The idea for this trip started as an inkling just one day before taking it. I was doing some railfanning on a sunny but chilly Sunday afternoon at the Salem Amtrak Station when I decided that it had been far too long since my last train trip. As I sat on a bench outside the station, I decided that I would take just a short day trip to Seattle, since it allowed me to be back in time for my full day of classes at the college on Tuesday. Between going to school, volunteering two days a week at the high school and working at my job, I have been needing a break from the everyday challenges of life. What better way to do this than to plan a day escape to the Emerald City?
For this trip, I was able to do something that was quite unconventional: I convinced my mother and one of my sisters to come along as well. Getting my sister to come along was no big feat; if you’ve read my previous travelogues from earlier Amtrak trips I’ve taken, you already know of my sister’s love for Seattle. Getting my mom to go, however, was a whole different story.
When it comes to some things, my mom tends to be somewhat of a worrier -- always full of questions and scenarios of what could happen at any given moment. I answered her questions, listened to her voiced concerns and met them with as much knowledge about Amtrak as I could. She wondered how much time we would spend on the train. She wondered what to do if she were to park her car at the station all day (The Station provides both short and long term parking). She wondered what kind of activities I had in mind for Seattle (No plan whatsoever!) After a few hours of explanation and letting her sift through the idea of train travel, she decided to go.
Since there are only a few trains between Salem and Seattle each day, the best idea is to catch the earliest train into Seattle and the latest train back to Salem in order to optimize the amount of time you have in the city. If you’re staying for more than one day with no plans, this isn’t a problem. However, if you only have one day in Seattle, it is more of a necessity. With that being said, the plan is to catch the train #500 out of Salem at 6:42 AM, and come back from Seattle on the 5:30 PM train, Amtrak #509. In order to do this, we had to be up at about 4 AM in order to be prepared to be at the station by 6. Looks like it’s going to be an early evening for us!
Monday, 6:00 AM (Pacific Standard Time), 02/13/2012, Salem, Oregon
The day dawned pretty chilly and a bit rainy, typical of a February day here in the Willamette Valley. Of course, everything appears to be a little bleak when you have to be up at four in the morning. A quick call to the Amtrak hotline (1-800-USA RAIL) tells me that our train is currently on time and is en route to Albany, which is one stop before Salem. After preparing our carry-on baggage and grabbing a quick bite, we’re out the door and on our way to the station at about twenty minutes after five.
We arrived at the station at about five minutes to six. There were many passengers who were already there, as well as many cars parked in the parking lot from travellers who had left them there for the duration of their trip. I think this helped to alleviate some of my mom’s fears about leaving her car in an open parking lot, although I had assured her that it would be far from empty. After making sure we have everything, we venture through the wet and cold into the Salem Amtrak Station. Built in 1918, this station has one of the better-kept interiors of the stations I’ve been to and reminds one of the glory days of rail travel in this country. While my mom and sister tagged their luggage, I went to print our tickets from the Quik-Trak ticket machine provided in the small vestibule of the Salem station. That vestibule also includes a vending machine with snacks for hungry travellers. After printing our tickets, the only thing left to do is wait for the train.
Monday, 8:00 AM (Pacific Standard Time), 02/13/2012 – Union Station, Portland, OR
Train 500 left Salem at 6:45, about three minutes later than the scheduled departure time. Between Salem and Portland there is only one station, which is in Oregon City. Between Oregon City and the Portland station, there is quite a bit of slack time built into the schedule to allow for freight trains, city traffic, etc. When the trains are running close to on time and everything aligns just right, you can actually be late coming from Eugene, Albany or Salem and make it into Portland earlier than the scheduled arrival. This happened to our train this morning, and we glided to a stop at Portland’s Union Station at 7:50 AM, a full 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
After taking a short fresh air break, we are back on the train. It winds its way out of Portland, past the stock yards, and on its way to the Columbia crossing and the next station, Vancouver. Before we are able to cross the Columbia, however, the train slides to a stop. After waiting for a brief moment, the conductor comes on the intercom and explains the reason for the delay:
“In 1856, future President Abraham Lincoln represented a railroad company in a lawsuit against a company that controlled barge traffic on the Mississippi River to find out which held precedence. The barge company won that lawsuit, and the ruling was stated that river traffic took precedence over rail traffic. With that being the case, we’ll be on our way just as soon as these Columbia barges clear the bridge and the tracks are realigned.”
It would be nice if more Amtrak employees could have fun like this. I think that providing information in a fun yet informative way would make their passengers more sympathetic to delays like this one. Eventually the barges did clear the river, and we were on our way again. Unfortunately, however, it was not without some delay as we rolled into Vancouver, WA at 9:06 AM, 21 minutes late. From here on out we continued to be late, and eventually arrived into Seattle at 12:40 PM, 40 minutes late. From here, we need to be back to Seattle’s King Street Station by about 4:45 in order to catch the last train back to Salem.
