Archive for the 'trip reports' Category

On the radio yesterday morning a welder recieved track and time to do a weld north of Stanford. As typical he asked the dispatcher how much time he’d have. The DS told him “oh, until 17:00″. That pretty much sums up the trains that passed through town during the day!

Around 19:00 things started hopping. First a northbound from Laurel rolled through. In this first photo I captured it just south of Stanford as the herd was ‘moooving’ back to the feeding area.

Moooving. The M-LAUSWE crosses Skull Creek south of Stanford.

At 19:20 a southbound arrived and picked up 3 ballast cars that were then going to be set out 7 miles away. Needless to say the crew wasn’t too happy. I choose to chase the northbound because the lighting would be more appropriate. I shot it several times north of Stanford including at the west portal of the Wayne tunnel.

Exiting the Wayne Tunnel, the M-LAUSWE is just a few minutes from Great Falls.

Over the past two days my family and I have trekked east from Vancouver to my mother-in-law’s home in Stanford, MT. What do Stanford and trains have in common? BNSF’s Laurel subdivision. The Laurel sub is the is ex-GN line that runs roughly northwest from Laurel, MT (Mossmain for the NP fans) to Great Falls. The Great Falls sub then continues north to Shelby and the Hi-Line. The area around here is on the down slope of the Rockies and is primarily rolling hills covered with grass. The railroad climbs in and out of various rivers canyons, crosses many trestles, and includes 5 tunnels!

On our arrival here today I heard the BNSF 7923 get a track warrant from Great Falls to the south switch Judith Gap. Doing some estimating I figured the M-GRFLAU into Stanford around 6pm. After eating I dashed out to the grain elevators north of town and caught the train in mixed light.

Stanford Elevator

I drove south towards Hobson partially to scout and partially to get out from under a thunderstorm forming west of Stanford. In this photo the train is descending from Moccasin (junction with the Central Montana) to the crossing of the Judith River at Hobson.

Hobson

On my return to Stanford the Montana Branch dispatcher passed on a tornado watch to the train from MP 95 to MP 45. It certainly turned into quite the storm.

Severe Storm

Look for more from Stanford throughout the week….

With all the excitement around the double header and the UP 844 it has taken me a while to get to work on my GorgeRail 2007 photos. Tonight I finally finished cataloging them and I thought I’d post a few here and and on railroadforums.

I travelled with Aaron the whole weekend and he had the idea of photographing east of Maryhill since we rarely venture that far east on our day trips. We landed at Bates which proved to be quite an interesting location with opportunities for eastbound and westbound photos. Being mid day and quite overcast, the lighting was uninspiring so I decided to try something a bit different and I set up to photograph a nasty smelling garbage train with something that smells much better.

Spring in the Gorge

On Sunday GorgeRail again held a roundhouse tour at Brooklyn. As usual, the tour was wonderful and the PRPA folks who hosted us did a great job. As we wandered around I caught Aaron admiring Doyle’s handy work on the 190.

NKP 190

I continued to chase the UP 884 east of Portland. The weather on Wednesday was on the dull side due to a high overcast that moved in. With the overcast in place everything from the sky to the dirt appeared in the same dull gray-brown color. I wasn’t impressed enough with the results to take the time to edit the images to post.

Thursday’s weather was much better and when I left my hotel in Hermiston the sun was shining in my eyes! After a couple of photos of the passenger special running about an hour ahead of the 844 I photographed the 844 at Nolin. It was sure a nice touch that the UP assigned the UP 8444 as a helper diesel. What a better combo? I then moved up to a gentle curve between Homly and Milam. East of this location the 844 would enter the Meacham Creek canyon and would be inaccessible to the general public for the hour of transit time between Gibbon and Meacham.

Gliding around a curve between Homly and Milam

The special ran around a freight at Ross and met a westbound at Motanic. The dozen or so railfans chasing were all gathered there so I moved on to my next planned photo between Hilgard and Perry. This turned out to be a perfect location to catch the specials short train.

UP 844 leads its tidy little train around a curve between Hilgard and Perry

For a parting shot of the 844 steam special I’ll end with a going away photo as the train works upgrade between Ross and Kamela. Thanks to this being a quiet (no freeway) location I could hear the engine barking upgrade for nearly 10 minutes. Since she was working hard Jack Wheelihan was forcing the fire and making lots of smoke. Even 5 minutes after the train passed the smell of an oil burning steam engine lingered in the air. Barking exhaust, smoke, and echos off the mountains, you can’t beat it!

