# Denver to St. Paul, through the mountains



## Ispolkom (Jun 8, 2010)

*Part 1: California Zephyr, Denver-Sacramento, May 29-30*

Mrs. Ispolkom and I just returned from a quick one-zone AGR award trip from Denver to St. Paul, via Sacramento and Portland. All in all it was an excellent trip, with one big exception.

We flew Southwest from MSP to DEN, and it was as painless as flying can be today. The flight left from the younger, prettier, more petite of MSP's two terminals, and check-in and security lines were minimal. Heck, the TSAers weren't even glum. The wait at the gate was enlivened by a surprise marriage proposal organized by the gate attendant (though I thought that it would have been more entertaining if she had said, "No!"). The plane left late and arrived early, thanks to that Go-Fast Button, I guess. We even had an empty seat between us.

Our hotel was downtown, a long and expensive taxi ride from the airport, which seems to be located in southern Wyoming. The Doubletree Curtis is a whimsically redecorated old hotel. I supposed that I shouldn't complain, because our room was clean and quiet, and the front-desk staff was friendly and competent. It’s the hotel design I didn’t like. Each floor has a theme. Our floor, seven, was the “Laugh Out Loud” floor. I didn’t mind the comedy movie posters in the hallway, or the Dudley Do-Right figurine over the toilet. What wore on me was that the elevator would laugh at me every time the doors opened. Every time. Even at 6:30 a.m. After this hotel and the previous Doubletree we stayed at (the Wit, in Chicago, which had bird songs and aromatherapy in the halls) I'm getting suspicious of the brand.

Early the next morning we were showered and packed, and after breakfast at the hotel we walked down the 16th Street Mall to Denver Union Station. There is a free bus on 16th street that was already running at 7:15 on Saturday morning, but we could use the walk.

Denver Union Station is enormous but the California Zephyr was late so we had plenty of time to walk around the waiting room before the Zephyr backed in. We were among the last to board, taking room C in car 531, a Superliner II sleeper. Ice on this sleeper was in the drawer under the coffee maker.

The Zephyr certainly lived up to its scenic reputation. The train begins to grind up a 2% grade after leaving Denver, swooping up around curves as it climbs into the Rockies. The engineering involved is very impressive. At times we looked up and could see two loops of the railroad tracks above us, on one side, while the Great Plains stretched out to the horizon on the other. Soon the train was gliding along ledges high above deep valleys and in and out of dozens of tunnels. The sightseer lounge was packed, so we enjoyed the view mostly from our bedroom.

What we didn’t enjoy so much was the failure of all the toilets in our car. The vacuum system the toilet uses isn’t very effective at higher altitudes, and such failures aren’t unknown. Alas, we only discovered the toilet failure after we had used the toilet and discovered that it wouldn't flush. The resulting situation lasted for 20 hours, until our stop in Winnemucca, Nevada, the next morning. The sleeper in front of us, a rebuilt Superliner I sleeper, had no toilet failures, so we used their facilities.

The NPS Trails & Rails program started this weekend, and we had a very exhaustive (and exhausting) guide, who had something to say about every town and hamlet we went through. She was accurate as far as I know, even regaling us with the nearby Rio Blanco underground nuclear test. (The idea was to fracture rock with a nuclear blast to release natural gas. It worked, but the gas was too radioactive to use. It seemed like a good idea at the time.) Fortunately, she didn't have access to the train PA system, so when we tired of her we could go back to our room.

Lunch was beef and green peppers over rice with a chipotle-tomato sauce. The dishes were plastic, but we had metal utensils. For dinner I finally had the chance to order the bison meatloaf, with the same chipotle sauce. I'd been looking for this for the past year at least, but never found it as the special. It really was good, especially because the chipotle sauce had some heat to it.

We cut cards for bottom bunk. I lost, jack to three, and climbed into the upper bunk. We soon fell asleep as the train clattered through Soldier Pass.

When we woke the sun was coming up and the train was stopped at Winnemucca. I instantly knew that it was Winnemucca and not, say Elko, because I looked at the hills behind the city and saw a “W” made of white rocks on a hill. See, years of travel out West do teach you something.

The stop took a while, as we had more than made up the hour we were late when we left Denver. We watched as a guy pumped out our sewage tanks and (apparently) reset the toilet system. The bathroom was still fetid, but at least the toilet worked.

