Trip Report: June7, 2000
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
A Rare Mileage Day on the
American Orient Express
Monday June 7, 2000.
One of many unusual features of the American Orient Express is that the train occasionally travels on routes that haven't seen passenger service for many years, giving the rail enthusiast the chance to enjoy rare scenery, and perhaps to fill in a mileage map recording routes traveled.
Here is the story of one day on the elegant train's Pacific Coastal Explorer route between Los Angeles and Seattle, a tour of seven day's duration with stops for sightseeing..
After a morning tour of the California State Railway Museum in Sacramento, passengers reboarded the AOE. Pulled by two mighty Genesis engines provided by Amtrak, the train headed northeast towards the legendary Feather River Canyon over what are now Union Pacific freight tracks. This scenic route is now usually reserved for viewing only by locomotive crews, but today the AOE wound through this little-known segment of the Golden State while high tea was being served to its fortunate guests. When the train reached the much-photographed Keddie Wye Bridge, it headed north on the BNSF route over the Inside Gateway, or Bieber Line.
Although the California grasslands are usually turning brown by this time, heavy rains this spring have kept the hills and meadows a verdant green. We head for the round end observation car, New York, formerly the Sandy Creek, which carried the markers for the 1948 Twentieth Century Limited. In the two other lounge cars, passengers are talking, reading, playing board games, or listening to the onboard entertainers playing familiar tunes on the grand piano. We suspect that most of the passengers are not railfans; however, we see a few pacers and photographers bedside the tracks who are recording our progress. This dark blue and cream-colored train will surely photograph well.
Another note about our fellow passengers - who have paid between $3,000 and $5,000 apiece to buy a ticket on this journey - they are dressed in a surprisingly casual manner, with shorts and Dockers in evidence throughout. While this may seem incongruous aboard a train with inlaid wood paneling, plush carpets, rich upholstery, elegant floral arrangements, and an onboard crew dressed in formal, tuxedo-like uniforms, it is apparently the favored mode of dress for contemporary wealthy Americans on vacation.
The train crew are clean-cut, with a freshly-scrubbed and enthusiastic demeanor. They are low-key, polite, and friendly without being too familiar.
Soon we are skirting the shores of Lake Almanor, with a glimpse or two of snowy Mt. Lassen to the west. This is the Mount Lassen National Forest, a wilderness of Ponderosa and Juniper trees, with no sights of human enroachment. We gaze at meadows and lakes and white pelicans as we roll along.
The New York sports a round sofa in the raise area at the rear, giving passengers a chance to look outward through the surrounding extra height windows. In the center of the car is a bar with single-malt Scotch and other upscale offerings. Lounge chairs and a few booths complete the dÈcor. The carpet is dark blue with a white pattern. Everything inside this train looks even better in reality than it does in the brochure.
And now comes the high point of the journey. After the other passengers finish consuming their pre-dinner cocktails, served this evening with bowls of salted nuts and quail's eggs, they all depart for the early dinner sitting at 6:30 PM. Even the bartender decamps; leaving Ted, our friend Ann, and me to finish our Glenlivits in solitary splendor as we roll past the juniper and ponderosa -covered landscape with nary a shopping mall or freeway to spoil the enthralling wilderness outside.
We have the illusion that this private railcar is ours alone. To this unforgettable moment, we raise our glasses in a toast as we gaze out at the meadows, brooks, and distant snow-streaked, mountains.
Eventually, hunger brings us back to reality and we head for one of the two dining cars, which is elegantly fitted out with burgundy-colored tablecloths and napkins, crystal wine glasses, and flowers. Wine is complimentary as is of course the five course dinner, but the portions are moderate so that you don't feel too full for dessert.
After the sweet-potato soup, I enjoyed a green salad with pecans and brown sugar. There were five entree selections (one of them vegetarian).. Ann chose the scallops, Ted the filet mignon, and I had the salmon, served on a bed of wild rice with okra and a raspberry sauce on the side. Our wine glasses were kept full throughout the meal.
I was torn between the creamy roasted pineapple soup and the chocolate pecan pie for dessert, so the waiter brought both.
To the west, the sun was setting amid streaks of glowing orange clouds that framed the silhouette of glacier-covered Mt Shasta, providing an angle from which we had neither observed the mountain, nor seen a photograph of it. A typical magic day on this special train was coming to an end.