Steam and Smoke at Kamela

The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind as I have helped Aaron put the finishing touches on GorgeRail and I chased steam across Washington and Oregon.  To top that off I write this on the eve of another 3 day chase as I follow the double header south from Tacoma and the 844 east to LaGrande.  Two steam trips in 3 weeks plus a railfan photography presentation, what a blast!

As with most things railroad certain aspects just never run on time.  The UP 844 was scheduled to leave The Dalles at 8am.  They opened the switch onto main 2 around 7:40.  After putting their train together and performing an appropriate air test, they pulled down to Crates arriving at 8:25.  At 8:20 the sun went behind a cloud and stayed there even as the 844 headed west around 9:30 after waiting for an eastbound.

The farther west I travelled I could see the weather was not going to improve.  By 5:30pm when the doubleheader passed through Stielacoom it was quite dark.  Check out the fans hanging out of the train.  At this point I chose not to fight the railfan mobs in Tacoma and headed home.

 

Last weekend, the UP 844 headed west from The Dalles, Oregon to Portland, where the SP 4449 joined the excursion to head north to Tacoma. I shot the train at several locations; here are a few photos.

UP 844 broadside at Rowena

844 with a yellow train and yellow scotch broom just east of Cascade Locks

UP 844 and a bunch of steam at Dodson

Leaving Vancouver, the train passes under Fruit Valley Road

Through the S curve at Steilacoom

At Mosier. No further explanation needed

As Aaron indicated in his post several of us ventured into the Gorge last weekend.  The weather was pretty typical March weather up here, though we did have a bit of sun once we ventured east of Bingen.  With an approaching storm though the sun was short lived.  The good part of this was we tried a few new photo locations that I hadn’t visited before.

 

 

 

I’m planning a trip to the desert southwest later this year and I couldn’t help but browse through my photos from my 2004 trip there.  Within 10 minutes of the first photo, four trains passed this location at Fenner.  MOW had main 2 tied up, so the eastbound had to wait while three westbounds (two in the second photo) rolled past, oblivious to the work.  What an amazing operation the transcon is!  I’m looking forward to visiting again and enjoying the nice warm weather.

 

On Sunday when I headed out to photograph the Crossett Western #10 the weather seemed OK.  It was cloudy and overcast with occasional drizzle…honestly normal weather for February in western Washington.  Yacolt and Chelatchie are in the foothills of the Cascade mountains and as such tend to receive a bit more rain than Vancouver itself.  I’m sure everyone can guess where this is going.  Yep, the weather up in the hills was not as nice as it was here.  The funny part is the rain always seemed to come down about the time the train showed up.  As the train made its way north at the end of the day a pretty heavy shower started as it approached East Amboy.  Fortunately for me a nearby Douglas Fir provided me some shelter while I snapped away. 

Just another February day in the Northwest where if you don’t shoot photos in the rain, you don’t shoot photos!

Fog in January in Washington?  Impossible.  OK, setting the obvious aside I’ve been on the lookout for a nice fog photo for some time and Sunday mother nature, BNSF, and Amtrak lined up all the pieces….all I had to do was point the camera and open the shutter.  Actually it was a little harder than that, but you get the idea.

Last weekend I spent a few days on Stevens Pass with some friends hangin’ out in the snow.  You can see some of my photos as well as some from my companions on railroadforums.  Before you go there, here’s some ‘Tracks in the Snow’ at the east portal of the Cascade tunnel.

 

 

Between errands today I ran up north of town to Yacolt, WA to shot some photos of the ‘Return of Steam’ excursion put on by the Battle Ground, Yacolt & Chelatchie Prairie (BYCX) using Crossett Western Co. #10 on Portland & Vancouver Jct. Railway tracks. Never heard of the #10? I found some nice history and discussions of the 10 and its restoration by doing some Google work. If you’ve ever been to Mt. Rainier Scenic and watched the Hammond Lumber Co. #17, this engine will look familiar because they are sisters. Just like the 17, 10 has a nice sounding exhaust and a sweet whistle. She was definitely fun to photograph and listen to!

