Phager
Train Attendant
The family and I just finished a trip down to California on the coast starlight. Here's the report.
We began our rail journey on March 18th. We had made reservations on the Coast Starlight number 11 with a departure time of 4:10p from Albany, OR and living up to it's nickname of the Coast Starlate, train 11 didn't actually arrive until almost 5:00.
As the train arrived I took a quick look at our consist. Now I only had a brief moment to evaluate it, since we were asked to move quickly onto our cars, and I'm still quite the neophyte to the railfanning scene, but the make up seemed to be two P42s ran back to back, a baggage car, one transitional sleeper, three Superliner II sleepers (We were in the second on, Minnesota), a Pacific Parlor Car, a diner car, a Sightseer Lounge, and four coach cars. A pleasant suprise that I didn't notice until hitting some of the corners in the Cascades was that there appered to be a private "Varnish" tacked on to the end. Unfortunately due to the train running late through most of the run, I never got the chance to really get a good look at it.
As we headed towards our car, our sleeper car attendant greeted us at the door, I was happy to see that our attendant was Cruz (quite fitting since our final destanation was the Santa Cruz Mountains). Having spent the last couple of months researching trip reports on the Coast Starlight, I had seen Cruz's name mentioned a few times as an excellent SCA, so I was hoping for the best for our trip down.
As soon as we started to leave the station, we heard a knock on our door, Cruz was stopping by to make sure we knew where to find everything, and to let us know that he had set us up with a 5:45 dinner reservation, and that he noticed I was a smoker so he wanted to let us know that the first smoking stop would be in Eugene.
As soon as we got our stuff put away in the car, and I snapped a few pictures, we decided to visit the PPC since it's the crowning jewel of the Coast Starlight, we were not dissapointed. There were a number of comfy barrel chairs, as well as a complete dining section. The views, even just rolling through the Williamette Valley was quite scenic, even if it is my own backyard.
As we rolled into Eugene, Cruz, ever the attentive attendent, knocked on our door to let me know we were approaching our first smoking stop. While I was smoking, our reservation was called, so when I got back to the room we hustled over to the dining car. The specials that day were a roasted pork tenderloin, or shrimp scampi in a tomato sauce, after some difficult deliberation I finally decided on the flat iron steak with mashed potatos. After reading some reviews on the degradation of Amtrak meals going as far as equating the "steak" to Dinty Moore I was pleasantly surprised to find a slab of beef that was seared to perfection on the outside, yet still let out a pained "moo" when I cut in to it. Surprisingly it was one of the better steaks I've had in recent memory.
For those that haven't had the pleasure of eating on a train, it is a communal experience, meaning If you're a couple (or in our case, a couple with a small child) you will eat with at least one stranger. I was quite nervous about this as I'm not exactly a people person, and i'm a bit self concious about eating with other people. However, conversation is as much or as little as you want. Our dinner companion wasn't exactly talkitive, so there wasn't much conversation, which was good, since the meal was so good, I was stuffing my face in as socially acceptable manner as possible.
One challange with eating on the train was the rocking and rail crossings can make your drink shift slightly, so don't place your cup near the edge of the table! In our case we had an additional challenge of a 9 month old who is quite fascinated with grown up food as well as silverware, including the steak knife, so eating reqiured a close eye on Rhiannon.
After dinner we retired to our bedroom to watch our ascent in to the Cascades. We made it through 5 of the 22 tunnels before darkness finally set in. Thoughout all of this , Cruz regularly stopped by to see if there was anything we needed, we were a bit thirsty, and he ran to the drink station in the center of the car to get us a couple of juices.
Around 10:00p Cruz stopped by to see if we would like to have our beds setup before Klamath Falls, since that was when he got off shift (But, as he put it, "I'm here through LAX, you won't be able to get rid of me that easily"). As we approched Klamath he apparantly stopped by to lightly knock on the door, since Rhiannon was asleep, to let me know that we were approaching a smoking stop. These small thoughtful touches are what really show a dedication to customer service.
