Inaugural Run of the Amtrak Cascades

On January 11, 1999, Amtrak inaugurated the Cascades service between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, using brand-new equipment designed specifically for the route. I went to Kelso, Washington, to photograph the first train.

I believe the southbound train was operating as Train #751, with an arrival time in Kelso around 10:00 in the morning.

The train was pulled by Amtrak locomotive #467, a 3,200-horsepower F59PHI that was built in 1998 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors with final assembly by Super Steel Schenectady, Inc., of Schenectady, Pennsylvania. Amtrak purchased 21 of these locomotives, which were numbered from 450 to 470. Locomotives 466 to 470 were delivered in the green, brown and white Cascades color scheme, while the rest were delivered in silver and purple for Surfliner service in California. Aside from the colors, the two paint schemes are otherwise almost identical,

Here is the new Amtrak Cascades logo on one of the Talgo passenger cars. This logo was originally only used on the train cars and not on the locomotives.

At each stop along the route, there was a brief ceremony to commemorate the inauguration of the new train service.

The Amtrak conductor displayed a plaque that commemorated the occasion.

To smooth the transition between the tall locomotive and the low-slung Talgo train, the baggage car and the power car at each end of each train were fitted with tail fins.

There were originally four 12-car Talgo Pendular Series VI trainsets built for Cascades service, named Mt. Hood, Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Olympus. This is the Mt. Hood trainset. Each trainset consisted of a baggage car, five coaches, an accessible coach, a bistro car, a dining car, an accessible custom class car, a custom class car, and a power car.

At the end of the train, there was no locomotive or power car for the tailfins to meet up with. Note the red marker lights mounted near the top of the tailfins. The appearance of the tailfins at the end of the train led to comparisons with late 1950s automobiles, as well as the Batmobile.