Monday, 4:30 PM (Pacific Standard Time), 02/13/2012 – King Street Station, Seattle, WA
The four hours we spent in Seattle went by rather quickly. We went from the train station over to the ferry terminal to have lunch. This is mainly because I knew where it was, knew what the food offerings were and it allowed us to grab something quickly so not to lose any more time in the city. The ferry terminal was quite empty, as empty as I’ve ever seen it; however, I attribute this to it being the middle of winter and also the middle of the day. The only time I’ve ever been on the ferry has been early morning, mid-afternoon on a weekend, and once late at night on the last ferry out, so seeing it this empty is somewhat of a surprise for me.
Upon finishing our lunch, we headed over to the world-famous Pike Place Market. I had been here once before already and I thought that since my mom and sister like things like window shopping that this would be the perfect place to spend the remainder of our time in Seattle. I gave my sister my camera because I had already been there and really didn’t feel like taking any pictures today. She took some pretty cool pictures of various signs around Seattle and around Pike Place, so I’ll post some of those pictures at the end of this travelogue. We stopped at various venders, including one who did some pretty impressive graphic art. There was a piece that he had done that I would really like to have had, but I couldn’t justify spending $80 on it. Luckily, the vendor was able to help me discard my sad mood when a man that looked EXACTLY like John F. Kennedy passed the booth and he popped off with “Hello Mr. President, have a great day!” Needless to say we laughed really hard, and the JFK look-alike got a chuckle out of it as well.
After spending about three and a half hours at Pike Place, we returned to King Street Station to catch our train home. One thing my sister and mom both decided is that transportation by taxi is definitely not something they enjoy. Since I have been in larger cities such as Seattle, taking a taxi is not as big a deal to me now as it used to be, but I definitely understand their point of view and I make sure to tip my taxi driver extra when he provides a safe, smooth and quick ride to the desired destination.
Monday, 5:30 PM (Pacific Standard Time), 02/13/2012 – King Street Station, Seattle, WA
Although our tickets this morning were in coach, we are returning to Salem in Business Class. For being mom’s first train ride, I wanted her to experience both classes offered on the Amtrak Cascades, which is the Amtrak Route we travelled on today. It also allows us priority boarding and a coupon for a free item from the Café Car. (For more of a description on business class and the services provided by the Café Car, read my travelogue from July 2011.) We departed Seattle on time and continued to run mostly on time all the way into Portland. There were two gentlemen in business-type attire who already smelled of alcohol by the time we were leaving Seattle and kept going to the Café Car to purchase more. During one of their forays, I asked the conductor if we could be moved to a different part of the car and because the train was fairly empty tonight, he complied.
Between Portland and Salem, my sister and I went to use our cards for the purchase in the Café Car. While there, we met a nice Café Car attendant named Isabella who was interested to know about how we liked train travel. I told her of my travels on Amtrak and that I planned a long-distance trip for this summer on Amtrak’s Empire Builder route, she became quite excited. Apparently, she is moving to this route in a few months and will be either a Lounge Car attendant or a Dining Car attendant. I forget which it was that she said she would be doing, but perhaps I will see her later this year on my Empire Builder trip.
We arrived on time into Salem at 10:17, and after grabbing a late dinner we arrived home at about 11:15 PM. This was a fairly uneventful trip as far as the train travel, but after putting more than 500 miles under our belts we were definitely ready to call it a day by the time we got home! Stay tuned for my next rail travel blog, which will most likely be coming to you from Amtrak’s Empire Builder route.
- The Musical Traveler -
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Salem Railfanning Trip - February 12, 2012
It has been quite some time since I last rode the rails! My last train trip was in July 2011 during my five day vacation to Seattle. I have been planning my 2012 Summer Vacation since October of 2011, and it includes a lot of planning regarding trains since I’ve decided to make my first trek to the Midwest via Amtrak’s Empire Builder train to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota! Needless to say I have gotten the itch for some railroad-related fun, which brings me out to the Salem Amtrak Depot today.
The trip started with my mom and sister deciding that they would like to go shopping in Salem today. I quickly grabbed at the chance of making the twenty minute trip into town if they would drop me off at the depot for a couple of hours of train watching. They complied, thus making me a very happy camper!
I have decided in the short time span I have that I will be at the station for the arrival of both the Northbound and Southbound Coast Starlight trains. Since the Northbound arrives at 2:03pm and the Southbound arrives at 3:37pm, there isn’t much of a gap when it comes to railfanning these trains.
