We started off from San Diego at 6:15 am to LA to catch the #14. Our Pacific Surfliner left right on time and soon we were heading up the coast. We rode coach for this section (having done it many times before). We arrived in LA Union Station right on time and exited the train on to the platform. There were a couple of people standing there who looked like they knew what they were doing. We asked them if they were waiting on the Coast Starlight and they were. They told us to stay put 'cause the train would be coming to the track right next to us. Since we were in a sleeper we moved up the track a bit and also reconfirmed with an employee that we were doing the right thing by waiting there. They said it was fine and just to make sure we stayed out of the way of the red caps and luggage carts.
Our train was scheduled to depart at 10:15 and right about 9:50 the train pulled into the station. I don't have the official consist of the train but I will say it had a crew sleeper, 3 sleeper cars, the Pacific Parlour car, a Sightseer lounge, dining car, several coach cars and 2 private cars hooked to the back. We had booked a family bedroom. We had never had one before - our previous long distance trips had been in deluxe bedrooms. Our son is almost 6 now so we needed some more space this trip. I did like the family bedroom but missed being on the upper level and having the bigger windows and our own bathroom. It was nice being close to our luggage on the luggage rack and I found that to be convenient.
We started losing time almost immeadiately as we were forced to sit at sidings before we had even gotten to Ventura County. We enjoyed the Pacific Parlour car and had danishes, coffee and juice as we headed toward Santa Barbara. We had lunch and then wine tasting following that in the parlour car. By dinner time we were not that hungry! Food was okay and we found the service in the dining car, the parlour car, and our sleeper to all be good. I always have the burger for lunch and tried the steak for dinner one night and the chicken then other night. I liked the steak much better. It was a treat to get a trip in before the change over to the simplified dining.
Here are some of the negatives - we had some major problems with the bathrooms in our sleeper car. Our attendant had to keep reseting something so the toilets would flush. There was also a terrible (and I mean really bad) stench in the air circulation of the car. The hallways smelled so bad it was disgusting. We were the first sleeper car and it was a Superliner I type of car. It had been refurbished (but not the recently refurbished types with the new bathrooms) as our room had newer curtains and fabric on the seats.
We continued to lose time and soon were 8 hours behind. They stopped for extra time in Oakland to work on the toilet issue in our car. We were asleep by then so I did not know this until the next morning.
The following day we awoke to learn we had not even made it to Chico - we were really late now! The one benefit of our lateness was that we got to enjoy seeing Mt Shasta and the Lake Shasta area by daylight. That was really beautiful. We also got breakfast, lunch dinner and wine tasting that day too. We ended up buying a bottle of wine in the parlour car (it was only 14 bucks for a full bottle of decent wine) and we polished it off before dinner. Having the parlour car is a treat. The free sodas and juice all day was really convenient and the car itself is lovely. After switching over to the EB we realized how much we missed it.
We were told it would be about 2 am when we would make it to Portland - 12 hours late. They announced upon getting closer that the train be terminating in Portland and folks headed to Seattle and points in between would be bussed. This made us feel better only since we knew we were headed to a cab ride and a hotel bed shortly!
We absolutely loved Portland and would recommend a visit there. We stayed downtown at the Four Points Sheraton which was right on the Max line and we traveled all over the city for the 4 days we were there. There is a sizable area called "fareless square" that is free for the all the public transportation (busses, light rail, street car) on our last day we took the bus right to Union Station for free.
Part 2 - Empire Builder coming up.
Our train was scheduled to depart at 10:15 and right about 9:50 the train pulled into the station. I don't have the official consist of the train but I will say it had a crew sleeper, 3 sleeper cars, the Pacific Parlour car, a Sightseer lounge, dining car, several coach cars and 2 private cars hooked to the back. We had booked a family bedroom. We had never had one before - our previous long distance trips had been in deluxe bedrooms. Our son is almost 6 now so we needed some more space this trip. I did like the family bedroom but missed being on the upper level and having the bigger windows and our own bathroom. It was nice being close to our luggage on the luggage rack and I found that to be convenient.
We started losing time almost immeadiately as we were forced to sit at sidings before we had even gotten to Ventura County. We enjoyed the Pacific Parlour car and had danishes, coffee and juice as we headed toward Santa Barbara. We had lunch and then wine tasting following that in the parlour car. By dinner time we were not that hungry! Food was okay and we found the service in the dining car, the parlour car, and our sleeper to all be good. I always have the burger for lunch and tried the steak for dinner one night and the chicken then other night. I liked the steak much better. It was a treat to get a trip in before the change over to the simplified dining.
Here are some of the negatives - we had some major problems with the bathrooms in our sleeper car. Our attendant had to keep reseting something so the toilets would flush. There was also a terrible (and I mean really bad) stench in the air circulation of the car. The hallways smelled so bad it was disgusting. We were the first sleeper car and it was a Superliner I type of car. It had been refurbished (but not the recently refurbished types with the new bathrooms) as our room had newer curtains and fabric on the seats.
We continued to lose time and soon were 8 hours behind. They stopped for extra time in Oakland to work on the toilet issue in our car. We were asleep by then so I did not know this until the next morning.
The following day we awoke to learn we had not even made it to Chico - we were really late now! The one benefit of our lateness was that we got to enjoy seeing Mt Shasta and the Lake Shasta area by daylight. That was really beautiful. We also got breakfast, lunch dinner and wine tasting that day too. We ended up buying a bottle of wine in the parlour car (it was only 14 bucks for a full bottle of decent wine) and we polished it off before dinner. Having the parlour car is a treat. The free sodas and juice all day was really convenient and the car itself is lovely. After switching over to the EB we realized how much we missed it.
We were told it would be about 2 am when we would make it to Portland - 12 hours late. They announced upon getting closer that the train be terminating in Portland and folks headed to Seattle and points in between would be bussed. This made us feel better only since we knew we were headed to a cab ride and a hotel bed shortly!
We absolutely loved Portland and would recommend a visit there. We stayed downtown at the Four Points Sheraton which was right on the Max line and we traveled all over the city for the 4 days we were there. There is a sizable area called "fareless square" that is free for the all the public transportation (busses, light rail, street car) on our last day we took the bus right to Union Station for free.
Part 2 - Empire Builder coming up.
