Part 2
Onward!!!! Once in Seattle, my plan had been to wander down to the waterfront, grab a bite to eat, and perhaps have time to take a Harbor cruise. However, it was so cold, so windy, and so chilly that I put that idea aside, and headed for lunch to the first place I ran into that looked good. This turned out to be the Kingdome Deli, where I had a great turkey sandwich. I then got back to the warmth of the King Steet station. Fortunately, I brought along a book for just such a situation, about the history of the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns baseball teams. At 642 pages, that solves many a long wait! About noon, there came an announcement over the loudspeaker that the Cascades #500 from Eugene, due in at 12:15 PM, was stopped with a dead engine at Puyallup, 30 miles or so south of Seattle, and would now be in between 1:30 and 2:00 PM. I didn't give it much thought, until I had a sinking feeling that the 500 was supposed to be turned around in Seattle and become our train, #507. A quick trip to the ticket counter confirmed this, and I was then told that our train "may or may not" depart on time. Now, I'm no Rhodes scholar, but even I could figure out that if a train is going to be two hours late coming in, it's a very good bet it was going to be late going out. So the "may or may not" bit didn't wash. Sure enough, as people were checking in, I overheard Sam, the conductor, tell people it would be at least an hour late departing, as they had to get another power unit from somewhere else, and switch with the ailing one. We did board about a quarter to three, 25 minutes after we were to depart. I was in business class, just to see what business class on the Cascades was like. I do have to say I'm not particularly impressed. The extra perks were nice (priority boarding, free newspapers, and $3.00 off in the Bistro car), but I didn't find the legroom to be as much as a Superliner coach, nor were the seats as big. Again, though, I did like the idea of an outlet at every seat. Since I was traveling alone, I did get a single seat; unfortunately, the single seats were all on the left side of the train, the side opposite the best viewing. Oh well. And all the window seats were taken up on the right side. Also, with the Cascades being a single level train, I find I like the upper level of a Superliner better.
Sam, the conductor, did a great job of keeping us informed of what exactly our situation was. At first, an hour late was the stock answer. Then, it became an hour and a half, as we were now getting into a bottle neck with Sounder (the Seattle metro area's commuter train service) trains. Not to mention signal problems with the BNSF. Ah well, at least they kept us informed. Then came the announcement, after about an hour or so, that if all went well, if the new equipment arrived and tested out and would be good, that we could expect to leave in 20 minutes. Not too long after that, Sam made another announcement saying that, unfortunately, he'd been too optimistic, and we would be looking at AT BEST CASE, 2 hrs. late. There had been a delay in getting replacement equipment. Finally, though, he made the announcement that everything was hooked up, and tests were positive. He still had to add an "unfortunately", though.....we had to wait for clearance to leave, as it was now right in the middle of heavy Sounder traffic. Not five minutes elapsed before we were finally underway!!! I have to say that Sam, in particular, and the rest of the crew in general were terrific in handling this situation. He didn't sugar-coat things, said exactly what was happening and why, and even when we were underway, made sure to let everyone know it wasn't going to be possible to make up time. The passengers for the most part took the delays well, too One passenger's actions seemed to worry a couple of the other passengers, however. I didn't see anything unusual about her behavior, other than perhaps her taking paper towels from the bathroom, soaking them, and cleaning her outside window for a better view. The elderly gentleman who, when we were finally moving, tried to get into the supply closet instead of the bathroom and then, a couple of eternities later, when he finally emerged from the bathroom, and tried to get into the engine instead (ours was the first car) did worry me some.
I'd made reservations at the Courtesy Inn in Eugene to spend the night, as this particular motel met two important criteria; 1) it was cheap and 2) it was a short (5 blocks) walk from the Eugene station. I had told them I'd be coming in on Amtrak and would be there about 9; I was hoping they wouldn't give my reservation to someone else. A quick cell phone call would have cleared the matter up, but since I'm one of about five people left in the US than neither has nor wants a cell phone, I was left to wonder. I didn't think, however, there would be a problem.
Once we were underway, I wandered into the Bistro car for dinner. The fare was not exactly gourmet, but again, it's Amtrak! I was disappointed that they were out of the Oriental chicken salad; I'm diabetic and have to be somewhat careful how I eat, though I've been able to maintain excellent blood sugar control. We did make good time, and again we didn't have any problems being held up behind freight traffic. As we neared Portland, we passed the northbound Coast Starlight. It was about 3 1/2 hours late, thus being a great advertisement for the bustitution between Klamath Falls and Pasco for those wanted to connect with the EB eastbound. :lol:
Once we got into Portland, our car cleared out. There were only four of us left after Portland, and one of them departed at Salem. So from Salem to Eugene, there was just the three of us left. We pulled into Eugene about 10:50 PM, 2 hours behind schedule. I then got my bearings straight with the map I had to to motel, and made it there with no problem. I still had a room, so I was good to go. The Courtesy Inn isn't a fancy place, maybe even half a step below a Motel 6, but as long as it had a bed and shower, I was good to go. I fell into bed about 11:30, ready to get up the next day and start the process of traveling back to Spokane.
