Interesting Amtrak Adventure

Greetings, all,

I've had a great trip home. Once I get my travelogue straightened out, I'll post it here. Unfortunately, I don't have the capability to post it real-time like Diane, but I did write most of it as things happened (laptops are great). It'll be here in the next day or two.

Well, I was going to wait until tomorrow, but no sooner had I signed off of the Internet when I decided to go ahead and work on it anyways. So, here it is. To make this easy to read, I've broken it down into three sections.

Section 1: SLM to PDX – Cascades #504

This was supposed to be a very simple trip home: ride the Cascades Talgo from Salem, OR, to Portland, OR, switch Talgo trainsets and continue to Seattle, WA, where I would catch the Empire Builder home. The trip didn't quite work that way...

I got to the Salem train station about an hour and a half early, hoping to see some UP freight traffic before my train arrived. UP disappointed me twice, because I didn't see any freight except a switch engine in the yard about a mile away, and the Cascades ended up being an hour late due to a broken rail outside of Salem. The Salem station manager did a good job of keeping everyone informed on the status of the train by announcing the problems with the rail, as well as letting us know when the train was moving again.

The train arrived at about 11:40 AM (scheduled for 10:42 AM) and was out of the station by 11:43 AM. When the conductor came by to pick up our tickets, he gave those of us in the Business Class $3 tickets for the Bistro car. Since I was riding on two Cascades trains (#504 to Portland and #506 to Seattle), he gave me two of the coupons. As soon as the conductor had left the car, I walked back to the Bistro and got a ham and muenster sandwich that had cranberry sauce, a bag of Tim's Cascade Style potato chips (a local brand), and a root beer. With the two $3 coupons, this came to $2 cash. I left a dollar tip for the attendant and went back to my car to eat. While I was eating, the conductor announced that train #506 would wait for the arrival of #504 at Portland, but a bus was on call, just in case.

I had just finished enjoying my lunch when I felt the train slow down. We had to pull into a siding at Aurora, OR, to wait for a UP freight (sure ... NOW I get to see a freight!). This siding had jointed rail, which produced an interesting effect on the trainset. Apparently, the Talgo cars don't like jointed rail, because one side of the truck would hit a joint, tilting the car to the other side, then the other side would hit a joint, pushing the car back to the original side, and so on, increasing in intensity every time it rocked until the engineer slowed down a bit. The conductor (who was quite good at making announcements) mentioned that we had to wait for a freight, and joked that the reason for the rocking was more people on one side of the car than the other, and that he was working to re-balance the train.

As we were waiting for the freight, it was announced that the connecting train in Portland was not going to wait and that there would be a bus for those passengers going to Seattle. The conductor also announced that he would be looking for myself and one other passenger. It turns out that we're going to miss the connection to #8, so we're to be put on #28 out of Portland. Of course, it makes no difference to me, since both trains go through Williston, ND, which is my stop. Best part is that I get to wait for my train in the Metropolitan Lounge at Portland Union Station (yay!). We ended up waiting about 20-30 minutes for the freight to clear.

The delays didn't end there. Before we could pull into Union Station, we had to wait for about 10 minutes at the signal before the Steel Bridge due to a bridge lift for river traffic. We finally arrived and pretty much everyone on the train headed to the main lobby for the bus connection, but I went into the Metropolitan Lounge to kick back, relax and wait for train #28.

When I got into the lounge, the lounge attendant said that she was working on setting up my accommodations for the Portland section of the Builder. Shortly after we arrived, the southbound Coast Starlight shows up, causing her to focus on the passengers for #11. As the train arrives, she walks around with a box of Amtrak playing cards and hands them out to everyone as a free gift from the Metropolitan Lounge, then heads to the door to help the passengers get to their sleepers. Meanwhile, I kick back, relax and enjoy the Metropolitan Lounge. I spend some time playing video games on my laptop, some time reading the day's Portland Oregonian newspaper, more time watching CNN on the TV, and even spend a little time talking to a friend who called to see how my trip is going, all the while partaking in the complementary beverages. Personally, I liked the “Portland Union Station” blend of coffee over the "Metropolitan Lounge" blend, but I felt that I should have been drinking the “Mis Connection” decaf. :lol:

Once she's taken care of the passengers for #11, she works on my tickets as well as the couple who came off of #504. Turns out that I'll be in the handicapped room from Portland to Spokane, then I'll have to get up and walk to the other end of the train to get into my previous room. Not a big deal since the layover in Spokane is 45 minutes long.

While I was in the lounge, Eric, the station manager comes in to apologize for the delays and rescheduling. I have to say that while there are some dead weight employees in Amtrak, there don't seem to be too many on the Cascades route. All the employees that I met in Salem and Portland, as well as the Cascades, were top notch and are a credit to Amtrak.

Section 2: PDX to SPK – Empire Builder #28

At 4:30 PM, the lounge attendant announced the boarding of the Builder, so everyone in the lounge grabbed their stuff from the baggage closet and headed out to the train. I got inthe sleeper car and made the immediate right into the handicapped sleeper. The handicapped sleeper is pretty nice. Lots of room and their own bathroom area. I just feel guilty that there might actually be someone on this train that could use it, but I didn't complain too loudly. I got settled in and ready for the next segment of the trip.

