# California Rail Pass!



## Herb (Dec 4, 2012)

We purchased and used a California Rail Pass for a trip from Dunsmuir, CA to San Diego and return. The overall trip was a great success. The purchase of the pass was a failure, as it has to be done over the phone and we had to pick up and pay for the pass at a staffed California Amtrak station! We live in Mount Shasta CA, 70 miles on i-5 north of Redding CA. The closest CA-Amtrak staffed station is Sacramento CA!! Lucky for us, one of us by chance was going to the Bay Area the week end before our trip started. Other wise we could not have purchased this pass! I have also noticed that Amtrak has changed its USA Rail Pass purchase requirements, in that it also has to be purchased at a staffed Amtrak station!

In 2009, I purchased a USA Rail 30 day pass, and it was FedEXed to me at my home. This last May, I purchased a Euro Rail Pass on line and it was sent to my home also. So why does Amtrak require us to go to a staffed Amtrak station to pick up the rail pass?

OK, we traveled in coach seats and had all three meals on the Coast Starlight between Sacramento and Union Station in LA. The breakfast and lunch were just fine, but the dinner was dry and over cooked. We were hungry so we chowed down, but other's might have turned it back. Our car attendent saw that we were going all the way from Dunsmuir to LA, and he enabled us to switch to the right side of the car. Very nice! We concluded our days trip with a short Thruway bus trip to San Pedro. Two days later we returned to Union Station via the Thruway bus and traveled to San Diego for a day trip. We really enjoyed the quiet car on the way back to LAX, the lights were turned down and it was quiet!!

On our return north, we took the San Joaquin connection from San Pedro to Bakersfield. Our bus was 15 minutes late picking us up in San Pedro due to an inability of the bus to build enough air presssure for the brakes. The bus driver should have ordered another bus right then, because after loading us, we made it about 3 miles before he had to park in the emergency lane and call for a mechanic and replacement bus. We arrived in Bakersfield and took the next train to Fresno, getting in 3 hours late. The next evening we caught the 703 north to Sacramento, on time and then transferred to the Coast Starlight. The new Sacramento station is nice but an overall canopy would have been better than the little canopies over just platform.

We arrived back in Dunsmuir just a few minutes late! I have encouraged many of my friends to try the California Rail pass, as it is a great deal. The only REAL PROBLEM is the way it is delivered into the passengers possession! Please enable all the Rail Passes to be purchased on the web and delivered to their homes!!!


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