May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 by Willem

Thursday/ to Portland by train

Amtrak cascades — Here is the Amtrak Cascades route down to Portland. It takes 3 hrs 40 mins.

IMG_3547 sm — Approaching the Tacoma Narrows bridge – two bridges actually : the old one and the new one right next to each other. The old one dates from 1950 and the new one opened in 2007. The original bridge from 1940 collapsed when winds amplified the natural frequency of the bridge movement. We were shown a clip of this when I was an engineering student in the 1980s !

IMG_7644 sm — This is just a beautiful brick-red truss bridge right at Portland Station after our arrival.

IMG_7647 sm — Our train was the Mt. Jefferson. The train is still south-bound and the passengers for Eugene, Oregon are already boarding.

IMG_7658 sm — And here is Portland Station. Our hotel is walking distance from the station, so we did not even need to get a cab.

Five of us are making a long weekend of it a going to Portland by train, and stay in a hotel in downtown Portland and walk around and just relax. The Amtrak Cascades train gets one there in just under 4 hours. Yes, one can drive down in slightly less time, but the train is relaxing and there is no traffic to deal with.

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