# Coast Starlight July 2009



## sunchaser (Jul 15, 2009)

California Zephyr, Coast Starlight July 2009

Northbound Coast Starlight

I neglected to mention in first trip report some other details about our sleeper. The velcro for the curtain did not match up, so it was difficult to secure for privacy. Did not bother to pull out the velcro dots, because they were well buried in the bag & it was so late. In addition, the curtain did not slide easily. The door, however, was like one possesed. It would slide open & closed at will. Was funny to watch after we got over being startled the first time. The sleeper was oriented so that the sofa was facing forward, the direction we were traveling.

We were waiting for the Coast Starlight on track 3, with all our stuff, when a lady with a cart drove by and said we all had to move further down to board.

So we did, a little. I was not convinced that she was right, because we are in Car 1431, bedroom D. Turned out I was right. We ended up having to walk further up than we originally were sitting.

There were alot of people waiting to board, both in sleepers & coach. One couple in a sleeper had golf clubs. The Coast Starlight #14 arrived about 10 minutes late. Hubby got video of the Coast Starlight arriving, I was bouncing up & down with excitement, seeing that the Parlour Car was in the consist! :lol:

We hurried up to our sleeper car, and another lady, (I think she was a conductor), said 'are you going to board?' We of course said yes, and started to board. I apologized in advance for all the extra bags to Chris, our sleeper attendant, & he teased me about it. This time, I just had one bag in the bedroom, which gave us more room.

The beds were made, & we crawled in & went to sleep. This sleeper was also oriented with the sofa facing forward. It was in much better shape, but not one of the newly refurbished. 

I woke up a little later than I wanted to. I managed to miss seeing Castle Crags heading up just past Dunsmuir (because I was too sleepy). I started to see Mt Shasta, tried to wake hubby, but he wouldn't get up. I wanted him to shoot video, since I didn't know how to use the new camera. Passing thru Mt Shasta City, it looks like the house we lived was no longer there. So I got dressed, toddled out the door with my cell phone, grabbed some coffee & went to the Parlour Car!!!! I took several pictures with my cell phone which turned out pretty good, cried a little because it was so beautiful and missed the area so much. Hubby showed up, without the camera!!! Oh well....We had coffee, waited around for breakfast. Craig was the Parlour Car Attendant. Nice young man, very tall. Really too tall to be comfortable in the Parlour Car!!! We had maple chicken sausages, eggs & potatoes for breakfast. The sausages were 'interesting', the rest was ok. Had quite a few conversations with him, asking questions. I told him about the 'velvetteen rabbit'. He said make sure we filled out the survey about it, and that they usually put the better sleeper nearest the diner. I also asked about the champagne, & he thought that maybe Chris had forgotten to offer it. He told us to remind Chris about it. So I asked Chris about the Champagne after lunch, he apologized & went to get some. He found some but it was warm, so he swapped it for 2 cold ones from another sleeper. It was J F J extra dry, very tasty. 

The views were beautiful. Before hubby got up I was able to even see Lake Shastina, where we had lived for a year & half. We saw cranes, herons, pelicans & seagulls hanging out at some of the lakes towards Klamath Falls, Oregon. First real stop was Klamath Falls. It was a smoke/fresh air/ crew change stop. We were there about 40 minutes, but still ahead of schedule.

