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.

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

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'

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.

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.

Sounds cool. Can't wait for it

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nice job

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.

Choo-choo!

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.

Thanks!

Can’t wait!!

Yaaaaaay!!!

That's something to consider here in Japan as well. Japan Rail does NOT offer complementary services for their Green Class accommodations. No lounge either. It's not like you're paying for extra legroom either. Reserved and non-reserved seating on the bullet trains offer the same amount of legroom as Amtrak long distance. Green Cars on commuter services that offer them offer about half the legroom and is probably the only perk worth it vs. standing inside of an overpacked tuna can. All the videos on KZfaq about getting "luxurious accommodations" on the bullet trains are wastes of time. Something to consider when you come out here and experience the awesomeness that are the bullet trains. Stay in reserved class - Green cars aren't really worth it without all the perks that should come with it.

One doesn't get a lounge with a biz class ticket on Amtrak in the east. Only 1st class on the Acela or sleeper accommodation is entitled to the lounge. Also Select Plus and above members of Guest Rewards can gain access to lounges.

Absolutely thorough as usual. I have watched other reports on this train set but none were as in depth as yours. I finally feel as if I have been on one of these trains as I don't expect to be out that way for a few years when they should be replaced. Thanks!

Yay

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🙂

I’ve traveled on the Talgo 6’s. It’s a shame they weren’t able to address the saftey issues, they were great to ride on.

Even compared to airlines, Amtrak's amenities are not that good; however, these are things that can be improved.

Come to Spain 🇪🇸 bro

Can't wait

A lot of folks bitch about business class not being consistent, but do recall the fact that the majority of Amtrak riders are riding coach, and furthermore, as a tax supported public service, amtrak owes the majority of it's efforts towards improving the experience for the highest number of riders, which doesn't meant spending money on business class, it means spending money on increased service frequency and reduced delays.

8:47 i didnt know santa rides the talgos

That’s right boys buy Spanish trains

I luv train

Those Talgos are a real oddity; interiors seem to be an adaptation of the srandard interior design of the Spanish ones with some added festures. The Lounge is really nice and something built per request. The bar is really different. Actually Talgo 8 is a special designation for those Antrak sets, since the higher number type of that kind in Spain is the Talgo 7. I you didn"t got any jointed rail, because under such circumstances Talgos ride qualities are really bad. And these sets are sort of a return to the origins for Talgo since their 1st trains for comercial use were built by ACF in Berwick, PA, including specially designed locomotives. One of the 5 sets was even used as a demonstrator. Another thing in common with their Spanish brethern is the fact that such type of 'conventional' Talgo sets being a rarity. With all the High speed lines in service, there are few conventional operations, and there are lots of stored train sets. But they ioerate at much higher speeds than the Cascades services (100 to 125 Mph). Nowadaways Talgo has soecialized in High speed trainsets, some of them being for low cost ooerations with a 'Sardine can' sesting arrangement; 3+2

Seattle Amtrak's King St Station, does not need a business lounge. If you really want a lounge, walk 50 ft to the Embassy's restaurant, go over the overhead crossover to Chinatown, or a block down Jackson St to Zeitgeist Coffee.

I agree with you about the locomotive. It is weird looking

Thank you for this excellent video which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Talgo cars are very neat, and ride extremely well, it is unfortunate that the Talgo cars have been found to be less crashworthy than the earlier Amfleet 1 and Horizon cars, which led to the withdrawal of the first series. I agree the forthcoming Venture cars look fabulous, and like you can’t wait to ride them !

Talgo trains are sooooo underrated, its good seeing them being apreciated but I too have to say that Talgo's designs are a little... cuestionable 😅

These probably won’t be here for longer as they’re getting the Venture trainsets.

It’s will-AM-it, dammit!

Reminds me Tamilnadu Express

how old is this video? I though that all the Cascade Talgo had been withdraw from service a few years ago after the wreck I forgot where. I even think that there only two remaining in The US scheduled for scrapping. I traveled with Talgo between Spain & France I enjoyed the ride and especially the automatic unlocking & relocking the wheels allowing to change from standard gage (France) to wide gage (Spain) while travelling. no stop required

talgo while they can technically run with more unbalance are limited to the same 5in as all other amtrak single level cars so they've lost their speed advantage I expect these cars will get the interior refurbished after the venture sets enter service in a few years given then are 11 years old and will be 13-14 before they can be.

I'm not sure if they look worse than RENFE's 'Ducks' or not. It's a very close thing...

Great video! But what was Talgo thinking when they designed this train?

5:35 small correction. The 777x is getting developed in Everett not Renton. That’s a 737 that you saw

How “chill” is the Seattle station? I hope to go north next year on it, and “chill” is really important to me, due to a strong tendency toward sensory overload.

Rewatching the tech talk. How was the ride? Latest videos out of Europe were complaining about the ride. Granted, you're going only 80mph

Do the new Siemens Aerosets also tilt like the independent axle Talgos for higher speed curves? I miss the Sound route that had such spectacular views, but I suppose the extra 20-30 minutes saved is a trade-off most people like.

Trains and Buses are never going to compete with the car unless travel time is severely reduced. Over 3hrs for a journey of 174m is too slow, when driving takes 2h 40m. Also the frequency should be hourly and from Vancouver to Portland. Thier is talk of HSR in the cascades and these new trains from Amtrak should fit in with that aim. 100mph should be the target speed.

Also - You should not open the doors on the trainsets. They have permabanned passengers for operating the doors.

Does the tradtional locomotive at the rear of the train not impact the tilting function at all? I would imagine a large non-tilting loco like that might add a series of problems that the Talgo sets were designed to mitigate.

Hispania 220 BC.

The front end is ugly but the old bar cars had the most amazing and stylish interiors !

Disappointed by one omission: After describing the tilting feature in the intro, you had nothing to say about actually experiencing it? Did you feel it? Did you try to lean into it anyway, just for grins? Or was it So Darn Smooth that you didn't actually notice /anything/ about a high-speed corner?

There's a "trail" in Centralia, not a "trall". Cordially, a fourth-generation Western Washingtonian.

What is your next video gonna be about

So it still needs a genesis locomotive for power? I thought it was an independent trainset.

All these train sets were retired months ago. They've been using horizons since then.

No food shops in a busy station like King Street or is it really that busy?

54 dollars seems like a cheep business class ticket

will you ever do a face reveal

While the cars look nice, the cab car looks ugly to me. (According to Amtrak Guy 365 which I totally agree with.) It looks like the designers didn't know if they were designing a car or a truck only to realize last minute they were designing a train.

I saw Santa Claus in one of the cars.

no mistaking that Asiatic Corporate-speak...what m u s t they be t'inking..........

Great Video. Really. Really Ugly engine 😒

You dont know how a spanish talgo is😒😒

Those sets deserve an overhaul