johnny.menhennet
Conductor
So I had a super great time this weekend. This is a pretty accurate description of what I did 
Although I wanted to head up to LA on Friday after school to see my grandma and cousin, I had a commitment at tae-kwon-do that required me to stay Friday night. It had been more than two months since I had last been up there, the longest drought I had had in a while, so I was anxious to get out of dodge. I left on 567 the next morning, the 8:05 out of San Diego, 8:40 from Solana Beach. We pulled into the parking lot 15 minutes before the train, then rushed into the station, handed my paperwork to the agent since there was no line, and was literally done with all of the unaccompanied minor crap in 2 minutes. We went down to the platform and waited. The train was for the most part on time, pulling in at 8:40 and leaving at 8:42. Right after I had sat down on the top level of the cafe, Car 2 (we board in business class), who walked through the vestibule other than a good friend from the Spanish 3 class I took in the fall?!? The ride up to LA was then super fun as we talked the entire way up to LA. The crew was exceptional, with Kirk and Alex Pavalopolis (something like that) being super nice and warm.
After getting in to LA, I met my grandma and cousin at the station, and we bought three Metro day passes to use. We went down and got on the Red Line, where my grandma found out from different sources that my cousin needed to be either 8 or 8 depending on who we talked to to ride with a ticket. Oh well there goes $5. He is almost 5 as it is, but not quite there. At 7th Metro, we transferred to the Expo Line. There was a huge crowd waiting on the Blue Line, but after it pulled in and left, the platform was empty. When we got on the Expo train that came in, we were three of only about 7 in that car, and the other cars were not more full. I'm not sure if the signal-timing is working at all yet, because we had to stop at every intersection not shared with the Blue Line and just wait. The passing Expo trains were all packed for some reason, with no major event we could determine, but all of the outbounds were empty. We got to Expo Park/USC after probably 18 minutes, where half of the train got off. We made the short walk through the Rose Garden to the Natural History Museum.
We had a great time there throughout the day, and ended up leaving around 4:15. We took another Expo train back at 4:35 or sometime around there. This one had more people getting on than detrained on my earlier run, but it was an empty train we were entering. The other stations we passed were empty, with neither debarkations or embarkations. Pico was busy enough, and at 7th Metro, we switched to another Red Line (or Purple, it doesn't matter) that was packed despite the Saturday evening time. My grandma would have taken it all the way from Universal City to pick me up, but ran out of time and had to be at the station so I would not be turned over to CPS. We got off the train and drove home for a relaxing dinner, before my cousin went to bed, surprisingly well compared to usual. We often have trouble with him since he has mild autism combined with severe ADHD.
The next morning, I woke up at 7:15, but layed in bed until practically 8. I went down to the office they have in the garage and found my grandma there. She had been up for a while searching for activities to do that day, but had come up short. We knew that the local Travel Town and Live Steamers museums/attractions were going to be jam-packed due to the Sunday of a three-day weekend with perfect weather. All of a sudden, she blurted out, "Do you want to go to Santa Barbara for the day?" I said sure, and she quickly asked when we could get up there, since she had wanted to take Mason to the zoo there for a long time. When I was 5-8ish, we would all go as a family (my grandma, my mom, me, and my siblings) to SB maybe twice a year during the summer, and loved it up there, but had not been in maybe 5 years at least. I quickly recited the schedule (now it was about 8:30, Mason had just awoken) and I told her that a northbound Surfliner went through VNC at 9:36. She said, "We can do that!" She got into her get-things-done mode that I almost never see and got Mason dressed and ready and herself all ready in about 5 minutes. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. She had to spend like 20 minutes on curling her eyelashes and so we finally left the house for the Van Nuys stations at 9:10, even though the drive takes almost 20 minutes, more with traffic. I called and made the reservation in the car for the three of us and she dropped me off at the front of the station and I ran out while she parked at 9:27. I didn't have the paper to scan at the quik-trak, so I ran to the Metrolink/Amtrak kiosks and punched in the code there. I already had all three tix printed by the time they got there two minutes later.