We had breakfast with a retired couple from North Carolina who announced that this was their first and last Amtrak trip. I said something about how I could understand how the toilet issue would make them think that, but it seemed a bigger problem was that they didn't like "just sitting around for so long." I'm not sure what they expected.

This was our first trip with a scanner, and it was interesting to hear the different styles of dispatchers and engineers. Union Pacific dispatchers and engineers were pretty formal, and always used the military phonetic alphabet, while Amtrak engineers and conductors seemed more laid back. We didn't understand much of what we heard, but we were both glad we had bought the scanner.

It's been a couple of decades since I've been on the overland route through northern Nevada, and it sure is a lot of sagebrush, along with the occasional settlement or prison. Eventually things began to look greener, and we reached Reno. When I was last here, the California Zephyr had blocked downtown streets, but now a trench had replaced grade crossings. As we walked up and down the length of the train I noticed a woman with a dog on a leash running up and down. When we got the "all aboard" she and her dog got on our car. She was very confused, and kept asking where her car was. After ascertaining that she was in coach (it took six questions to get that bit of information), we sent her back through the dining car. Only then did we think a) she shouldn't have a dog on the train, and b) they really weren't going to like the dog in the dining car. Oh well, not my problem.

After Reno the train again began to struggle up a steep grade toward Donner Pass. There had been some snow in the Rockies, but by Donner Summit the snow next to the tracks was still several feet deep. Now tunnels mixed with concrete snow sheds, completely enclosed with occasional slits for light, not open like the ones on the Empire Builder route. (By the end of this trip we were connoisseurs of snow sheds.) We had great views of Donner Lake and of the mountains. I remember looking at snow shed so high up on the mountain when I visited Donner State Park, and now we were up there looking down. On this leg we had another Trails & Rails guide. This one had access to the train's PA system. I love noise-canceling headphones.

We had lunch with a couple of California Zephyr regulars (one commutes between a temporary programming assignment in Salt Lake City and his home in Davis). We happily traded AGR stories for an hour until we were told that they needed to turn our table. Mrs. Ispolkom and I returned to our bedroom, where we repacked our luggage into two pieces.

We arrived in Sacramento 45 minutes early. We checked our consolidated luggage for the day, and immediately set out for the California State Railroad Museum. I'd really recommend that anyone who has a chance visit this museum. Highlights included an old 12 section - 1 drawing room sleeper with the sections set up in various stages of use, and Lucius Beebe's private rail car. I'm no big locomotive fan, but even Mrs. Ispolkom was impressed by the enormous Southern Pacific cab-forward steam locomotive.

Our visit to Sacramento coincided with their annual jazz festival. We weren't willing to buy day passes for $45, but found that most acts were so well-amplified that you could hear just as well outside the venue. Mrs. Ispolkom got to attend mass at the Cathedral (a jazz mass, naturally), and we spent the evening listening to music and people watching.

We don't usually stay up late, so the Coast Starlight's midnight departure was not the best for us. We ended up at the train station about 11 p.m. and retrieved our luggage, and I felt pretty low. I was tired, and we still had at least an hour to wait, and I kind of wished that we weren't getting on another train. Whining wouldn't change anything, though, so I listened to some Bach on my mp3 player, the time passed, and eventually the Coast Starlight came clanging and thundering into the station. We boarded our sleeper (1430, bedroom E) and got two cups of ice from the styrofoam cooler at the corner by our bedroom. We mixed up a nightcap and I felt much better once we were moving again. And, hey, it was my turn for the bottom bunk.


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## the_traveler (Jun 8, 2010)

Great report and great advice about the CSRR museum! 

I would have opted for more train time (naturally) and bought a round trip coach ticket to like MTZ or EMY to connect to the CS earlier!


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## JayPea (Jun 8, 2010)

Great report! It brought back vivid memories of my CZ trip last year, Chicago-Sacramento. We, too, had an extended stop at Winnemucca, about half an hour if I remember right. The view as you climb out of Denver into the mountains is very spectacular. On the day I was on the CZ, in late March, it was very windy and the string of gravel-filled hopper cars that line the tracks on the way up the face of the mountains definitely helped that day. It was also on that trip I came close to meeting Traveler: we passed each other around the Glenwood Springs area as he was going on the CZ eastbound and I of couse was westbound!


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## Cascadia (Jun 8, 2010)

Thank you for the trip report, I would like to take this same trip someday, is it best to do it in the order you did, Denver to MSP, or is it just as good going the other way, MSP to Denver instead?