Today their operating plan had them backing out of the BYCX depot in Yacolt, through the Moulton Falls station and tunnel, across the Lewis River and up to the station sign at Lucia. 10 was on the north end of an open air car, a coach, and a caboose where the rear brakeman took up residence for the reverse move. I applaud their choice of plans as this is the most scenic portion of this line and provides the paying passengers the best view of the line’s features.

Crossett Western Co. 10 pulls its excursion train north across the Lewis River between Moulton Falls and Lucia.

I hope more excursions can be run with the 10, especially in the summer when more people would be interesting in riding in an open air car (though plenty did anyway). Its a good sounding engine and if it is as powerful as 17, it would be a good puller on the reasonable grades on this line.

Every now and then a vacation away from home, the weather, the kids, hobbies, and everyday things is needed.  My wife and I just finished an 8 day eastern Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas.  Along the way we stopped at several popular eastern Caribbean ports including San Juan, Puerto Rico where I stumbled across a touch of railroad history.  After Columbus discovered many of the islands of the Caribbean, the Spaniards, French, Dutch, and others established sugar cane plantations.  What’s the best way to move the cane to port and factories?  By rail of course!

Today though the transportation infrastructure (err, roads) on most islands is pretty good so the use of rail over such a short distance isn’t practical.  The railroad on Puerto Rico ceased operation in 1957, but thanks to the fine people at Bacardi a small bit of it is preserved.

After shooting this photo of railroad remnants we were whisked away to have our two free rum drinks.  Nothing like rum and trains!  That was it for the railroad content on the cruise, in fact the rest of the trip looked quite similar to this photo from the beach at Phillipsburg, St. Maarten.

The 962′ long, 13 deck, 90,000 gross tons Radiance of the Seas is docked at one of the three cruise ship docks in old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

And now back to your Northwest winter already in progress….

Last weekend I was up on Pengra Pass on the ex-SP Cascade Crossing in Southern Oregon. We worked east from Oakridge and ended up as far south as Grass Lake, California. I’d heard rumors they run trains on the line but you sure wouldn’t think much of it based on what we saw. Only one southbound in daylight on Saturday, and only one train at all in daylight on Sunday. Despite the shitty train volume, I managed to get a few decent foamy photos:

Sunrise at Oakridge with a passing auto rack train

Amtrak 14 near Chiloquin

Clean GEVOs and decent lighting at Chiloquin

Further south at McDoel

Passing the old water tower at Grass Lake

Light trails remain after the departure of Amtrak 11 from Chemult

Amtrak 14 in a snowstorm at Mowich

Crossing a bridge at Westfir

I have some other photos that I intend to post as standalones, with more commentary or observations over the next few weeks. In addition, some non-train photos from the trip will end up on my Flickr stream in the next day or so.

As I’ve been scanning and cataloging my older photos I ran across the first railroad photos I took with the Canon AE-1 Program I received for Christmas 1987.  Are these photos anything special?  At first glance not really, they are just wedgies of BN trains in the snow and gray skies.  Going back to my comments in Historic Preservation I can say I’m very happy I did snap these relatively mundane photos.

The first photo of the east siding switch Cunningham (WA) depicts an approach signal to west Cunningham.  Big deal right?  On December 30, 1987 this former Northern Pacific line is into its first few months of being operated bi-directionally with CTC.  During 1986 and 1987 the BN worked on a project that would end with the two lines between Spokane and Pasco narrowed to one.  For reasons that aren’t entirely clear they chose to demote the former Spokane Portland & Seattle line and improve the former NP. The improvements to the NP line involved creating 8000+ foot sidings, replacing ABS with CTC, replacing 1920’s era bridges, and installing concrete ties.  Cunningham was one of the new sidings guarded by CTC.  

All was not well with the new operating plan though.  Just two weeks before this photo was taken, the Lakeside sub had plugged up with trains.  In fact one night while I was studying at WSU and listing to the scanner I heard the Wishram East dispatcher talking to Amtrak 27 as it entered the Lakeside near Cheney.  He told them that they’d have clear blocks all the way to Pasco because he’d already filled all the sidings with trains and wasn’t taking any more from Pasco.  At the time I remember not being all that impressed with all the ‘improvements’ that resulted in a plugged railroad.  I guess the BN noticed too because by the early 90s construction was underway to add a second track over Providence hill (connecting the Cunningham and Sand sidings) and adding several new sidings.  