The train pulled in at 9:39, and we sat in the fifth car, a refurbed Superliner, and enjoyed the ride all the way up. It was Mason's first time on the Pacific Surfliner in more than a year, and he was loving every part of it, telling every single person that walked past that "Da conductor collected my ticket and I'm riding on an Amtrak wif my Donny!" We pulled into Santa Baraba at 11:29, 11 minutes early. We walked into the station to ask about the trolley to the zoo that we remembered, and I ended up convincing my grandma that leaving on the 4:30 Surfliner was too early and to go on the Starlight, since the prices were equal. We walked down State, waited at the Pier, and caught the Trolley, where you pay a quarter per person, to the zoo. We had a really good time there. It is a fantastic zoo, one of the best I know, definitely great for a city of its size. Mason's favorite part was the train ride that went around the perimeter, and he was always trying to keep us moving that we could not stay at one exhibit for long, but we still managed to have a good time
After a total of maybe 2 hours, we left and took the trolley back to the main area of town. We asked the waiter what the name of our old favorite restaurant might have been and he gave us the answer we were searching for. We ate at Eladio's, a mostly-casual-but-verging-on-upscale Italian place right kitty-corner from the pier. Food was good, Mason, not so much. After multiple tantrums, we were finally done and went to the large nice carousel we remembered a few blocks east (Santa Barbara's beach is south-facing, not west). We walked there and he loved it, with me riding it with him twice. We walked along the waterfront a little while before I ran into someone from tae-kwon-do! She had just finished her third year at Middlebury in Vermont and had gone to the same high school I'm at right now. She practically raised me at tae-kwon-do, helping out at all the classes I went to six days a week a few years ago. We said hi and she mentioned that she will be teaching at the studio this week, so I will see her again soon. We then went and walked along the beach, which ended up being 45 minutes of playing on some sand cliffs right next to the pier. Although both of us were sandy and Mason was a little bit wet, we were both happy. By this time, it was 5:30 and time to go to the station because I had checked Amtrak Status Maps and saw that it left San Luis Obispo right on time, so I knew the train would be decently early into Santa Barbara.
We got there at 5:35, used the bathroom, and then went outside right as 777 pulled in northbound. It was only a few minutes early, but it seemed to stay at least for 7 minutes, even though the Coast Starlight was visible right up the tracks, just waiting to pull in. 777 left, and immediately we saw the lights flicker back on on the front engine of the CS. It pulled in to the second track, but had waited just for the sole purpose of not having to make people wait for 777 to leave to cross the first track. As it pulled in, the consist was very surprising. You may think I saw it wrong, but this is how it was:
P42DC
P42DC
Heritage Baggage
Transdorm
Sleeper
Sleeper
CCC
Sightseer Lounge
Coach
Coach
Coach
Coach
I knew that we needed to get to the back of the train, so we were the first of many coach pax to board. We were assigned the first row of seats in the first car closest to Sightseer. I immediately had us go there and we got a seat on the ocean side, in an almost empty car. It filled up quickly and we left right on time. Mason was acting up the entire time and crawling all over our seats, so I was preoccupied dealing with him for a while, as was my grandma. Around Oxnard, I was explaining to my grandma why we were allowed to leave early from that station when a man sitting at the row of seats next to me chimed in to help me finish a sentence when I became lost for words. We started talking, and it turned out he was an extreme rail buff who was on a loop tour (I think). He was taking the train the entire length of the route. Apparently, there were some major equipment issues as the train was being prepared in Seattle. They had to pull the baggage, a sleeper, the diner, and the PPC. They were able to replace the baggage, but not the sleeper or the PPC. The CCC was the sole food service provider for the train. He speculated that it was a truck issue since apparently the PPC was not even legally allowed to move, except to a maintenance facility. He said most of the equipment was expected to deadhead the next day. He asked me where I knew so much about this kind of stuff for someone my age and I told him II was pretty active on AU. He said he was on here for a while, but never very active, and hadn't posted in like a year. I asked him what his username was, and he said he didn't even remember. He said he was pretty active on TrainWeb. As we were pulling into Van Nuys, we had to wait for about 12 minutes about three miles out of VNC at the Van Nuys Airport where we had to wait for 785 to pass. Even with the wait, we were still almost 30 minutes early into VNC. We went home, had a little snack, and went to bed.
I wanted to add today's trip back, but my mom is insisting on me turning the computer off, so I'll try to get it soon. And who knows, maybe I'll get around to writing up the East Coast Trip!!!