Most of my family is in the Minneapolis area so I will be working MSP into whatever long train trip I take in the future, I'm sure.

JayPea, that's funny you mentioned passing trains with the Traveler, my folks just took the Empire Builder out here and on the way back they knew this friend of theirs was going to be on the other train, and when they would pass each other, so they got some good pictures of the oncoming train, passing and heading away and printed them up and gave them to that person's brother to send along to her wherever she is now. Kind of a fun feature of their return trip.


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## TLC (Jun 10, 2010)

I'm new at this -- maybe 10 minutes or so since I registered. But already I'm confused. Is it OK for Isopolkom to leave us hanging about that lady and the dog in Reno? Or do I have to wait for Part 2? Tnx for any help on this.


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## Ispolkom (Jun 10, 2010)

Traveler, as usual you're right. We could have done everything we wanted to in Sacramento and caught a 9 p.m. Capitol Corridor train to Martinez. That way we would have boarded the Coast Starlight an hour earlier, plus we're getting triple points now in a targeted promotion.

Cascadia, the timing of mountain scenery is better if you go clockwise, as we did, but if you go counterclockwise you've got much more time in Portland to make your connection. I feared the Coast Starlight would be very late and we'd have the 14-hour bus ride from Klamath Falls to Pasco.

TLC, I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay in suspense. I never did hear what happened to the confused woman with dog. The train didn't stop, so she got to at least ride across Donner Pass.


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## Ispolkom (Jun 10, 2010)

*Part 2 The Coast Starlight, Sacramento - Portland*

Monday dawned cloudy and rainy. We washed up and got dressed and, more suspicious now, tried the toilet, since we were once more in the mountains in a Superliner II sleeper. Sure enough, no flush. I checked downstairs and the "Low Vacuum" light was illuminated. Our sleeping car attendant, Doris, was more on the ball than the one on the California Zephyr, as she knew how to reset the toilet system. Several times that morning she'd reset it, everyone would flush, and the vacuum would be broken again.

We walked through the Pacific Parlor Car, but the attendant told us that breakfast was being served in the dinner. Mrs. Ispolkom wanted to demand that we be seated in the PPC, but I reminded her that the breakfast menu was the same in both cars.

We were seated with a sullen teenager who neither removed his headphones nor spoke a word during breakfast. It seemed rude, but I reflected that he was far from the worst person I'd ever shared a dining car table with. I had my usual train breakfast: oatmeal, bacon, Tabasco sauce. As usual, the fruit served with the continental breakfast was a grapefruit half. I'm convinced that Amtrak must have gotten a great deal on grapefruit, because it's been at least a year since I've seen anything else at breakfast time.

After breakfast we moved to the PPC. I've read about it for years, but always pooh-poohed the claims about how great it was. Sort of like I always deprecated complaints about toilet failure. Let me set the record straight: the PPC is great, and it's really nasty when you have a bedroom and your toilet won't flush.

The PPC, for those who haven't yet had the opportunity to try it, is a double-level car, with a bar/service area at one end, then two pairs of dining car tables, then a cocktail area with small tables, then a dozen comfortable swivel chairs. We spent much of the trip to Portland in the latter chairs, as the train wound its way through the dripping, then snowy, then dripping again forests of the Cascade range. Sightseeing wasn't as good as it was on the California Zephyr because of the clouds and fog, but close up it was a moss-lover's paradise in the right-of-way. (And who doesn't love moss?)

We ate lunch in the PPC. I had a chicken salad wrap and a bowl of soup, while Mrs. Ispolkom had the vegetarian lasagna. Both were good, and even better, were different from the usual Amtrak menu. As we discovered, novelty is a great thing on a multi-day trip.

After lunch we were two-thirds of the attendees at the wine tasting, which meant a lot of cheese to try. Our comrade in the wine tasting was an interesting guy (father to the sullen teenager) who was traveling while his wife was away, serving in Iraq. We had a wide-ranging conversation, from cheese to trains around the world, to cheeses around the world. He recommended the canned cheese produced by Washington State University. I'm a little doubtful, since a) its canned, and b) it still needs to be refrigerated. Why bother canning?

By this time the train was already in the suburbs of Portland, so we repacked and prepared to leave the train. Looking at my watch I found that my worries about the connection were misplaced: we were arriving half an hour early.