We went to our sleeper, I glanced up & saw Duck tape! Seems one of you fine folks had applied some in that sleeper! :lol: We had to pull onto siding several times to allow freight to pass, but still seemed to be moving right along schedule. I think Chris came along and set up our lunch reservation for 12:00pm. I can't remember what we had for lunch right now, but it was good. I had cheesecake for dessert. Hubby is really enjoying the Parlour Car, saying he would want to ride it again! After going back to the room, we lounged about for awhile until they came around for wine tasting & dinner reservations. We returned to the parlour car around 3:30 for the wine tasting. The wines were interesting, one was a pinot grigio (hogue), 'whistle stop red' (snoqualmie), a syrah (columbia valley) and last was a reisling (hogue). The cheese was yummy too. Hubby won a prize for being the closest in answering 'how much wine is in a magnum". (it's 1500ml) He guessed 2 liters. He got a stuffed bear with a ribbon saying "Coast Starlight". We went back to our room again, and I noticed the bathroom odor on this train, too. This time I was prepared. I whipped out the spray disinfectant and sprayed the offending toliet (inside) & killed the odor right away. It seems as the trains hit their last leg of the route, the bathrooms do not get as much attention. I'm assuming it's because they don't have the time to give them a quick once over. Chris seemed to be busy most of the time, we didn't see him alot. It seemed he was a bit overloaded. I think all the roomettes were full. I know the H room was in use, & the family bedroom too. And IIRC all the bedrooms were full. The ice chest was empty more than once. I let him know one time, he seemed surprised it was empty already. But every interaction with him was very pleasant. We stopped at Portland around 3:40 for a smoke/fresh air/crew change break. We spent most of the time shmoozing with the staff & other pax outdoors. I was so distracted that we did not go into the station or look for the disney train. The Cascades was blocking the view of the station, or I would have paid more attention.  We went to dinner in the Parlour Car at 5:00pm. I think we had the zinfandel braised chicken. And Ice Cream for dessert. After dinner, we went back to our room to repack for detraining at Olympia, Wa. After we had our stop, we had to wait for the bridge to be lowered again. I wished we could have videoed that too. We ended up waiting for a couple more freights before we got to Olympia, Wa, pulling in about 20 minutes late, not bad at all. As we detrained, a lovely lady was waiting with two carts for our bags. The Olympia Centennial Station is staffed entirely by volunteers, & was refurbished entirely by community donations. Quite a nice stop. As we were walking past the train, a woman from coach had opened the vestibule window and was trying to climb out! She said there was a crazy man upstairs...she was drunk. I told her to shut the window & go find the Conductor upstairs. She was yelling help me. Then she stopped. I think somebody noticed her & took care of it. :huh: Hubby's cousin was there to meet us, & then we went to her house for the next 9 days. Overall the Starlight was great! I did learn something quite by accident-if you are standing in front of the coffee station in a sleeper, looking above towards the stairs, there is a sign with an arrow directing you towards the cafe car! That sure would have helped on the Zephyr, where I accidentally end up in the transdorm! Before we got off the Starlight, I had asked Chris about the legendary sleeper attendant Cruz Madrid. I had read about him on trainweb.com. He said they used to travel together on the Starlight all the time. He said he would call Cruz & warn him about us, since we would be in his sleeper.(he was teasing us, he enjoyed teasing & kidding with us throughout the trip). :lol: More to come....... Hubby is already talking about doing it again next year!!!


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## Rail Freak (Jul 15, 2009)

Great Report! Reminds me how excited I was on the #11 last Sept.!!!!

RF


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## Shanghai (Jul 15, 2009)

Very nice report. I hope I can ride that train some day, particularly the Parlour Car.


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## the_traveler (Jul 15, 2009)

I too enjoy the Olympia station! It is a great small station. (I was there off the CS from LAX, before reversing back to go to PDX.)


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## JayPea (Jul 15, 2009)

I loved your report! I'm looking much forward to my first-ever CS trip on August 6-7 as the last leg of my Slidell Loophole trip. I like the Centennial station at Olympia too. Very pretty station.


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## pennyk (Jul 15, 2009)

I, too, loved your report. In 2010, I am planning to travel on the CZ and Coast Starlight (from Sacramento to Seattle). Thanks.


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## Nickrapak (Jul 16, 2009)

I don't know about the best car being nearest the diner. On my trip on the 14, My car (Also 1431, with Chris as the attendant!) was a Superliner II, whereas the one closest to the diner was a refurbished Superliner I that had some serious suspension issues.


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## Railroad Bill (Jul 17, 2009)

Enjoyed your trip report immensely!!. We have been on the CS a couple times now and it is a great ride. 

Railroad Bill

Next Stop NYP in Sept.


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