Train 6 of 6: Coast Starlight
As Paul Harvey used to say, "And now, the rest of the story". As previously mentioned, we left Los Angeles 40 minutes behind, raising the ire of a lady in the Parlour Car who was there doing her knitting. I would think knitting would be tough enough without trying to do it on a moving train. At any rate, it was a beautiful day for a trip up the Pacific Coast. Through the early afternoon, we didn't lose nor gain much time. We had lunch in the diner as the Parlour Car offerings didn't sound good to us. We had lunch with a couple returning to their home in San Luis Obispo after a trip to France where they had sampled many of the country's offerings in that country's many vineyards. As it was a beautiful day for a trip up the ocean, so it was for picture-taking up the Cuesta Grade out of San Luis Obispo. Our SCA was Robin, one of the best we've had. And Nancy was the LSA, also very good. We in fact had good to very good service all along our trip, with the exception of the dining car on the Cardinal, and that was due to the limitations that crappy service has to work with.
At dinner we sat with a middle aged man who seemed to be knowledgable about all things railroad. By this time, one would think I was getting tired of the same food, but was able to vary it just enough that it wasn't a problem. I had the steak, something I rarely do, but it was excellent. On a side note, after dinner, I went to the lounge for a nightcap, which for me is a Diet Pepsi :lol: and encountered something that makes me worry about the future of our nation. A young woman was engaging the lounge attendant, Moses, in a discussion, and she told him she was getting off in Albany, and catching a bus to Toledo, OH, arriving in an hour after leaving Albany! :blink: :wacko:
h34r: Understandably, Moses was confused. The gal insisted it was Toledo, OH because "there is only one Toledo in the United States!" :help: :help: :help: She of course was ticketed to Toledo,
OR, which is indeed an hour from Albany. If she is any indication of where our country is headed once people her age come into power, that four hour trip for me to the Canadian border will look better and better!!!
We had made up maybe 10 minutes into Oakland, arriving about half an hour late. Whereupon the conductor made an announcement that we would be delayed some at Oakland as we were going to pick up a private car. My uncle and I were in the Parlour Car, listening to the Cubs beat the Pirates despite spotting Pittsburgh 6 runs, and Knitting Lady threw another fit, grumbling and bitching about losing all the time and more we'd made up. Considering the last three times we'd taken #14, we'd ended up multiple hours late. By the time we left Oakland, we were about an hour down. Much better than the previous times. We retired to our chambers after Emeryville.
We both awoke at Dunsmuir to find ourselves about 45 minutes down. It was a nice change of pace to have slept through Sacramento, Chico, (with all due respect to Trainman's Daughter
) and Redding, after, as I said, being multiple hours late on the three previous trips on 14 and being wide awake at those stations in daylight. At breakfast, at which I had the usual omelet, with croissant, potatoes, and pork sausage, we ate with a man who was much more interested in trying to make a phone call and then arguing with us about the reasons he couldn't do so than conversing with us. We were at this point halfway between Dunsmuir and Klamath Falls. We were only 20 minutes late at Klamath Falls, and it looked like for once we were not going to be hours upon hours late into Seattle, or at least I wasn't as my uncle was going to get off at Eugene and catch 11 to Los Angeles and return to Illinois from there. So, naturally, not too far out of Klamath Falls, we came to a stop. The conductor announced there was a freight train ahead of us that was having problems. So, once again, Knitting Lady threw another fit, mad because we had made up time in Klamath Falls only to lose it. By now this was par for the course with us and the CS northbound. At least it solved a dilemma for my uncle: he was debating about having enough time for lunch as the scheduled departure time from Eugene is 12:36 and the earliest lunch seating is noon. That gave my uncle plenty of time for lunch as it turned out. At least it was a pastoral setting for our wait; by a beautiful green meadow with evergreen trees in the background, with a couple of horses and a couple of dogs frolicking in the meadow. After about 40 minutes, the conductor told us that from what chatter he was getting on the radio, the UP freight's problems were just about fixed and it would be probably no more than half an hour before we would be on our way. For once that was overestimated as maybe 15 minutes later the offending freight went by us. And we were soon on our way.
For the trip through the mountains, it was gorgeous. One of the prettiest days I've seen. We arrived in Eugene about an hour and a half behind schedule, not bad since it was more than four hours late at least the last few times we've taken the CS north. My uncle and I said our goodbyes at Eugene and I was left for the remainder of the trip to fend for myself.
The trip went without problems the rest of the way, save for a slllllliiiiiiiggggghhhhhhttttttt miscommunication near Salem. We began to slow down, and the conductor made the announcement that #11 was in the Salem station and we would have to wait about 20 minutes for it to clear. I thought that was odd because it was 3:25 at the time, and that would have indicated #11 would be in Salem about 10 minutes early. I knew that couldn't be the case because I had been tracking it and saw that it was a few minutes late leaving Albany. Sure enough, we began to pick up speed!!!! And when the announcement came we'd be arriving in Salem "shortly", I texted my uncle about the apparent mixup. He reassuringly texted back "I hope there's not a head-on collision!"
Gee thanks!
Turned out to be no collision. We got to the station first, and, sure enough, about five miles outside the Salem station, there sat #11 on a siding waiting for us!
We made up a bit of time into Portland and would have made up more if it were not for several miles of 10 MPH slow orders around Oregon City. The wait at Portland was cut short, and we left about an hour late. At dinner, I had the Salisbury steak. I had dinner with a couple from the Seattle area returning home from a weekend in Portland and a young man from San Antonio who was relocating to Olympia to be near his sons. This man looked to be in his 20's and I was astonished to find out his sons were 14 and 16. Whatever this man's secret was to looking young, I want in on it.!!! The rest of the trip passed without incident and we arrived into Seattle, thanks to padding, about half an hour late. I do hope Knitting Lady got to where she was going without much trouble!!!! :lol:
It was a great trip overall, with great scenery and excellent service for almost the entire trip. Now time to plan next year's Amtrak adventures!
