# Another West Coast Train Adventure



## CHamilton (Sep 20, 2013)

A couple of weeks ago, when AU member Danial Tijuana mentioned that the Coast Starlight would again be detouring through the Tehachapi Loop, and that a couple of the LA Rail private cars would be going along, I figured it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

I was already planning to take a short train trip last weekend, so I figured that extending it a bit wouldn't hurt, right?  Well, some of my clients were having technical problems with their websites, so I was pretty short of sleep when I boarded the Starlight on Thursday morning. Luckily, we pulled out on time, and one of my favorite crews, including LSA Nancy, PPC attendant Greg and SCA Gabriel, were on hand to make the trip enjoyable. We lost time in a few places, but arrived at LAUS pretty close to on time, shortly after 9 on Friday evening. I'm not bored by the CS--the scenery and the PPC are as nice as ever--but I don't have much to say about the trip that I haven't said before.

Now came the new part of the trip for me. One of the options of the Tehachapi excursion was to sleep over at LAUS in private car Tioga Pass on Friday night. So I had made arrangements with Norm Orfall, owner of the car, to do so, and he picked me up at the station and took me and some other passengers to the yard where the Tioga Pass was waiting.

Several of us were there, including me and a guy who had flown in from Maryland. But most of the group seemed to be southern Californians who had done similar trips many times before. It was rather like being in a family, although everyone was relaxed and very welcoming. We chatted until after midnight, then repaired to our bedrooms.

Naturally, we hadn't been in bed very long when, at 1 am, the yard crew arrived to attach us to Saturday's train 14, with much banging and abrupt moves. But I was tired enough that I slept through most of it anyway.

I've been on a couple of private cars, and I suppose I was expecting luxury: gold-plated sink taps and whatnot. Tioga Pass is not like that. It's comfortable, certainly, but not lavish. It has two bedrooms with toilet and shower between, a kitchen, crew quarters, a dining room, another toilet, an observation lounge, and an open observation platform at the back. The bedrooms have upper and lower bunks, a sink, and rather more room than you'd find in a Superliner. The toilet and shower (which I didn't try) are quite roomy. The chairs in the observation lounge are comfy and overstuffed, but well-worn.







Also joining us for the excursion would be dome car Silver Splendor, looking very familiar, since its layout is almost identical to the domes in which I had ridden on the Canadian a couple of months ago. I suspect that this car has had some recent renovations, as it is in tip-top shape. Maintaining these cars is not an inexpensive proposition!

So I awoke on Saturday morning, if not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at least better-rested, in time to meet more of the folks who would be riding with us. Danial, a newish AU member, was great fun to talk to, and I was rather astonished to find that a couple of the other folks on the excursion recognized me from my posting about the Tehachapi tour back in the spring. Nothing like being a celebrity (yeah, right!) I also met the food and wait staff along for the ride, including Tracy, who was very solicitous of our needs but was quite willing to crack jokes and give everyone, including her boss, a hard time.

The Amtrak rep in charge of coordinating with private cars came by, and asked if all was well. He was very friendly, which I gather from the car owners is a recent positive change from the days when Amtrak just barely tolerated private cars (for the income, of course). Let's hope that these sorts of changes--like Amtrak's forays into running excursions themselves--foreshadow more experimentation and entrepreneurship. 

We left LAUS right on time at 10:10 and followed the normal routing until we got to Burbank Junction, where the coast route turns west, but we went north. At this point, we did the reverse of the route we took in the spring, through Mojave and up through the Tehachapi Mountains and the famous loop. (More photos here.)
















Not surprisingly, the foamers staked out the dome and the observation platform. But it was hot outside (in the dome, too), and I was content to sit in the cool air of the lounge listening to Norm's endless stories of working for various railroads in California -- and telling truly dreadful jokes.  

Through all of this, we had simple but good food--breakfast snacks, fruit, sandwiches, and lasagna for dinner in the dining area of the Silver Splendor. Again, not fancy, but quite good. And I had the opportunity to have dinner with its owner, John Caestecker, where we talked about everything from the wine he chose for these trips (excellent!) to our views on the future of Amtrak. Danial and a young rail fan made up the rest of the foursome, and again, I was made to feel very much at home.

All of this while traversing the old main line through the Central Valley on the other side of towns from where the San Joaquins now run. The tracks were in quite good shape, although there were rather more bumps than one generally feels on the coast line. But although we made pretty good time, we were a couple of hours down by the time we got to Lathrop, where a couple of manual wye moves were needed to get us onto the tracks where the ACE trains run, and from there, into Oakland. The wye move seemed to go faster than it did when we went southbound in the spring; nevertheless, we were still late pulling into OKJ around 11 pm.

