da40flyer
Train Attendant
OK this is my first trip report so go easy on the criticism. 
We arrived my Metrolink at 7am on Thursday 6-26. Got the tickets out of the self serve kiosk and then checked my 2 bags. I noticed the lady put tags that said "SEA" on the bags and it wasn't until I questioned her on it that she changed the tags to PDX. I thought, "Ok we're not off to a flying start here".
Boarding was a breeze. I went to the podium and got our coach seat assignments at about 845am. Seats 14, 15, and 16 in the last car on the train.
We pulled out of LAX right on time. And of course within 5 minutes my kids were wanting to go to the arcade car. I took them down there and found 4 video games, all VERY old games, and cost 50 cents a piece to run. No quarters here by the way. You must use tokens that you get from a change machine downstairs. And if you have problems, no one on the train will help you. You have to call a 1-800 number. One of the games didn't work at all and another took tokens and didn't give you a play. So that quickly became more of a hangout point for the kids, and a place for the pillow fight on the way home.
We had lunch in the dining car going through Vandenberg AFB. The hamburger was not bad. The kids had basic mac and cheese. Nothing spectactular but not bad, but PRICEY...
We started to fall behind schedule at Templeton. We met up with the southbound CS at that point and then had to wait for a 2nd southbound freight train after that. We sat there for approx. 40 minutes.
We gradually lost more and more time as we progressed north. Once we got into Dunsmuir, we were pushing 90 minutes behind. Early in the morning was when the trip started to become unpleasant.
At about 5am, we started noticing a not too pleasant smell in the last coach car. And as it warmed up outside, the smell became obvious that it was the odors from the septic tanks. The chemicals used and the contents of the tank filled the car with the odor everytime the car doors opened giving a nice fresh blast of air from the tanks. The car attendant *who was fantastic by the way* tried everything he could to help with the odors, walking thru spraying Febreeze every 20 30 minutes, getting the conductor to come try to figure out what was wrong, etc. Unfortunately our conductor told us all basically tough s#%t and deal with it. We wanted to be moved, but he said there were no seats to put us in elsewhere on the train. We eventually did get moved toward the back of the last car in Eugene which did help some.
We finally arrived in PDX 1 hour and 45 minutes late, which from talking to the people at PDX, said that's about right for the northbound.
Now, coming home, we boarded at 2pm for our 220 departure. The train was right on time arriving at PDX. As we were boarding, it turns out a freight train derailed just south of Salem. We ended up sitting at the station on the train for almost 2 hours waiting for the conductor and the dispatch center to decide what to do with us. THere was talk of a bus bridge around the derailment, going to Salem and waiting, or just sitting there. We ended up going on to Salem and waiting there. We spent almost an hour in Salem before the track was cleared and we were able to proceed.
This time we were in seats 2,3 and 4 in the last coach car. In the middle of the night, the front door in our car stuck open as we were going through the mountains in central OR. So all the track noise, the rattling, a little wind, all was coming right thru the door. And the fact that the suspension on that particular car was extremely noisy just added to it *every time we made a hard turn, it sounded like the suspension was turning on a pivot without any lubrication at all*. I got up at about 2am and tried to pull the door shut, but it would not budge at all. It finally decided, ON IT"S OWN no less, to shut at about 5am. When talking to the conductor in Sacramento, he said that these cars are so ancient and those doors use a wierd electrical system to run, they get really finicky and sometimes will jam open or slam shut.
We again had breakfast in the dining car. It was godawful. The "cheddar cheese" omelete was in fact an omelete with what tasted like the cheese powder that you put in Macaroni and Cheese in it. For 9 bucks, it was a total screw. We spent the rest of the trip only eating in the cafe car. Overpriced but even the nuked hot dog was better than that omelete.
On the way down, the train was never able to make up any time we lost from Portland. We arrived back in LA at about 1130 last night. Took the better part of an hour to get my checked bag back and then we finally got home at about 1am.
So, the ontime performance was lousy. Some of the service was fantastic, some was lousy. I'm not sure I'd do it again with my kids at the age they are at. They are in the "entertain me" stage so they get bored quick. I couldn't beat the price of the tickets but I'm still debating on whether it was worth it.