After Klamath falls we went to bed, unfortunately we neglected to close the curtains on our windows, which caused Rhiannon and of course us, to wake up at every. Single. Station. Ah well, live and learn, I only half woke up anyway, until we got to Sacramento at 5:45a. In Sacremento I took a smoke break, and when I came back to the room, Cruz had slipped a Sacramento Bee under our door, and late stopped by to give us our 6:15 wake up call.
Breakfast started at 6:30 and is on a first come, first serve basis. We shared a booth with a couple of passengers from coach. Crystal and I ordered the french toast, since the specials were an egg and cheese quesidilla or a green onion and tomato omelette. On the rare ocassions that I eat breakfast there must be meat in it somewhere, and I heard the the french toast was great. I certainly wasn't dissapointed!
While we causally ate breakfast we made small talk with our booth mates about all the commuters heading westbound out of Sacremento, and I couldn't help but think how great it was to be eating a delicious breakfast after a nights rest, instead of being out there in traffic with all the other cars. As we finished breakfast the sun had just broke over the Sierras far behind us, casting a surreal glow over the central valley and Sacremento delta.
As we returned to our room, which had been returned to the daytime mode by Cruz during our absence, we approached the northeasternmost extremity of the San Fransico bay. Soon afterword, while sipping freshly brewed coffee, we rolled past the naval shipyard before crossing in to Martinez.
After another hour, we arrived in San Jose, with Cruz living up to his reputation, giving us not only a 20 minute warning on arrivial but also a five minute warning. I have to say, I felt bad about only giving him a $10 tip for all his assistance, even though he seemed quite happy with it. Needless to say, I intend to travel by rail far more in the future. While ~$800 might seem like a lot for an over night trip (Well 400, since we paid for a round trip), the extremely personalized service, the perks such as all meals included, and the fact that you see areas you likely wouldn't see otherwise, and certainly would see like this, make this method of travel seem like a bargain. Not to mention, when I drive this route, I'm little more then a walking zombie, it truly is a much better way to go.
We began our rail journey on March 18th. We had made reservations on the Coast Starlight number 11 with a departure time of 4:10p from Albany, OR and living up to it's nickname of the Coast Starlate, train 11 didn't actually arrive until almost 5:00.
As the train arrived I took a quick look at our consist. Now I only had a brief moment to evaluate it, since we were asked to move quickly onto our cars, and I'm still quite the neophyte to the railfanning scene, but the make up seemed to be two P42s ran back to back, a baggage car, one transitional sleeper, three Superliner II sleepers (We were in the second on, Minnesota), a Pacific Parlor Car, a diner car, a Sightseer Lounge, and four coach cars. A pleasant suprise that I didn't notice until hitting some of the corners in the Cascades was that there appered to be a private "Varnish" tacked on to the end. Unfortunately due to the train running late through most of the run, I never got the chance to really get a good look at it.
As we headed towards our car, our sleeper car attendant greeted us at the door, I was happy to see that our attendant was Cruz (quite fitting since our final destanation was the Santa Cruz Mountains). Having spent the last couple of months researching trip reports on the Coast Starlight, I had seen Cruz's name mentioned a few times as an excellent SCA, so I was hoping for the best for our trip down.
As soon as we started to leave the station, we heard a knock on our door, Cruz was stopping by to make sure we knew where to find everything, and to let us know that he had set us up with a 5:45 dinner reservation, and that he noticed I was a smoker so he wanted to let us know that the first smoking stop would be in Eugene.
As soon as we got our stuff put away in the car, and I snapped a few pictures, we decided to visit the PPC since it's the crowning jewel of the Coast Starlight, we were not dissapointed. There were a number of comfy barrel chairs, as well as a complete dining section. The views, even just rolling through the Williamette Valley was quite scenic, even if it is my own backyard.