Portland is a great city for many reasons, but it's near and dear to my heart especially for its beer. We dropped our luggage at the Metropolitan Lounge and set out to find some. I knew that several breweries were near the train station, but I had neglected to print out a map. What to do? I decided to wing it, remembering that you go right out the train station and up the hill. After several blocks we came upon the streetcar tracks. This was a good sign, as I remembered a map prepared by the OSU Geography Department that marked brewpubs near the street car. A few more blocks and we found the Rogue Alehouse and Distillery, an outpost of one of Oregon's pioneer microbreweries.

We only had 10-15 minutes, so our tasting was somewhat limited. Most of Rogue's beers were very well hopped, but all well-made. Their distilled products, on the other hand, were not so good. Dead Guy Whiskey just tasted unpleasant, while their Spruce Gin and Pink Gin won't make Tanqueray lose any sleep. We paid up and trotted back to the station, arriving just as the conductor announced boarding. I noticed a beautiful yellow Union Pacific passenger train on another track, but as I looked for my camera a freight train stopped on an intervening track, eliminating the chance at any pictures. We collected our baggage and boarded for an on-time departure.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 10, 2010)

Enjoying the TR, thanks!  Especially interesting about the toliets as we are riding the CZ/CS and SWC next month, seems to be a problem on most Western trains, I've been lucky and havent run into this problem yet! I was surprised that the PPC attendant sent yall to the diner for breakfast, we enjoyed having all our meals there when we rode last summer, the diner was always crowded/hectic since this is such a popular train as you know!Look forward to the next segment of yalls fantastic journey!


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## the_traveler (Jun 10, 2010)

Ispolkom said:


> We walked through the Pacific Parlor Car, but the attendant told us that breakfast was being served in the dinner. Mrs. Ispolkom wanted to demand that we be seated in the PPC, but I reminded her that the breakfast menu was the same in both cars........
> 
> Sort of like I always deprecated complaints about toilet failure.



Perhaps you were late, as the PPC breakfast times are shorter than the Dining Car, and

The breakfast items served in the PPC *ARE NOT* the same as served in the Ding Car.

Perhaps I'm lucky (or have bad timing :lol: ), but I've never had "toilet failure" problems on any trains!


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## Ispolkom (Jun 13, 2010)

*Part 3 Empire Builder Portland-Minot-St. Paul*

We were soon boarded on the eastbound Empire Builder, back in Bedroom E. Our SCA, Joe, was very efficient, explaining where the ice was (out, in a styrofoam cooler) and giving us our choice of cold dinners (roast beef, chicken breast, or shrimp). We chose one each of the beef and chicken, and as usual split them between us. Of the two, we both preferred the roast beef with horseradish to the chicken with corn salsa. Both dinners also had cut fruit (pretty fresh) and a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. The dinners were really good! Much better than I had expect.

Soon we were leaning back enjoying the rest of the Shiraz we had bought at the wine tasting on the Coast Starlight and admiring the gorgeous Columbia River gorge. I immediately thought of Woody Guthrie's "Roll on Columbia," especially as we started to pass the dams on the Columbia River. The only fly in the ointment was that we were three out of three for having our bedroom couch facing backwards. We visited the Trails and Rails people in the lounge car, and got our second parks passport stamp of the trip: Gold Rush National Park.

As the sun set we asked Joe to put down our beds and I crawled up into the upper bunk and was almost instantly asleep, only to be woken up by a start as the train derailed. I flailed about, trying to get free of the wreckage, until Mrs. Ispolkom reminded me that this was just the Portland section being switched onto the back of the Seattle section in Spokane. I then realized that the wreckage I was flailing about in was the crash netting. I unhooked it and climbed down to use the toilet, then went back up, reattached it, and quickly went back to sleep. Someday I'll get used to this maneuver.

We woke up around six, as the train climbed towards Whitefish, Montana, and Maria's Pass beyond. We marched forward through the two Portland coaches, the sightseer lounge, the two Seattle coaches to reach the dining car. I had pancakes and turkey sausage, my wife had the corned beef hash special. The turkey sausage had no flavor or texture, so I won't be ordering them again. On the other hand, the toilets worked.

