The dome sleepers had four roomettes in the short end, four double bedrooms in the long end, and four single bedrooms underneath the dome. Each car had 24 unreserved seats in the dome upstairs. The Northern Pacific placed at least one flat-topped car between each dome car to give passengers the best view. In 1959 the Northern Pacific added the slumbercoach, for economy sleeping accommodations, to the train. In 1967 the observation lounge cars were discontinued, but the sleeping car passengers could still enjoy lounge atmosphere in the dome sleepers, since below the dome two of the four single bedrooms were replaced with a buffet, and 24 lounge table seats were installed on the dome level, which made Northern Pacific advertise the rebuilt dome sleepers as “Lounge in the Sky.” The scenic route went west across northern Illinois to the Mississippi River at Savanna, Illinois and then followed the Mississippi through La Crosse, Wisconsin, St. Paul, and Minneapolis in Minnesota as far as Little Falls, Minnesota. North Dakota cities served include Fargo, Bismarck, and Dickinson. Crossing Montana, the train passed through Glendive, Billings, Livingston, Bozeman, Butte, and Missoula. After passing through Sandpoint, the train made stops at Spokane, Pasco, Yakima, and East Auburn (a stop for connecting service to Tacoma) before terminating at King Street Station in Seattle. Declining ridership and continuing red ink led the train to be jointly operated with the Great Northern's "Empire Builder" between Chicago and Minneapolis. By late 1967 the combination was joined by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy's "Twin Cities Zephyr". The eastbound "North Coast Limited"/"Empire Builder" was combined with the "Morning Zephyr", while the westbound train combined with the "Afternoon Zephyr". The Burlington Northern Railroad was the March 1970 merger of NP, GN, CB&Q, and the SP&S, and the "North Coast Limited" ran combined with its former rival "Empire Builder" between Chicago and Minneapolis, between Spokane and Portland and between Spokane and Seattle. The original train ceased operation with the Amtrak takeover. The last trains left their originating stations on April 30, 1971, seventy-one years and one day after the inaugural. On June 5, 1971 service was reinstated over much of the former "North Coast Limited" route by Amtrak as the "North Coast Hiawatha". The train's name was an amalgam of "North Coast Limited" and "Olympian Hiawatha", the Milwaukee Road's former Pacific Northwest train.