CS/EB/SWC trip update.

My son and I are back from our multi-train, cross-country trip. I just wanted to thank you all again for your help in planning. The trip could not have been more perfect

Train 1, CS LA-> Portland. We had left a day early to give us an extra day in Portland to visit the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum and it worked for the best. Left LA on time and were very happy to see we had a Parlour Car in the consist. We lost some time overnight due to the removal of two private cars and some near misses with a pedestrian and a car (two different times). There were also storms overnight that left us with a blanket of beautiful fresh snow in No. CA/So. OR. The delay meant we had an amazing view of Mt. Shasta in the morning. Another mudslide caused them to end the train in Portland but since that was our destination it did not affect us. And since we were in no hurry, the 3-hour delay just meant more time to enjoy the train

My son loved the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum and we were there from opening to closing. He was thrilled when the volunteers allowed him to go up in the cab of the 4449 engine. I think that made the whole trip for him. We also watched the CS come in on Sunday and realized the consist that day included a second dining car in place of the Parlour Car (we did a silent woo hoo, since that would have been our train if we did not move our trip up a day earlier).

Train 2, EB Portland -> Chicago. We were a little late leaving Portland since they were waiting on a late CS. At first I was a bit disappointed to lose some of the daylight time viewing the Columbia River Gorge but since it was a full moon, we still had an amazing view after dark. The delay also put us in prime viewing time when going through Glacier National Park the next morning (fog had lifted by the time we got there). We still arrived in Chicago a little early.

Train 3, SWC Chicago -> LA. Another great trip. Ran right on time up until the last evening when a freight train in front of us had mechanical issues so we had to sit for 3 hours waiting for it to be fixed and the tracks cleared. Still worked out for us because we were able to sleep in a bit the next morning since we would not be arriving as early.

We had great car attendants on all three trains. For those that love to discuss the ice issue, our EB attendant did have ice available all the time in his car. For the other two trips, my son just went to the Parlour Car or Lounge Car to get us a cup of ice when we needed it.

We were able to get our Coast Starlight mugs, so they are still available.

I think my only complaint on Amtrak’s part for the entire trip was that they did not wash the EB train in Portland so we went all the way to Chicago with dirty windows (railfan window and lounge car windows were especially bad – which was very disappointing).

But if that is the only thing that I can come up with to complain about, then I’m happy.

Oh, and maybe that we missed all the new menus by a day. Our car attendant said that the SWC was supposed to start the new menu on our train but they did not have the supplies for the new menu in Chicago so we still had the old one

Overall it was a great adventure and we are already checking out which routes to take next time!

Thanks for writing. Sounds like a great trip. I have enjoyed all three routes except a Parlour Car I do not like dirty windows either but happens sometimes.

Sounds like a wonderful trip, thanks for sharing!

Cue Dean Martin singing "Memories are Made of This!"

Thanks so much for reporting back. I am glad things worked out for the best (especially the Parlour Car, woo-hoo!).

Thanks for the trip report! I'm glad you had a good journey. I rode the Empire Builder from Chicago to Portland, and had dirty windows too, in my roomette. The lounge wasn't bad, but it was impossible to see out the railfan window.

Nice report. Thanks.

Gosh. If I scheduled my train trips coincident with a full Moon I wouldn't get much sleep.

It would be hard for me to tear myself away from looking out the window.

Thanks for your report. Incidentally, It is my experience that Amtrak does not clean any of the windows anymore. In fact, the window cleaners in the Denver Station did not make an appearance either westbound or eastbound on my trips I have been on this week.

Tennessee Traveler said:

Thanks for your report. Incidentally, It is my experience that Amtrak does not clean any of the windows anymore. In fact, the window cleaners in the Denver Station did not make an appearance either westbound or eastbound on my trips I have been on this week.

Click to expand...

It was funny on the SWC portion because they did clean the windows of our car at the Albuquerque stop. But the guy cleaning the windows missed just ours. He was doing upper windows and then stopped at the one before ours. Then did some lower ones. But when he resumed the upper windows he started on the one on the other side of us. Figures, just our luck

Luckily it wasn't that dirty to start with and it was close enough to evening (dark) that it didn't bother us. We just thought it was funny that ours was the only one he missed.