I’m happy I have these photos of a meet between BN train 1 (now known as the Z-CHCPTL) and an empty grain train because the addition of the second track 6 years after my photo eliminated any chance of regular meets at this location.  I caught a short lived piece of history with my first photos.

Approach!

BN Train #1 passes the elevators at Cunningham

Meet at east Cunningham

An empty grain train departs east Cunningham

This morning was a busy one at Vancouver.  The Vancouver Terminal DS (RWN, aka nomosantafe) efficiently moved 10 trains and two light power moves through Vancouver Center in 2 hours.  I have to admit this was one of the smoothest busy periods I’ve ever witnessed there because for a change no tempers flared and all the trains arrived without crews dieing!  RWN had ‘em on the move timing several of the meets at the Columbia Draw almost perfectly.  Amtrak train 500 was on time and 501 was about 10 minutes late due to delays up north.  Of course the Columbia Draw had to have 3 openings of its own which tagged 501 for about a 3 minute delay.

The conductor on Amtrak train 501 stays out of the rain while he watches the Columbia Draw close.

 

 

I wrapped up my big trip in September with a couple of short days on the Moffat Route west of Denver. I had about six hours each day for railfanning. The slower pace of trains here was a big change… I was used to seeing 3-4 trains an hour in the Powder River Basin and on Crawford Hill; on the Moffat line I saw three trains on the first day and five on the second. Here’s a few selections from those two days:

Trees are starting to change colors as the California Zephyr rounds the curve over Highway 72

A loaded coal train snakes around Big 10 curve

The classic Moffat Route shot of a train approaching Blue Mountain Road

Near Tolland, there’s snow on the ground as a westbound manifest crosses a creek

Here are a few photos from my day spent at the Ponderosa Ranch along the BNSF mainline between Edgemont, SD and Alliance, NE.  The owners of the ranch, Jeff and Kim Lund, moved there a couple years ago and discovered they can supplement thier income by charging railfans for access to their private property surrounding a horseshoe curve.  This is a line of long, slow coal trains using manned helpers.  I shot over 100 frames in my day at the ranch; here are a few selections:

For previous photos from this trip, go here (Amtrak), here (Powder River part 1), or here (Powder River part 2).  The last set of photos, from the Moffat Route, should be posted later this week.

For the preceding part of this trip, see this post.

After a couple hour layover in Sacramento, announcements were made for passengers for the eastbound California Zephyr to move trackside and be ready to board. The train was running on time so I made my way to the platform. Unlike when I boarded the Coast Starlight, I wasn’t the lone sleeper passenger and was amongst a group of probably 10 folks. A few minutes after 11:00, the train pulled into the depot:

I was greeted by my sleeper attendant Curtis as he stepped off the train. He gave me directions to my room and told me to head on up, letting me know there was fresh coffee available at the top of the stairs. I had roomette 7 in car 0632, which was #32076. Like on the Coast Starlight, this was one of the cars which had been recently refurbished at Beech Grove so it was clean and functional. Curtis had prepared a very nice arrangement in the room, with two bottles of water, a timetable, route guide, and postcard. The pillows and hangers were setup neatly, and he had used a spare pillowcase as a table linen. Along with the items mentioned were a couple individually wrapped hard candies.

We began our trip east, and just out of the Sacramento depot, two volunteers from the California State Railroad Museum (Art and Frank) introduced themselves. They would be providing some narration over the PA system about the railroad route east over Donner Pass to Reno. First we passed a newer railroad sight: a light rail yard.

I went to the diner for an early lunch so that hopefully I’d be finished for some of the mountain scenery. They filled the entire diner with passengers, which is far more folks than the limited wait staff can handle, so it took a long time, probably 20 minutes, before the server even came by to take our order. I had the supreme pizza which came with a salad. The pizza was surprisingly good, with a nice crush and decent toppings. I had a seat on the right side of the train as we climbed out of Colfax into the mountains.