We then spent the rest of the morning reading and watching the mountain scenery as the train wound through Maria's Pass. At lunch we sat with a couple traveling from Vancouver to a reunion at Notre Dame (55th, I think). They had discovered that neither of the two daily trains between Seattle and Vancouver connect to the eastbound Empire Builder. I assured them that connections are no better if you are westbound on the Empire Builder and wish to continue on to Vancouver. The gentleman, upon learning that I was stopping at Minot, asked if I'd ever heard of the Minot Mallards. Had I? I proceeded to give a five, or maybe ten minute history of the Minot Mallards, giving pride of place to their great Negro League players, including Satchel Paige. Apparently he had seen the Mallards play against the Winnipeg Goldeneyes long ago, but he didn't expect such a comprehensive response.

After lunch we of course participated in the wine tasting. The cheeses were identical to the ones we had enjoyed the day before on the Coast Starlight. As usual, they gave away the partially empty bottles of wine to people who answered trivia questions. You were supposed to raise you hand if you had the answer, but on hearing the first question: "How much gasoline was pumped into our locomotives at the last refueling stop?" Mrs. Ispolkom couldn't restrain herself and blurted out, "None. They have diesel engines." She got the bottle of wine, along with an admonition to raise her hand.

At dinner we were seated with a young Montanan who was a volunteer for the Rails and Trails program. It was his first trip, and he seemed very impressed by the dining car. After ascertaining that the program paid for his dinner, I recommended that he get the steak. We had the buffaloaf again. As we were talking, I mentioned that we were almost in North Dakota. My wife knew I was just making things up, because the scenery looked identical to what we'd been seeing for hours. I might seem the same to her, but I've gone along the Hi Line too many times. I pointed to the cliff at our left. "That looks like were almost in North Dakota." In a couple of minutes the branch line from Sidney appeared from the south, and suddenly Fort Union appeared, with a sign in front of it welcoming us to North Dakota.

Soon we were crossing Gassman Coulee on the high trestle. I tried calling Mom, but she'd already left for the station. I had told Mom that we'd be in the last car of the train, but when we arrived in Minot, a few minutes early, we got off with our luggage, to see Mom and my sisters heading to the front of the train, where they had seen cars marked "Sleeper." It required my loudest outdoor voice to get their attention.

We stood by the train, talking in the beautiful late evening summer light until we heard the all-aboard. Then my wife got back onto the train to continue back to St. Paul, while I went to my mother's house for a few days visit.

Several days later, Mom drove me back to the train station. The Empire Builder had already arrived, so I directed Mom to drive to the back of the train, parking in front of the Portland sleeper (I booked that, because a roomette was $40 cheaper than in the Seattle sleepers at the front of the train). Stephanie, the sleeping car attendant, said that she was impressed I knew which car I was traveling on. That's one thing I like about traveling from Minot -- you can go right up to the train car your going to take. She had already made up my bed, and I retired soon after we left Minot. It was just fine, except that Stephanie had made the bed so I'd be lying in the direction of travel, putting my head (and more importantly my shoulders) at the narrow end of the roomette, which was less comfortable.

After an early breakfast we arrived early into St. Paul, and I was happy to see my wife's smiling face as I left the train.

I wasn't sure that we'd enjoy such a long, continuous train journey. It's nice to break things up, with this was fun too. Now I have to wait 2-1/2 months until our next train trip: Chicago-Albuquerque, then Albuquerque-Los Angeles-Portland-Minot-St. Paul.


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## Cascadia (Jun 13, 2010)

I am glad you know your Minot Mallards but your companion would have been mentioning the Winnipeg Goldeyes, not Goldeneyes, am I right? I used to see Winnipeg play against the St. Paul Saints, I dated a guy who had season tickets and we would sit about ten rows down from the announcer's box. Do you go to Saints games? I loved to watch the trains go by and "wave at the train" from the stands. Also from Midway Stadium you get a fine view of the State Fair when it is on, and when it gets late the midway rides are lit up and you can watch a baseball game and see the Ferris wheel & roller coaster glowing on the fairgrounds, those are some true Minnesota memories.

We have a minor league team here in Bellingham, the Bells. I have yet to see a game, the season is very short, there is a game at 2:00 today but I didnt' plan for it & have a lot of loose ends to tie up here at home.

Monday the 21st I might go to a Vancouver Canadians game when I am up over the border.

Oh and thanks for the trip report


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## Ispolkom (Jun 13, 2010)

Thanks to all of people who have enjoyed this trip report. I so much enjoy reading trip reports in this forum that I hoped it was worth the effort to condense and sanitize my trip diary.