About 4:40 PM, about 5 minutes before scheduled departure, I saw an amazing sight. The northbound Coast Starlight was only an hour behind schedule, so it actually made its connection with the Empire Builder. Yes, the passengers on the Starlate didn't have to be bussed from Klamath Falls up to Pasco in order to make the Empire Builder connection. Unfortunately, that means that we're going to leave the station a few minutes late, but I'm sure the passengers on the Starlight appreciated not having to ride a bus. The Starlight had an interesting mix of engines: P-42 #115 with a big patch of primer on the left side of the nose and Dash-8s #500 and #505. Interesting to see two Dash-8s in active passenger service. We ended up leaving Portland at 5:02 PM, which is 17 minutes off of the scheduled time. Not bad, but rare for the Builder.

Supper tonight was very good. Since the dining car is on the Seattle section, the meal was a gourmet “box” supper. The choices were beef, chicken and salmon. I had the beef, which was excellent. It included a potato salad, cole slaw, fruit salad, and a lemon bar. After I was done with the meal, the attendant came around with bottles of Cabernet Savignon, so I was able to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine to relax.

After enjoying the wine, I wanted to go to the lounge car to watch “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The lounge car was so packed that it was hard to find a seat anywhere near the TV screens, so I changed my mind and went back to my room to watch one of my DVDs. That was probably more entertaining than trying to strain and watch the little TV screen. I spent the rest of the time playing on my laptop.

Before we got to Spokane, the conductor came down to talk about the transfer. He went ahead and pulled my ticket for the Spokane to Williston segment and said that he'd talk to the outgoing conductor as soon as we arrived in Spokane. We ended up arriving in Spokane almost to the minute of the scheduled arrival time. We were at most two minutes early.

Section 3: SPK to WTN – Empire Builder #8/28

The transfer between cars went pretty well, all in all. The Seattle section was an hour late, which caused us to leave Spokane an hour late. Once the Seattle section arrived and got hooked up, I was taken to my room. Unfortunately the room hadn't been set up by the car attendant, but was set up quickly by the coach attendant who showed me to my room. Once we got under way, it took a little while for me to fall asleep, but I did get a fairly good night's sleep.

A couple of interesting things that I saw during the layover in Spokane. First, some ExpressTrak cars had to be pulled off of the back of the Seattle section and put on the back of the entire train. To do that job, P-42 #170, which was our only engine out of Portland, was used as a switch engine to pull them off of the Seattle section and and reattach them to the back of the Portland sleeper. #170 later became the front car of our trainset. Then, while we were waiting for the Seattle section to get hooked up, the westbound Builder came in. In the Portland section of its consist were two interesting cars: a phase IVb lounge #33015 and sleeper #32009, which is the George M. Pullman.

I woke up about 9:00 AM, which meant that I missed breakfast service, but I did get a nice, hot shower. One thing I didn't realize at the time, but a few minutes after I woke up I passed my 25,000th mile on Amtrak about 18 miles east of West Glacier, MT. When I got out of the shower, we were still climbing up to the Continental Divide through a very snowy Glacier Park. Since the attendant had returned my room to daytime setting, I settled down and read the Kalispell, MT, newspaper to await lunch service.

At the noon announcement, I walked to the dining car. I was in room #10 of the 0830 car, so the dining car was literally three steps away from my room. I had lunch with a couple of older gentlemen and an older lady who came from the Portland section. I had the Angus beef burger with cheddar cheese and bacon, which was excellent and probably raised my cholesterol count several hundred points. Since I didn't feel that I had enough unhealthy foods, I followed it up with cheesecake with strawberry topping. Interestingly, Amtrak appears to have added to the number of rotations. The menu that the Builder used was #4. I t had a quote on the front that talked about the benefit of enjoying a meal together, but I don't remember who said it or what the exact quote was.

While I was at lunch, the attendant had to set up the bedding padding for the next occupant of the room since he/she/they were getting on at the same time that I was getting off. He also said that after they got off, someone else was going to occupy the room. If Amtrak could have that happen more often, it would have no more financial problems.

I spent the afternoon being lazy. I took about an hour nap, played some more on my laptop and spent a bunch of time watching the world fly by.

Due to the scheduled arrival time into Williston, which is usually during dinner service, I started to wonder if I'd be able to eat dinner on the train or if I'd be getting off during the first seating. Fortunately, the dining car had an 5:00 PM seating, which allowed me to eat dinner in the diner (“nothing could be finer than dinner in the diner” - from the song "Chattanooga Choo-Choo". Just a little goofiness coming out). I sat with a young couple who had a very cute 6 month old baby. The baby fussed a little at first, but fell asleep pretty quickly. We all had the T-bone steak, which was the steak choice on the menu. The steak was excellent. I ordered to medium rare, and it was done perfectly. The tenderloin part of the steak was so tender that it could be cut with a fork. This was followed by a very dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting that was extremely rich and very good. I also indulged by having a beer.

After supper, I got back to my room and spent the last 45 minutes on the train watching the stars. Since eastern Montana is so rural, much of the Builder's route has very few lights to obscure the view of the stars, so I turned off of the light in the room and enjoyed the view. Finally, at 7:50 PM, which is 45 minutes late, the Builder arrived in Williston, ND. I got off and walked to the station where my parents were waiting next to the car.

Thus ended my latest trip on Amtrak. Unfortunately, I'm going to be taking a car back to Oregon after the new year, so I won't be filing a return trip log.