It wouldn’t be an Amtrak trip without getting screwed by the UP, so the dispatcher lined us up the mountain following a heavy manifest that could only make 14mph going up the grade. We ran on his yellow blocks all the way to Soda Springs which delayed us nearly an hour. East of Truckee we met our westbound counterpart, train #5, as we went through the Truckee River Canyon. The dining car steward came through and I got a dinner reservation for 18:00. Unlike every other Amtrak train I’ve been on, I wasn’t given a reservation slip, but simply told to just come to the diner when she calls the 18:00 reservations. As we made our way east, the conductor announced NFL score updates for the sports fans.

We were in Reno from 16:20-16:34, where I got a breath of fresh air in the new railroad trench. I appreciated my refurbished sleeper car even more after overhearing the departing conductor telling the new one that none of the toilets in the crew sleeper were operational. As I listened to the radio chatter, I heard the dispatcher talking to the UP 8444 which made me do a double-take until I realized it was just and SD70ACe and not a steam engine.

We got out of Reno and made our way east across the Nevada desert. Most of this trackage is normally good for 79mph but numerous slow orders kept us at a relatively slow pace. In case you were wondering what you can see in the Nevada desert, the answer is: not much of anything.

The 18:00 dinner reservations were called at 18:15 and I went to the diner. Unfortunately this train was using the exact same menu as the Coast Starlight so I didn’t have any new options to choose from. I looked over the selections and again had the lamb shank since it’s a food I enjoy but don’t get very often. I had mashed potatoes and carrots as my side dishes. My dinner companions were a middle-aged woman and her mother who were traveling to Aspen to visit her daughter. They live near Chico and rode an Amtrak bus to Sacramento to catch the train so they wouldn’t have get up for the early time the Coast Starlight is scheduled for its Chico stop.

I went back to my room and enjoyed the desert sunset. I noticed the radio was entirely too quiet and figured that my radio information must have been out of date. The conductor walked by a few minutes later so I asked him what radio channel they were on and he told me 78 which was a different channel than I had been scanning. Curtis made an announcement that it was “last call” for coffee before he would be turning the pot off for the night. It’s nice that he took the effort to keep a fresh pot of coffee available throughout the day rather than just first thing in the morning as some attendants will do. Our next station stop was Winnemucca, which had a tiny platform so we would be making two stops: first to change the head-end crew, and then a second stop where one coach door would be opened for those who wanted to detrain for a smoke or some fresh air.

We departed Winnemucca just before 21:00 and as I was walking back to my compartment they announced they’d be starting the movie “RV” in the lounge car. I decided to pass on the movie and use this as an opportunity for a shower. I let Curtis know he could turn down my bed while I was gone and he handed me something… he said “Here’s a couple good night kisses… don’t try to read anything into this.” I looked down and he’d given me a couple Hershey’s kisses and I chuckled. Little gestures like this are simple things that cost a few dollars out of his pocket but show that he’s going above and beyond, and seems to genuinely care about the passengers in his car.

I returned from my shower and studied some timetables and maps for my coming days of railfanning before falling asleep as we continued toward Utah. I woke up once during the night and saw the Great Salt Lake out my window.

I woke up around 07:15 as we were somewhere south of Salt Lake City. I went to the diner and had the Bob Evans Breakfast Scramble which is a mixture of eggs, potatoes, cheese and sausage. It comes with a half order of french toast and a fruit bowl and proved to be pretty good. We were slowly creeping our way towards Provo as I shared my table with a rather un-talkative young man traveling in coach to Atlanta. The area between Salt Lake City and Provo looked like typical urban sprawl with a Mormon twist: at one point I counted three Mormon churches within a quarter mile. We finally made a brief stop in Provo at 08:25, putting us about three and a half hours behind schedule.

Outside Provo a detector said the outside temperature was a mere 30 degrees. Our journey was taking us towards Soldier Summit, paralleling US Highway 6.

Our train went through the Gilluly Loops, a set of switchbacks helping us to gain elevation as we climbed. In the photo below, we originally started on the track on the opposite ledge, then made a turn and was on the track in the immediate foreground. Another 180 degree turn has us heading east again.