Edit: To make it easier to read
Although I wanted to head up to LA on Friday after school to see my grandma and cousin, I had a commitment at tae-kwon-do that required me to stay Friday night. It had been more than two months since I had last been up there, the longest drought I had had in a while, so I was anxious to get out of dodge. I left on 567 the next morning, the 8:05 out of San Diego, 8:40 from Solana Beach. We pulled into the parking lot 15 minutes before the train, then rushed into the station, handed my paperwork to the agent since there was no line, and was literally done with all of the unaccompanied minor crap in 2 minutes. We went down to the platform and waited. The train was for the most part on time, pulling in at 8:40 and leaving at 8:42. Right after I had sat down on the top level of the cafe, Car 2 (we board in business class), who walked through the vestibule other than a good friend from the Spanish 3 class I took in the fall?!? The ride up to LA was then super fun as we talked the entire way up to LA. The crew was exceptional, with Kirk and Alex Pavalopolis (something like that) being super nice and warm.
After getting in to LA, I met my grandma and cousin at the station, and we bought three Metro day passes to use. We went down and got on the Red Line, where my grandma found out from different sources that my cousin needed to be either 8 or 8 depending on who we talked to to ride with a ticket. Oh well there goes $5. He is almost 5 as it is, but not quite there. At 7th Metro, we transferred to the Expo Line. There was a huge crowd waiting on the Blue Line, but after it pulled in and left, the platform was empty. When we got on the Expo train that came in, we were three of only about 7 in that car, and the other cars were not more full. I'm not sure if the signal-timing is working at all yet, because we had to stop at every intersection not shared with the Blue Line and just wait. The passing Expo trains were all packed for some reason, with no major event we could determine, but all of the outbounds were empty. We got to Expo Park/USC after probably 18 minutes, where half of the train got off. We made the short walk through the Rose Garden to the Natural History Museum.
We had a great time there throughout the day, and ended up leaving around 4:15. We took another Expo train back at 4:35 or sometime around there. This one had more people getting on than detrained on my earlier run, but it was an empty train we were entering. The other stations we passed were empty, with neither debarkations or embarkations. Pico was busy enough, and at 7th Metro, we switched to another Red Line (or Purple, it doesn't matter) that was packed despite the Saturday evening time. My grandma would have taken it all the way from Universal City to pick me up, but ran out of time and had to be at the station so I would not be turned over to CPS. We got off the train and drove home for a relaxing dinner, before my cousin went to bed, surprisingly well compared to usual. We often have trouble with him since he has mild autism combined with severe ADHD.
The next morning, I woke up at 7:15, but layed in bed until practically 8. I went down to the office they have in the garage and found my grandma there. She had been up for a while searching for activities to do that day, but had come up short. We knew that the local Travel Town and Live Steamers museums/attractions were going to be jam-packed due to the Sunday of a three-day weekend with perfect weather. All of a sudden, she blurted out, "Do you want to go to Santa Barbara for the day?" I said sure, and she quickly asked when we could get up there, since she had wanted to take Mason to the zoo there for a long time. When I was 5-8ish, we would all go as a family (my grandma, my mom, me, and my siblings) to SB maybe twice a year during the summer, and loved it up there, but had not been in maybe 5 years at least. I quickly recited the schedule (now it was about 8:30, Mason had just awoken) and I told her that a northbound Surfliner went through VNC at 9:36. She said, "We can do that!" She got into her get-things-done mode that I almost never see and got Mason dressed and ready and herself all ready in about 5 minutes. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. She had to spend like 20 minutes on curling her eyelashes and so we finally left the house for the Van Nuys stations at 9:10, even though the drive takes almost 20 minutes, more with traffic. I called and made the reservation in the car for the three of us and she dropped me off at the front of the station and I ran out while she parked at 9:27. I didn't have the paper to scan at the quik-trak, so I ran to the Metrolink/Amtrak kiosks and punched in the code there. I already had all three tix printed by the time they got there two minutes later.