Onward!!!! Once in Seattle, my plan had been to wander down to the waterfront, grab a bite to eat, and perhaps have time to take a Harbor cruise. However, it was so cold, so windy, and so chilly that I put that idea aside, and headed for lunch to the first place I ran into that looked good. This turned out to be the Kingdome Deli, where I had a great turkey sandwich. I then got back to the warmth of the King Steet station. Fortunately, I brought along a book for just such a situation, about the history of the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns baseball teams. At 642 pages, that solves many a long wait! About noon, there came an announcement over the loudspeaker that the Cascades #500 from Eugene, due in at 12:15 PM, was stopped with a dead engine at Puyallup, 30 miles or so south of Seattle, and would now be in between 1:30 and 2:00 PM. I didn't give it much thought, until I had a sinking feeling that the 500 was supposed to be turned around in Seattle and become our train, #507. A quick trip to the ticket counter confirmed this, and I was then told that our train "may or may not" depart on time. Now, I'm no Rhodes scholar, but even I could figure out that if a train is going to be two hours late coming in, it's a very good bet it was going to be late going out. So the "may or may not" bit didn't wash. Sure enough, as people were checking in, I overheard Sam, the conductor, tell people it would be at least an hour late departing, as they had to get another power unit from somewhere else, and switch with the ailing one. We did board about a quarter to three, 25 minutes after we were to depart. I was in business class, just to see what business class on the Cascades was like. I do have to say I'm not particularly impressed. The extra perks were nice (priority boarding, free newspapers, and $3.00 off in the Bistro car), but I didn't find the legroom to be as much as a Superliner coach, nor were the seats as big. Again, though, I did like the idea of an outlet at every seat. Since I was traveling alone, I did get a single seat; unfortunately, the single seats were all on the left side of the train, the side opposite the best viewing. Oh well. And all the window seats were taken up on the right side. Also, with the Cascades being a single level train, I find I like the upper level of a Superliner better.
Sam, the conductor, did a great job of keeping us informed of what exactly our situation was. At first, an hour late was the stock answer. Then, it became an hour and a half, as we were now getting into a bottle neck with Sounder (the Seattle metro area's commuter train service) trains. Not to mention signal problems with the BNSF. Ah well, at least they kept us informed. Then came the announcement, after about an hour or so, that if all went well, if the new equipment arrived and tested out and would be good, that we could expect to leave in 20 minutes. Not too long after that, Sam made another announcement saying that, unfortunately, he'd been too optimistic, and we would be looking at AT BEST CASE, 2 hrs. late. There had been a delay in getting replacement equipment. Finally, though, he made the announcement that everything was hooked up, and tests were positive. He still had to add an "unfortunately", though.....we had to wait for clearance to leave, as it was now right in the middle of heavy Sounder traffic. Not five minutes elapsed before we were finally underway!!! I have to say that Sam, in particular, and the rest of the crew in general were terrific in handling this situation. He didn't sugar-coat things, said exactly what was happening and why, and even when we were underway, made sure to let everyone know it wasn't going to be possible to make up time. The passengers for the most part took the delays well, too One passenger's actions seemed to worry a couple of the other passengers, however. I didn't see anything unusual about her behavior, other than perhaps her taking paper towels from the bathroom, soaking them, and cleaning her outside window for a better view. The elderly gentleman who, when we were finally moving, tried to get into the supply closet instead of the bathroom and then, a couple of eternities later, when he finally emerged from the bathroom, and tried to get into the engine instead (ours was the first car) did worry me some.
I'd made reservations at the Courtesy Inn in Eugene to spend the night, as this particular motel met two important criteria; 1) it was cheap and 2) it was a short (5 blocks) walk from the Eugene station. I had told them I'd be coming in on Amtrak and would be there about 9; I was hoping they wouldn't give my reservation to someone else. A quick cell phone call would have cleared the matter up, but since I'm one of about five people left in the US than neither has nor wants a cell phone, I was left to wonder. I didn't think, however, there would be a problem.
Once we were underway, I wandered into the Bistro car for dinner. The fare was not exactly gourmet, but again, it's Amtrak! I was disappointed that they were out of the Oriental chicken salad; I'm diabetic and have to be somewhat careful how I eat, though I've been able to maintain excellent blood sugar control. We did make good time, and again we didn't have any problems being held up behind freight traffic. As we neared Portland, we passed the northbound Coast Starlight. It was about 3 1/2 hours late, thus being a great advertisement for the bustitution between Klamath Falls and Pasco for those wanted to connect with the EB eastbound. :lol:
Once we got into Portland, our car cleared out. There were only four of us left after Portland, and one of them departed at Salem. So from Salem to Eugene, there was just the three of us left. We pulled into Eugene about 10:50 PM, 2 hours behind schedule. I then got my bearings straight with the map I had to to motel, and made it there with no problem. I still had a room, so I was good to go. The Courtesy Inn isn't a fancy place, maybe even half a step below a Motel 6, but as long as it had a bed and shower, I was good to go. I fell into bed about 11:30, ready to get up the next day and start the process of traveling back to Spokane.
to be continued.......