We crested Soldier Summit around 09:45 and then picked up speed as we descended the eastern side of the pass. As I took in the scenery I also skimmed through the complimentary copy of USA Today that was provided to sleeper passengers, reading an article about Howie Mandel and how he sometimes wants to strangle the contestants on Deal or No Deal for taking ridiculous risks. Boy, there sure is a lot of scenery out here:

As we got closer to Helper we passed Castle Gate, named for the peculiar rock formation. The rockwork looks better when shot from the west, but the lighting dictated a photograph from the east (please excuse the bit of door frame in the photo):

After shooting Castle Gate, I remembered to set the clock on my camera ahead one hour for the time change we’d encountered crossing from Nevada into Utah. We made a five-minute stop at Helper and as we passed the yard I noted the one remaining locomotive with DRGW reporting marks, the DRGW 5371. As we continued our trip east, near Mounds I noticed a few mountain goats on the rocky slopes.

As we passed through (and stopped in) Green River, Utah I noticed that the Green River isn’t. It’s brown. I went to the diner for lunch around 12:15 and again had the Angus Burger along with a woman who was traveling home to Flint, Michigan after visiting some family in Carson City. Since she lived in Flint we discussed the declining economy and the automotive industry… her husband works for GM. We passed into Colorado, continuing to see some great scenery out the large windows of the train:

We ran around a rail gang near Fruita and eventually made our way into the town of Grand Junction. As we passed a Krispy Kreme and a Best Buy I realized that this must be a real city Grand Junction has a depot which was probably beautiful at some point, and now it’s in a state where it looks like someone thought about restoring it, but ran out of money. As I made my way back to my seat after our stop, I noticed Curtis was discussing some riddles with some passengers. Listening to my scanner, it sounds like we’re going to meet #5 and hand something between the trains. Food? Linens? Nope. Apparently a passenger on our train left her jacket on while deboarding in Salt Lake, so we’re handing it to #5 to return it to her. We only encountered a couple minutes delay for the meet (at Rifle).

We stopped in Glenwood Springs from 15:40-15:48. East of town I enjoyed the scenery through Glenwood Canyon, nothing the number of bridges and tunnels that were used to finally punch I-70 through the canyon as one of the great engineering feats of the Interstate Highway System. The steward came through the train and I got an early dinner reservation for 17:15. East of Dotsero I took a brief nap in my roomette since it was shaping up to be a late night (we were still running about three hours behind schedule).

Instead of having the lamb for a third night in a row, I had the roasted chicken which was a bit dry but otherwise tasted good,along with broccoli and mashed potatoes. I had the Mississippi Mud Cake for dessert which was probably a mistake since I ended up too full. Our train was traveling east through Gore Canyon, and at Milepost 90.3 we ran into an interesting detector… it announced (with distinctive tones and a message) four times that our eastbound train was approaching 20mph trackage. I wonder how many trains derailed before the detector was installed at this sharp left-hand curve? I noted several elk off to the left side of our train west of Granby.

We stopped in Granby for a minute at 18:58, then passed a llama farm as we left town. We lost daylight quickly in the canyon between Granby and Fraser. Fraser was another quick stop at 19:23. I noted that every vehicle I saw in Fraser was four-wheel drive, a testament to the snowfall and wintery conditions this area gets for much of the year. As we were leaving town, an announcement was made that as we passed through the Moffat Tunnel, folks should not move between cars because opening the doors could introduce diesel exhaust fumes into the train. We were in the tunnel from 19:35-19:46.

On the east side it was much darker and I really couldn’t see much of anything outside the train. This was a bit disappointing since I’d be railfanning here in a few days and had hoped to do some scouting from the train if we’d been near on-time (scheduled into Denver just around 19:00).  Radio chatter indicated we were going to get stopped at Crescent for about 30 minutes due to a track gang ahead which hadn’t yet cleared.

We pulled down to Plain, where I got my first view of the lights of Denver.  We stopped around 20:30, and about 10 minutes later slowly crept down so we were sitting west of Clay.  Sitting there I could see numerous pieces of equipment on the tracks near the Big 10 curve… there were probably 20-25 different trucks down there.  From radio traffic and announcements made by the conductors, we found out we’d be stopped for a while.  According to the track foreman they would be clear by 22:00, and around 21:40 they started moving equipment.  We didn’t actually start moving until 22:33, and it was about 11:40 by the time we came to a stop after the very slow backup move into the depot in Denver.  I tipped Curtis and made my way through the tunnel into the station.
Our lateness managed to mess up my transportation plans (the last bus runs at 11:25) so I had to take a taxi to the airport to pick up my rental car.

Photos from the subsequent railfanning will follow…

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)