Trip Report: March 14 - 25, 2002
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
CULTURAL TOUR OF THE PACIFIC COAST
EMERYVILLE TO KLAMATH FALLS
Monday, March 25, 2002.
We had asked for a wakeup call for the last call to breakfast, but we awaken early at 7:30am to blazing California sunshine at around Yuba City. The toilet is making periodic hissing sounds, and we learn that it is out of order and will not flush. We quickly find out that none of the public restrooms in our car work either. Fortunately the other two sleepers seem to be working fine. We inform the conductor and shortly afterwards hear the announcement on the PA system that passengers in the 1431 car will have to go to other cars to use the toilets. There are the usual apologies and vague promises of a mechanic boarding at either Redding or Klamath Falls. I suspect that it will not be repaired until the train reaches the Seattle yards sometime tomorrow morning, if then.
There is talk among the crew that if we continue to lose time and achieve a nine-hour delay before reaching Portland, the train would be annulled there and the passengers destined for points beyond bussed to their destinations. This appalling suggestion left some Seattle passengers with sour faces. I hated to think of what the Vancouver, BC, passengers had to look forward to.
After a short wait in the Parlour Car we are invited to breakfast and enjoy a fine omelet, even better the one I had Friday morning approaching Sacramento. When we return to our room we find our attendant has already made it up, even without being asked. We didn't want to go back to bed anyway, as this is "terra incognito" that the Starlight covers after dark in both directions if it is on schedule. Approaching Redding, California, the flat Sacramento River Valley turns hilly. The grass is green and the orchards are in riotous bloom. After a double stop at the Redding station, we roll across the high bridge over the Sacramento that was built when the Southern Pacific was realigned for the construction of Shasta Dam, and soon find ourselves climbing into the hills on this "new" line north of the Sacramento Valley. Eventually we cross Shasta Lake on the long dual-purpose bridge (highway and rail) and begin following the original line through the pine trees along the Sacramento River through Dunsmuir. We can see the impossibly sharp and snow-covered spires of Castle Crags State Park (where we have hiked in the past) towering to the west.
Springs gush out of the embankments causing the river to rise with the melting snows. This is volcanic territory, although we cannot yet see Mt. Shasta from deep down in this canyon. When the canyon becomes too narrow to sustain a roadbed, we turn right around Cantera Loop, cross the river and begin the steep southbound climb up the canyon wall. When we turn north again at the upper loop, suddenly we can see the ethereal Mt. Shasta looming over us, over 14,000 feet in elevation. The peak is shrouded in a high cloud, the slopes are solid white with snow and ice. The SP line makes a half a loop around Shasta, and it is within our view for over an hour. (Actually it comes into view again north of Klamath Falls.)
We answer the first call to lunch in the diner. This is our first lunch on the Coast Starlight coming into Klamath Falls from the south. It is the same menu that we had last week, of course, and the clam chowder is still excellent, the chicken pot pie adequate, and the Turtle Ice Cream Cake superior. We sit across from two passengers with very interesting stories.
Mr. M. is returning to Seattle from visiting his parents in Palm Springs. The Sunset Limited is scheduled out of Palm Springs (actually a small unmanned station several miles outside of Palm Springs) at 2:38am. He wisely called Amtrak reservations and was told that the Sunset was delayed and would not make the connection with the Coast Starlight, as usual, and that he would need to find alternate transportation on his own to Los Angeles. His aged parents drove him to LA in plenty of time to make the 10:00am departure of the Starlight. However, when he arrived at Union Station he was informed that the Starlight would not be leaving until 2pm. While he was waiting there with his sleepy parents, the delayed Sunset Limited arrived in plenty of time to make the connection with the now delayed departure of the Starlight. The excuse for the Starlight's late departure was that it was delayed getting into LA the night before, and it takes a long time for Amtrak yard employees to turn the train around for its northbound journey.
"Did Amtrak provide meal vouchers for lunch while you waited at Union Station?" we ask.
"No, we were on our own, but everyone bought food at the bagel shop in the station," he replied. (Some passengers may have walked a block to Olvera Street, with its many outdoor restaurants and strolling musicians.)
[For some reason this story of the lengthy turnaround reminded me of the time that VIA Rail's Canadian arrived several hours late into Vancouver on the day that we arrived there on the Rocky Mountaineer last December. As we approached Vancouver at 3:45pm, we were put into a siding as No. 1 swirled past us at high speed, over 8 hours late. By the time our train arrived into the station, workers were swarming over the VIA Rail train, getting it cleaned up and restocked for its 5:30pm departure. It left on time. (See our Rocky Mountaineer Railtours story on this same website for details.)]
Our other table mate, Miss J., had been waiting at the San Jose Station for No. 14. She had not called ahead, and waited there for five and a half hours. She had a coach ticket, but the San Jose agent graciously upgraded her to a Standard Bedroom at no charge to compensate for the inconvenient delay. Ordinarily a coach traveler on Amtrak, she was very impressed with the bedroom. When the waiter asked Miss J. if she would like dessert, she was uncertain what to order. She had an English accent and seemed totally unfamiliar with American ways. The waiter suggested the Amarillo, and she accepted. We did not know what this was, but she said it was good. Mr. M. finally figured out that it was the Amaretto cheesecake, and that an Amarillo was an animal. I replied that I thought that the animal he had in mind was probably an armadillo, and that Amarillo was a city in Texas. We all had a good laugh over that mix-up. Humor was what we needed as we were now nearly seven hours behind schedule.
Finally, at 3pm, we approach Klamath Falls, and then come to a halt one mile south of the station. Apparently we were not expected at all by the UP dispatcher, and he had let a BNSF freight onto the UP main in front of us just south of the station. I am sure that he was using best accepted railroad practices, and did not really intend to delay us further. Eventually we creep ahead and pull into the Klamath Falls station.
The baggage cart is in front of the station. We claim our bag which we had checked from Seattle several days ago, as well as the bag that we had checked last night in San Francisco. We load our truck and head for our home in the high desert.
Wrap Up: Our overall impressions of Amtrak on this trip were that things are better than we had expected from what we'd read of the cutbacks. Except for the lengthy delay and maintenance problem on the last segment of the trip, we have no serious complaints, and we were prepared for a delay as we always carry high-protein snacks, reading material, and laptop computers, "just in case".
The Coast Starlight is really run as a "cruise train" rather than as serious, point-to-point transportation. Take it from end-point to end-point, Los Angeles and Seattle, be prepared for late arrivals, and you will still have a great time.
Amtrak travel, like air travel these days, is an adventure and if you approach it that way, you won't be in for any surprises.