Cascadia, you're absolutely right, it's the Goldeyes. Named after the fish. Not Goldeneye, named after the James Bond movie. I haven't seen the Winnipeg team in ages, since the St. Paul Saints pulled out of the Northern League. I'm a big minor league fan, and try to get to half a dozen Saints games each season, but like the Bells the season is very short -- late May until Labor Day. But I'll have to go to a Twins game this year now that they are playing outside again. Sadly on this trip the Sacramento Rivercats were on the road the day we were in Sacramento.

On our next train trip, we've got tickets to an Albuquerque Isotopes game. I love going to a new ballpark. I always want to get there early to walk around, see what odd concessions they have, what local beers, but still get back to our seats before the national anthem.


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## Cascadia (Jun 14, 2010)

Our Bells season started June 4 and ends August 7! It is barely 2 months long. Most of the home games are on evenings after I get off work at six o'clock. Don't think I'll be heading over there after that - I just want to go home after work. I better catch a game or two this summer though or I'll feel stupid for not planning better.

Midway stadium is the coolest though for watching baseball, trains, and sometimes the State Fair. I have some fond memories of games there for sure! I went to quite a few but it's been a long time.

Now you see you could plan a trip to the NW coast here, and catch the Bells in Bellingham and the Canadians up in Vancouver, the little stadium there is right by Queen Elizabeth Park, a floral highlight of the city, now served by the new light rail line!


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## Ispolkom (Jun 17, 2010)

Cascadia said:


> Midway stadium is the coolest though for watching baseball, trains, and sometimes the State Fair. I have some fond memories of games there for sure! I went to quite a few but it's been a long time.
> Now you see you could plan a trip to the NW coast here, and catch the Bells in Bellingham and the Canadians up in Vancouver, the little stadium there is right by Queen Elizabeth Park, a floral highlight of the city, now served by the new light rail line!


I am planning another trip, though not until 2013, when we'll do the Seattle Opera Ring Cycle. It would be great to fit in baseball around the operas.

And a nice note came in the mail today from Amtrak, with a $250 voucher for our plumbing problems. I'm satisfied!


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## craftsman (Jun 28, 2010)

They've had what - 100 years to work that toilet problem?

Maybe they ought to, you know, hire an engineer (not the train kind, either) to figure it out.


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## AlanB (Jun 28, 2010)

craftsman said:


> They've had what - 100 years to work that toilet problem?
> 
> Maybe they ought to, you know, hire an engineer (not the train kind, either) to figure it out.


Aside from the fact that the Superliner cars haven't been around for 100 years, far less in fact, I suspect that it's not an easy problem to fix. The issue is low vacuum pressure when you get up too high. The most likely cause of low vacuum pressure under those circumstances is that above a certain altitude, the reduced atmospheric pressure affects leaks in the vacuum pipes, leading to the low vacuum pressure. Since those pipes run all over the car, you pretty much have to tear the walls off the car to fix all the pipes.

That's a major expense and a major job that takes the car out of service for a couple of months.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jun 28, 2010)

Excellent trip report, thanks so much for that wonderful read!

Just goes to show what a newbie I am with regard to some of these routes.

On the plus side I'll still get to see them for the first time yet! I really can't wait, just need to find a way to get the time and funds to make it happen.



AlanB said:


> Since those pipes run all over the car, you pretty much have to tear the walls off the car to fix all the pipes. That's a major expense and a major job that takes the car out of service for a couple of months.


Luckily Amtrak has figured out that if you just hand back $250 in future credit the issue never needs to be addressed. Smart thinking by America's most advanced passenger railroad.


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## AlanB (Jun 28, 2010)

daxomni said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > Since those pipes run all over the car, you pretty much have to tear the walls off the car to fix all the pipes. That's a major expense and a major job that takes the car out of service for a couple of months.
> ...


Why do you think that Amtrak has far more problems with the toilets in the Superliner II sleepers, than it does with the Superliner I sleepers?

That would be because as the bulk of the Superliner I's were refurbished and the walls were off, they fixed most of the problems. When money for the refurbisments ran out, the work stopped. IIRC, they were spending about a million per car on the refurbishments (not to mention 3 months out of service per car). They probably hand out about 2 or 3 $250 vouchers per day at most. So they've got hand out 1,333 vouchers or about 3 and half years worth of vouchers before they've even spent enough money to have refurbished one sleeper.


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