Big Trip Report, Part I: Coast Starlight VAN-SAC

by Aaron Hockley

My big railfan trip for this year began by boarding Amtrak’s southbound Coast Starlight, Train #11, in Vancouver, WA on Saturday, September 16th. The train was scheduled to arrive into Vancouver shortly after 13:00, but since it was Amtrak, it was delayed in Seattle due to some last-minute maintenance and arrived almost an hour late to pick me up.

Service started out on a very positive note. While I was waiting for the train, one of the station agents (Caron) tracked me down to let me know that as the lone sleeping car passenger that I would board at a different part of the train than everyone else. As the train pulled into the station I noted that it had a Parlour car which would enhance my journey (not all of the Coast Starlight trainsets have a Parlour car due to Amtrak’s inability to maintain the fleet).

I boarded car 1130 and made my way to Roomette 9 on the upper level. As I put away my bags my attendant asked if I wanted lunch. I figured they’d be done serving by now but he told me they were expecting me. As the train departed the station and crossed the Columbia River, I walked to the diner and found myself the lone passenger in the car. I was quickly seated and ordered the Angus Beef Burger based on several positive recommendations I’d read on the web. I wasn’t disappointed… the burger was thick, made of real beef without fillers, and had great flavor. While I dined alone, the dining car staff discussed last night’s adventures in Seattle and speculated about where one of the servers had spent the night and why he wasn’t fully rested in the morning

Once I finished lunch I walked back to my room as we were arriving in Portland. The room was setup simply with two bottles of water. I noticed there was a timetable, route guide, and two Amtrak postcards. We departed Portland at 15:12 and I made my way to the Parlour Car for the wine tasting which is complimentary to first class (sleeping car) passengers on the Coast Starlight. We sampled three white wines and I enjoyed a nice conversation with a couple who were returning to their home in Santa Barbara after visiting family in the Portland area. Our Parlour car attendant Mahdee announced that he was doing double duty and also covering in the diner since the train was short one crew member. He was polite, cheerful, and always ready to serve. I suppose being a Parlour attendant is one of the better jobs on the train, but it’s always nice to see someone enjoying their job and providing good service.

The good service theme did not extend to my sleeper attendant. I returned to my room after the wine tasting, but he never came by to introduce himself or explain any of the features of the car. I’d been in a roomette several times before so I knew how things worked, but if someone was a first-time rider they would have been lost. Dinner on the Coast Starlight is by reservation, and I got one for 18:45.

Chris Guenzler, who has ridden over 950,000 miles on passenger trains, says his number one tip for train riders is that “Every trip is an adventure.” With that in mind, we came to a stop in the siding at Clackamas. After sitting for a few minutes, the conductor announced we were being held due to a boulder which had fallen onto the tracks ahead at Oregon City. We encountered about an hour and fifteen minutes of delay due to the boulder before continuing south.

As I listened to my scanner in my room, I realized I’d forgotten my Altamont Press Northwest Region timetable, but fortunately I had one of Freadman’s Fog Charts which told me everything I needed to know about the territory. I took in my surroundings and noticed I was in Superliner sleeper #32088 which had been refurbished at Beech Grove to feature new blue upholstery. Using the restroom, I noted that the faucent seems to have been calmed down during the rehab. The Superliner bathroom faucets are generally known for shooting water out so fast that you manage to wet your pants as you attempt to wash your hands… this one was much calmer.

The lower level of the Pacific Parlour Cars feature a theater; around 17:15 Mahdee announced he was starting “RV” for anyone who wanted to watch. I hung out in my room while we made a 5-minute station stop, departing Salem at 17:40. There was a brief moment of humor as I overheard the conductor say that he worked for Enron before he hired on with the UP. I wonder if that was a good thing or bad thing?

We departed Albany at 18:12 and made our way south. Dinner reservations were running close to on time and I was in the diner while we got held just north of the Eugene depot due to signal problems for about 20 minutes. For dinner I had the Lamb Shank which was excellent. The meat literally fell off the bone and the flavor was very tasty. Dessert was a piece of Mississippi Mud cake. While eating we made an abbreviated Eugene stop from 19:37 until 19:46.

After dinner I played three games of cribbage in the Parlour car with an older gentleman also traveling to Sacramento. I play cribbage occasionally and wouldn’t consider myself a pro by any means. This man plays daily with several of his retired friends and is a card-holding member of the American Cribbage Congress. I beat him all three games. As I made my way to my roomette, I noted we were running a little over two hours behind schedule, and asked my attendant for an 0615 wake up. Laying in bed on the east slope of the Cascades I watched the stars outside my window as we raced south. We made it to Chemult around 22:45. I then fell asleep, waking up only once during the night which happened to be wherever we met the northbound Coast Starlight #14. I didn’t note the time.

I woke up on my own as we stopped for a freight meet and I noticed it was daylight. Looking at my watch I saw it was past my wake up time and was getting close to 06:30. Yet another missed service opportunity for my attendant. I got dressed and as I was putting things in order the conductor walked by. I asked about our location and was told we’d be in Chico in about 20 minutes.

I went to the Parlour car and found several folks gathered since the diner hadn’t yet opened. I enjoyed some juice and a muffin while watching the agricultural scenery drift by. Soon we were invited to the diner, where I ate breakfast with a couple heading home to San Francisco and a man from Seattle who works in a shop that produces barcodes on labels for various products. After a good breakfast of quiche, hash browns, and turkey sausage I returned to my (now made-up) room for the remainder of the journey to Sacramento.

About 07:45 the conductor made an announcement about our progress. We had an ETA to Sacramento of 09:10, and he reminded all connecting passengers for the California Zephyr to detrain in Sacramento. Because we were running late, folks who had connections to the earlier San Joaquin train could detrain and wait for the next one. We stayed fairly true to the estimated schedule and arrived into Sacramento just after 09:00. As I detrained, I chose not to tip my attendant. He failed to introduce himself, failed to explain any of the car features, and failed to wake me up. I will tip well for good service, but I won’t tip for a failure to do one’s job.

SP logo on a wooden bench in the depot

I made my way into the large waiting room of the former SP depot in Sacramento and had a couple hours to kill before my connecting train, the eastbound California Zephyr, would arrive.
(to be continued in a later post)

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 at 8:27 pm and is filed under trip reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.