964 between Seattle and Portland.

 

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Really neat! Thanks for posting.

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457-458 were Union Pacific.  407-408 were NP.   459-460 were GN.

UP 457 and 458 were an extension of UP 105-106, the Domeliner City of Portland; in 1962 with the heavy traffic for the Seattle World's Fair they ran with full dining and dome-lounge service. When needed, a local coach was added between Seattle and Portland.  On the day we rode UP 457, connecting from Salem on SP 12, the Cascade, it was full and the extra coach was operated.  There was a scheduled 30 minute "connection" in Portland but through passengers did not detrain.

UP operated on its own tracks into Seattle, and used its own station, shared with Milwaukee Road.  Union Station, originally named Oregon-Washington Station after the UP subsidiary Oregon-Washington Rail Road and Navigation Company, is now the headquarters of Sound Transit.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/21 18:11 by GenePoon.

My father had an old wag of a friend (a chemist for the NY Central from the West Albany and then Collinwood labs) who said he always to take those pool trains to see if they had swimming or billiards onboard. 

A few years prior there was also an overnight train that carried a Seattle - Portland Pullman.  Pretty sure it was NP-operated.

Dave

DavidP Wrote:
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> A few years prior there was also an overnight
> train that carried a Seattle - Portland Pullman.
>  Pretty sure it was NP-operated.

Correct; NP trains 402-401, came off in 1962. The Pullman was still running in 1958 but I don't know if it was
still running at the last.

Charlie
 

cewherry Wrote:
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> DavidP Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > A few years prior there was also an overnight
> > train that carried a Seattle - Portland
> Pullman.
> >  Pretty sure it was NP-operated.
>
> Correct; NP trains 402-401, came off in 1962. The
> Pullman was still running in 1958 but I don't know
> if it was
> still running at the last.
>
> Charlie
>  

I rode #401 in Sept, '62.  It provided a cross platform transfer at Portland from SP #10, the Shasta Daylight.  As I recall the train had (still) multiple Pullmans.  I rode in coach...a heavyweight modernized car.....had always thought this was a GN train and I rode in a GN coach....now I wonder.  

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Interesting brochure, I like those prices.

Rode back and forth Seattle / Oakland just before Amtrak took over, still in elementary school so didn't really know what was going on. Expected the cross platform transfer at Portland from an SP train and then rode a classy dome equipped UP train into Seattle, albeit at a later time of day for some reason. Come to think of it that means I rode one passenger train from each of the major PNW roads except for Milwaukee.

agentatascadero Wrote:
-------------------------------------
> I rode #401 in Sept, '62.  It provided a cross
> platform transfer at Portland from SP #10, the
> Shasta Daylight.  As I recall the train had
> (still) multiple Pullmans.  I rode in coach...a
> heavyweight modernized car.....had always thought
> this was a GN train and I rode in a GN
> coach....now I wonder.  
>
> AA
=== === === === === ===

On the way back from Seattle we rode NP 408 to Portland for the connection to SP 12, the Cascade. On the NP train we rode a modernized heavyweight coach. Same year, 1962.

By 1960 No. 402 had been dropped, leaving northbound 401 as solely a GN operation. This was gone by Oct. '62. As for UP 457/458 being an extension of the City of Portland--this would be good to document further. That was an insane year for train ops into Seattle, with World's Fair traffic wreaking havoc and pressing "anything with wheels" into service. I know UP 457/458 ran in multiple sections at times--but did it actually carry City of Portland dome lounge, diner, and coach? I don't think so; that equipt. would have to be turned for its return trip east as No. 106 the same day, impossible if it continued to Seattle. In 1962 trains 457/458 were listed in the Official Guide of the Railways as "Domeliners," but only the old "Train of Tomorrow" Astra-Dome parlor car remained in service on that run. So what's being termed an "extension" here was actually a connection, with the usual lengthy slug of coaches run only Portland-Seattle. Still: if someone says they rode a through coach, okay--no disputing that. I wonder if UP also ran a through sleeper during the World's Fair summer. UP did continue the CoP to Seattle in 1969, with dome lounge and coach, but this only lasted that year. Love to hear more details.

Not sure what year I rode but it after 1965, we moved out of Seattle by 1969, definitely rode a dome car that was at the end of the train, more domes towards the front. The other passengers told me about the train being extended beyond Portland, the train was absolutely maxed out but don't know why ( which might indicate an excursion or charter of some sort ). It would be interesting to hear the options since the story never made any sense to me. Tried to check on the CoP schedules and any other UP trains to Seattle but there seems to be gaps in the dates. We did have some sort of trouble that had to be negotiated, what the schedules said was apprently not what actually happened.

Sounds like 1969, with the City of Portland domes running through. (Though domes weren't listed for 457/458 in the Official Guide, only coaches and cafe-lounge-cafe.) Odd, too, because of course this CoP equipment coming to Seattle one day could not get back to Portland in time for that day's No. 106, but would face an overnight layover in Portland. Sheesh, no wonder this didn't last long! But thanks for sharing your experience, sounds like a fun ride!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/21 12:06 by kurtarmbruster.

I thought I could understand a timetable, but this one stumps me on something. The fare schedule shows round-trip prices to and from Kent and Sumner, but none of the northbound trains show a stop in either town. So how did one make that trip?

Great find...a close look at the timetable shows a date of February 1, 1968.  The modern GN herald is the tip off that it is post-1967.  Also very cool to know that COP equipment ran thru to Seatlle for a short time.  BSB

I suspect because they were big mail trains, 401 and 402 were rotated on an annual basis among the NP, GN and UP under their Seattle-Portland pool agreement.  GN was the last one to have them, I believe, and discontinued 402.  401 lasted while longer.