I didn't have to worry about making my connection, though, since all I had to do was leave the private cars and walk up to car 1431, where a roomette was waiting to take me back to Seattle. It took a few minutes for SCA Julio to have the bed made up, but I was comfortably situated before leaving the station.

I spent Sunday relaxing, as I always do on the CS, going back and forth between my room, the PPC, and the dining car. I had some good conversations over lunch, but was distressed (although, I suppose, not surprised) to find out that Amtrak didn't do a particularly good job of explaining to passengers their options during the detour. One couple from New Zealand was disappointed that they didn't get to see the coast. Another couple was given the option to bus from Santa Barbara to Oakland or backtrack to LA, but they hadn't known that the LA option was a train, which they would have preferred over a several-hour bus ride. Luckily, both couples were pretty relaxed about it, but Amtrak messed up their communication again.

On the whole, though, I had a wonderful, relaxing weekend, and look forward to more private car excursions when the budget will permit. But next, the Gathering


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## bobnjulie (Sep 20, 2013)

Sounds absolutely wonderful and a bucket list item for us for sure! I'll have to keep my ears better tuned in when there is a detour coming up! Thanks for the wonderful posts and wonderful photos!


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## billthebarn (Sep 20, 2013)

Nice story. Well written and easy to read.

This reminds me of a fellow I met on a trip up to Churchill, Manitoba. His first name is Dwight (forgot his last name). He had friends who owned private and related stories of some of the trips he had taken. He was from Delaware. I believe he is well known in the "railfan family".

He was the first to tell me of the "rare mileage club" ...people who would fly accross the country to ride a detour. They kept log books of all the detours they've ridden. Sounded kind of weird to me LOL! I met a Japanese-American railfan on the Chief a few years ago and he told me I had just missed the Talahatchi (sp?) detour. We were both connecting to the Coast Starlight. "Why would I want to travel inland when I could be riding along the coast?". "It's rare mileage" he answered.

I didn't mind the Wyoming detour. I've gone through Glenwood Springs so many times, it was a welcome relief. And that ride is also somewhat scenic.

Up until the Churchill trip mentioned above, I thought I was the only person who rode trains just for the hell of it. To be prepared for the weather, I googled "Churchill, Manitoba" and came accross three travelouges written by Canadian women from Brockville, ON. They were writing for an organization named Train Web. When I got home I looked into Train Web and found there were tens of thousands of people involved with railroads, in one way or another.

I enjoyed reading the travelogues...Daniel Chazin's, in particular. I also read about a group, OTOL, whose members took different trains from the east coast, met in Chicago, rode the Zephyr out to California, and spent a couple days riding the BART system and San Jose's system (and probably anything with wheels) and then they came home. I thought to myself, "what a bunch of fanatics". Discovered recently Jis is one of those OTOL guys LOL!

I realize it takes all kinds. I just enjoy riding scenic, long distance trains.


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## The Davy Crockett (Sep 20, 2013)

Nice report Charlie! Us old folks appreciate the larger font. I hope to ride 'the loop' someday, pv or not.


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## AmtrakBlue (Sep 20, 2013)

The Davy Crockett said:


> Nice report Charlie! Us old folks appreciate the larger font. I hope to ride 'the loop' someday, pv or not.


Aren't you going to the gathering ... to ride the loop? :giggle:


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## The Davy Crockett (Sep 20, 2013)

AmtrakBlue said:


> The Davy Crockett said:
> 
> 
> > Nice report Charlie! Us old folks appreciate the larger font. I hope to ride 'the loop' someday, pv or not.
> ...


Ummm well... ummm a ah ah... Now stop it! Your confusing me!


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## Bob Dylan (Sep 20, 2013)

Dirty Job but someone has to do it! (we're envious!)See you in Chicago Charlie! (will the Builder ever get you there before the Gathering Ends??? ^_^ ) Send us some of ya'lls Rain and Cool Weather , we sure need it!


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## CHamilton (Sep 20, 2013)

The Davy Crockett said:


> Nice report Charlie! Us old folks appreciate the larger font. I hope to ride 'the loop' someday, pv or not.


Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. The large font is a side-effect of my transferring the text from Evernote, and I was just too tired to fix it -- but hey, I'll take the credit even if it's not due


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## CHamilton (Sep 20, 2013)

jimhudson said:


> Dirty Job but someone has to do it! (we're envious!)See you in Chicago Charlie! (will the Builder ever get you there before the Gathering Ends??? ^_^ ) Send us some of ya'lls Rain and Cool Weather , we sure need it!


Hope so, Jim. I'm supposed to get in on Thursday evening after connecting with jebr and TraneMan along the way, so we should be having a good time, no matter how late the EB is. As to the rain, we haven't had much in a while, although it's supposed to be wet this weekend (of course!).


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