The train pulled in at 9:39, and we sat in the fifth car, a refurbed Superliner, and enjoyed the ride all the way up. It was Mason's first time on the Pacific Surfliner in more than a year, and he was loving every part of it, telling every single person that walked past that "Da conductor collected my ticket and I'm riding on an Amtrak wif my Donny!" We pulled into Santa Baraba at 11:29, 11 minutes early. We walked into the station to ask about the trolley to the zoo that we remembered, and I ended up convincing my grandma that leaving on the 4:30 Surfliner was too early and to go on the Starlight, since the prices were equal. We walked down State, waited at the Pier, and caught the Trolley, where you pay a quarter per person, to the zoo. We had a really good time there. It is a fantastic zoo, one of the best I know, definitely great for a city of its size. Mason's favorite part was the train ride that went around the perimeter, and he was always trying to keep us moving that we could not stay at one exhibit for long, but we still managed to have a good time
After a total of maybe 2 hours, we left and took the trolley back to the main area of town. We asked the waiter what the name of our old favorite restaurant might have been and he gave us the answer we were searching for. We ate at Eladio's, a mostly-casual-but-verging-on-upscale Italian place right kitty-corner from the pier. Food was good, Mason, not so much. After multiple tantrums, we were finally done and went to the large nice carousel we remembered a few blocks east (Santa Barbara's beach is south-facing, not west). We walked there and he loved it, with me riding it with him twice. We walked along the waterfront a little while before I ran into someone from tae-kwon-do! She had just finished her third year at Middlebury in Vermont and had gone to the same high school I'm at right now. She practically raised me at tae-kwon-do, helping out at all the classes I went to six days a week a few years ago. We said hi and she mentioned that she will be teaching at the studio this week, so I will see her again soon. We then went and walked along the beach, which ended up being 45 minutes of playing on some sand cliffs right next to the pier. Although both of us were sandy and Mason was a little bit wet, we were both happy. By this time, it was 5:30 and time to go to the station because I had checked Amtrak Status Maps and saw that it left San Luis Obispo right on time, so I knew the train would be decently early into Santa Barbara.
We got there at 5:35, used the bathroom, and then went outside right as 777 pulled in northbound. It was only a few minutes early, but it seemed to stay at least for 7 minutes, even though the Coast Starlight was visible right up the tracks, just waiting to pull in. 777 left, and immediately we saw the lights flicker back on on the front engine of the CS. It pulled in to the second track, but had waited just for the sole purpose of not having to make people wait for 777 to leave to cross the first track. As it pulled in, the consist was very surprising. You may think I saw it wrong, but this is how it was:
P42DC
P42DC
Heritage Baggage
Transdorm
Sleeper
Sleeper
CCC
Sightseer Lounge
Coach
Coach
Coach
Coach
I knew that we needed to get to the back of the train, so we were the first of many coach pax to board. We were assigned the first row of seats in the first car closest to Sightseer. I immediately had us go there and we got a seat on the ocean side, in an almost empty car. It filled up quickly and we left right on time. Mason was acting up the entire time and crawling all over our seats, so I was preoccupied dealing with him for a while, as was my grandma. Around Oxnard, I was explaining to my grandma why we were allowed to leave early from that station when a man sitting at the row of seats next to me chimed in to help me finish a sentence when I became lost for words. We started talking, and it turned out he was an extreme rail buff who was on a loop tour (I think). He was taking the train the entire length of the route. Apparently, there were some major equipment issues as the train was being prepared in Seattle. They had to pull the baggage, a sleeper, the diner, and the PPC. They were able to replace the baggage, but not the sleeper or the PPC. The CCC was the sole food service provider for the train. He speculated that it was a truck issue since apparently the PPC was not even legally allowed to move, except to a maintenance facility. He said most of the equipment was expected to deadhead the next day. He asked me where I knew so much about this kind of stuff for someone my age and I told him II was pretty active on AU. He said he was on here for a while, but never very active, and hadn't posted in like a year. I asked him what his username was, and he said he didn't even remember. He said he was pretty active on TrainWeb. As we were pulling into Van Nuys, we had to wait for about 12 minutes about three miles out of VNC at the Van Nuys Airport where we had to wait for 785 to pass. Even with the wait, we were still almost 30 minutes early into VNC. We went home, had a little snack, and went to bed.
I wanted to add today's trip back, but my mom is insisting on me turning the computer off, so I'll try to get it soon. And who knows, maybe I'll get around to writing up the East Coast Trip!!!
Edit: To make it easier to read
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