As we rolled into Eugene, Cruz, ever the attentive attendent, knocked on our door to let me know we were approaching our first smoking stop. While I was smoking, our reservation was called, so when I got back to the room we hustled over to the dining car. The specials that day were a roasted pork tenderloin, or shrimp scampi in a tomato sauce, after some difficult deliberation I finally decided on the flat iron steak with mashed potatos. After reading some reviews on the degradation of Amtrak meals going as far as equating the "steak" to Dinty Moore I was pleasantly surprised to find a slab of beef that was seared to perfection on the outside, yet still let out a pained "moo" when I cut in to it. Surprisingly it was one of the better steaks I've had in recent memory.
For those that haven't had the pleasure of eating on a train, it is a communal experience, meaning If you're a couple (or in our case, a couple with a small child) you will eat with at least one stranger. I was quite nervous about this as I'm not exactly a people person, and i'm a bit self concious about eating with other people. However, conversation is as much or as little as you want. Our dinner companion wasn't exactly talkitive, so there wasn't much conversation, which was good, since the meal was so good, I was stuffing my face in as socially acceptable manner as possible.
One challange with eating on the train was the rocking and rail crossings can make your drink shift slightly, so don't place your cup near the edge of the table! In our case we had an additional challenge of a 9 month old who is quite fascinated with grown up food as well as silverware, including the steak knife, so eating reqiured a close eye on Rhiannon.
After dinner we retired to our bedroom to watch our ascent in to the Cascades. We made it through 5 of the 22 tunnels before darkness finally set in. Thoughout all of this , Cruz regularly stopped by to see if there was anything we needed, we were a bit thirsty, and he ran to the drink station in the center of the car to get us a couple of juices.
Around 10:00p Cruz stopped by to see if we would like to have our beds setup before Klamath Falls, since that was when he got off shift (But, as he put it, "I'm here through LAX, you won't be able to get rid of me that easily"). As we approched Klamath he apparantly stopped by to lightly knock on the door, since Rhiannon was asleep, to let me know that we were approaching a smoking stop. These small thoughtful touches are what really show a dedication to customer service.
After Klamath falls we went to bed, unfortunately we neglected to close the curtains on our windows, which caused Rhiannon and of course us, to wake up at every. Single. Station. Ah well, live and learn, I only half woke up anyway, until we got to Sacramento at 5:45a. In Sacremento I took a smoke break, and when I came back to the room, Cruz had slipped a Sacramento Bee under our door, and late stopped by to give us our 6:15 wake up call.
Breakfast started at 6:30 and is on a first come, first serve basis. We shared a booth with a couple of passengers from coach. Crystal and I ordered the french toast, since the specials were an egg and cheese quesidilla or a green onion and tomato omelette. On the rare ocassions that I eat breakfast there must be meat in it somewhere, and I heard the the french toast was great. I certainly wasn't dissapointed!
While we causally ate breakfast we made small talk with our booth mates about all the commuters heading westbound out of Sacremento, and I couldn't help but think how great it was to be eating a delicious breakfast after a nights rest, instead of being out there in traffic with all the other cars. As we finished breakfast the sun had just broke over the Sierras far behind us, casting a surreal glow over the central valley and Sacremento delta.
As we returned to our room, which had been returned to the daytime mode by Cruz during our absence, we approached the northeasternmost extremity of the San Fransico bay. Soon afterword, while sipping freshly brewed coffee, we rolled past the naval shipyard before crossing in to Martinez.
After another hour, we arrived in San Jose, with Cruz living up to his reputation, giving us not only a 20 minute warning on arrivial but also a five minute warning. I have to say, I felt bad about only giving him a $10 tip for all his assistance, even though he seemed quite happy with it. Needless to say, I intend to travel by rail far more in the future. While ~$800 might seem like a lot for an over night trip (Well 400, since we paid for a round trip), the extremely personalized service, the perks such as all meals included, and the fact that you see areas you likely wouldn't see otherwise, and certainly would see like this, make this method of travel seem like a bargain. Not to mention, when I drive this route, I'm little more then a walking zombie, it truly is a much better way to go.