We arrived my Metrolink at 7am on Thursday 6-26. Got the tickets out of the self serve kiosk and then checked my 2 bags. I noticed the lady put tags that said "SEA" on the bags and it wasn't until I questioned her on it that she changed the tags to PDX. I thought, "Ok we're not off to a flying start here".
Boarding was a breeze. I went to the podium and got our coach seat assignments at about 845am. Seats 14, 15, and 16 in the last car on the train.
We pulled out of LAX right on time. And of course within 5 minutes my kids were wanting to go to the arcade car. I took them down there and found 4 video games, all VERY old games, and cost 50 cents a piece to run. No quarters here by the way. You must use tokens that you get from a change machine downstairs. And if you have problems, no one on the train will help you. You have to call a 1-800 number. One of the games didn't work at all and another took tokens and didn't give you a play. So that quickly became more of a hangout point for the kids, and a place for the pillow fight on the way home.
We had lunch in the dining car going through Vandenberg AFB. The hamburger was not bad. The kids had basic mac and cheese. Nothing spectactular but not bad, but PRICEY...
We started to fall behind schedule at Templeton. We met up with the southbound CS at that point and then had to wait for a 2nd southbound freight train after that. We sat there for approx. 40 minutes.
We gradually lost more and more time as we progressed north. Once we got into Dunsmuir, we were pushing 90 minutes behind. Early in the morning was when the trip started to become unpleasant.
At about 5am, we started noticing a not too pleasant smell in the last coach car. And as it warmed up outside, the smell became obvious that it was the odors from the septic tanks. The chemicals used and the contents of the tank filled the car with the odor everytime the car doors opened giving a nice fresh blast of air from the tanks. The car attendant *who was fantastic by the way* tried everything he could to help with the odors, walking thru spraying Febreeze every 20 30 minutes, getting the conductor to come try to figure out what was wrong, etc. Unfortunately our conductor told us all basically tough s#%t and deal with it. We wanted to be moved, but he said there were no seats to put us in elsewhere on the train. We eventually did get moved toward the back of the last car in Eugene which did help some.
We finally arrived in PDX 1 hour and 45 minutes late, which from talking to the people at PDX, said that's about right for the northbound.
Now, coming home, we boarded at 2pm for our 220 departure. The train was right on time arriving at PDX. As we were boarding, it turns out a freight train derailed just south of Salem. We ended up sitting at the station on the train for almost 2 hours waiting for the conductor and the dispatch center to decide what to do with us. THere was talk of a bus bridge around the derailment, going to Salem and waiting, or just sitting there. We ended up going on to Salem and waiting there. We spent almost an hour in Salem before the track was cleared and we were able to proceed.
This time we were in seats 2,3 and 4 in the last coach car. In the middle of the night, the front door in our car stuck open as we were going through the mountains in central OR. So all the track noise, the rattling, a little wind, all was coming right thru the door. And the fact that the suspension on that particular car was extremely noisy just added to it *every time we made a hard turn, it sounded like the suspension was turning on a pivot without any lubrication at all*. I got up at about 2am and tried to pull the door shut, but it would not budge at all. It finally decided, ON IT"S OWN no less, to shut at about 5am. When talking to the conductor in Sacramento, he said that these cars are so ancient and those doors use a wierd electrical system to run, they get really finicky and sometimes will jam open or slam shut.
We again had breakfast in the dining car. It was godawful. The "cheddar cheese" omelete was in fact an omelete with what tasted like the cheese powder that you put in Macaroni and Cheese in it. For 9 bucks, it was a total screw. We spent the rest of the trip only eating in the cafe car. Overpriced but even the nuked hot dog was better than that omelete.
On the way down, the train was never able to make up any time we lost from Portland. We arrived back in LA at about 1130 last night. Took the better part of an hour to get my checked bag back and then we finally got home at about 1am.
So, the ontime performance was lousy. Some of the service was fantastic, some was lousy. I'm not sure I'd do it again with my kids at the age they are at. They are in the "entertain me" stage so they get bored quick. I couldn't beat the price of the tickets but I'm still debating on whether it was worth it.
