Hello everyone! I'm finally getting around to posting the results of my trip on the Starlight from a week ago. As with previous experiences on Amtrak, my rule of train crews held true. (The crew on the first trip is always better than the crew on the return trip.) On the way up to Portland, we did well until about 30 min. north of Santa Barbara where a car had flipped off of the 101 Fwy and landed on the tracks. We were delayed about 45 min. before we backed up, went onto the siding that was not obstructed, and continued. Sadly, the UP motto of "late trains get later" continued for the rest of the trip. We arrived in Portland well over 2 hours late.
My next trip was an over-nighter to Spokane and back on the Empire Builder. What a train!!! We were on-time or early at every stop. We had a great crew who just seemed to "get it" when it comes to customer service. I have wonderful night shots of the Builder equipment getting serviced at the Spokane Depot. The only bummer of this part of the trip was bored Rent-a-Cop in Spokane that was looking for a fight, and was rather upsed my friend and I would not give him one.
As for the return trip, it actually started off well. We were less than 30 min. late through the night, and by the time we reached Salinas, we were on time. Then we encountered freight congestion which held us for over an hour. The crew never bothered to tell us why we were sitting for so long until we were on out way again. Next, several switch errors chipped away at our chances of getting back on shedule. We had to stop and reverse back to go on another track at least three times in the general San Luis Obispo area. Then, after all these minor annoyances, Amtrak gave us the dual middle finger salute by not holding the last Surfliner for us. It would have been delayed about 30 min, seeing how it left 18 min before our arrival, and allowing for 10 min for transfers. We were then palced on a motorcoach, which got me to San Juan Capistrano at 1 AM. (95 min. late vs. the 30 I would have been if they held the Surfliner.) What a wonderful lasting impression to be left with.
-Firebert
My next trip was an over-nighter to Spokane and back on the Empire Builder. What a train!!! We were on-time or early at every stop. We had a great crew who just seemed to "get it" when it comes to customer service. I have wonderful night shots of the Builder equipment getting serviced at the Spokane Depot. The only bummer of this part of the trip was bored Rent-a-Cop in Spokane that was looking for a fight, and was rather upsed my friend and I would not give him one.
As for the return trip, it actually started off well. We were less than 30 min. late through the night, and by the time we reached Salinas, we were on time. Then we encountered freight congestion which held us for over an hour. The crew never bothered to tell us why we were sitting for so long until we were on out way again. Next, several switch errors chipped away at our chances of getting back on shedule. We had to stop and reverse back to go on another track at least three times in the general San Luis Obispo area. Then, after all these minor annoyances, Amtrak gave us the dual middle finger salute by not holding the last Surfliner for us. It would have been delayed about 30 min, seeing how it left 18 min before our arrival, and allowing for 10 min for transfers. We were then palced on a motorcoach, which got me to San Juan Capistrano at 1 AM. (95 min. late vs. the 30 I would have been if they held the Surfliner.) What a wonderful lasting impression to be left with.
-Firebert