After calling 1-800-USA RAIL and listening to the delightful Julie (Amtrak’s automated telephone system), I find out that the Northbound Coast Starlight is running about 20 minutes late with an estimated arrival time of 2:25pm. This works fine for me, as I find out that the Southbound Starlight is right on schedule for its 3:37 arrival. I take my place on a bench on the platform and begin to watch for the Northbound Starlight. I am not disappointed; less than 10 minutes after I sit to wait, the station agent makes the normal boarding call over the outside public address system:
“Attention passengers: Amtrak train #14, the Coast Starlight, will be arriving shortly on track number one bound for Seattle and all intermediate points. Again, Amtrak train #14 will be arriving shortly on track number one bound for Seattle. Please have your tickets and identification ready.”
No less than two minutes later, here comes the Coast Starlight blaring into the station. Here’s a list of today’s consist:
132 P42DC Engine
467 EMD F59PHI Engine
1261 Heritage Baggage Car
39031 Superliner Sleeping Car
32009 Superliner Sleeping Car
32068 Superliner Sleeping Car
37016 Superliner Dining Car
38065 Superliner Dining Car
33048 Superliner Lounge Car
34037 Superliner Coach
34510 Superliner Coach
34113 Superliner Coach
This train is deadheading an Amtrak Cascades engine (467), most likely on its way from the Oakland or Los Angeles yard back to Seattle. I found it very interesting and also quite odd that this consist had two dining cars instead of the usual one. Perhaps one of the dining cars is also on its way up to Seattle, maybe as a substitute for the Empire Builder Dining Car. That is the only logical explanation I can come up with as to why the Coast Starlight would have two Dining Cars attached to its consist. Either way, the train is in the station but a minute, picks up its passengers and continues on to Seattle.
After the departure of the Northbound, I go into the station to wait for the next arrival. Although the weather is somewhat sunny, it is quite chilly and a bit windy so the indoor accommodations are quite welcome to me. As I go into the station, people are already beginning to arrive for the next train. I take a look around from my seat. We are quite lucky to have such a nice station in the Salem area for Amtrak patrons to use. I have been in other stations that are not nearly as nice, nor as well-kept as the Salem station (e.g., Seattle). I took a short look at the available literature for Amtrak patrons and grabbed an Amtrak National timetable as well as timetables for the Southwest Chief, Empire Builder, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr , Coast Starlight and Sunset Limited. I plan on making a lot of trips on Amtrak in the next 6 – 7 years, and these timetables will help me in my preparations in these journeys. When all is said and done, in the next 6 years or so I will have ridden almost every long distance train Amtrak offers, covering 38 states and more than 40,000 miles. Something to look forward to!
The Southbound Coast Starlight pulled into the station about 10 minutes late. It was a lucky thing for me, because I was so engrossed in my newfound literature that I completely forgot to be watching the clock for the arrival time! Luckily, the station agent made the announcement about five minutes before the arrival which still gave me plenty of time to get outside and have my camera ready. Although I got a video of both the Northbound and Southbound trains coming into the station, I failed to get a consist listing for the Southbound Starlight.
As I watched the Southbound Starlight round the corner at the far end of the platform and fade away into the distance, I knew that I had to travel on the train again – and soon! The plan I hatched in my head at that precise moment turned into an impromptu daycation for the very next day – a train ride to Seattle and a visit to Pike Place Market! I will have a travelogue and some updated photos from that trip soon. Until then, stay well!
The trip started with my mom and sister deciding that they would like to go shopping in Salem today. I quickly grabbed at the chance of making the twenty minute trip into town if they would drop me off at the depot for a couple of hours of train watching. They complied, thus making me a very happy camper!
I have decided in the short time span I have that I will be at the station for the arrival of both the Northbound and Southbound Coast Starlight trains. Since the Northbound arrives at 2:03pm and the Southbound arrives at 3:37pm, there isn’t much of a gap when it comes to railfanning these trains.
After calling 1-800-USA RAIL and listening to the delightful Julie (Amtrak’s automated telephone system), I find out that the Northbound Coast Starlight is running about 20 minutes late with an estimated arrival time of 2:25pm. This works fine for me, as I find out that the Southbound Starlight is right on schedule for its 3:37 arrival. I take my place on a bench on the platform and begin to watch for the Northbound Starlight. I am not disappointed; less than 10 minutes after I sit to wait, the station agent makes the normal boarding call over the outside public address system:
No less than two minutes later, here comes the Coast Starlight blaring into the station. Here’s a list of today’s consist:
132 P42DC Engine
467 EMD F59PHI Engine
1261 Heritage Baggage Car
39031 Superliner Sleeping Car
32009 Superliner Sleeping Car
32068 Superliner Sleeping Car
37016 Superliner Dining Car
38065 Superliner Dining Car
33048 Superliner Lounge Car
34037 Superliner Coach
34510 Superliner Coach
34113 Superliner Coach
This train is deadheading an Amtrak Cascades engine (467), most likely on its way from the Oakland or Los Angeles yard back to Seattle. I found it very interesting and also quite odd that this consist had two dining cars instead of the usual one. Perhaps one of the dining cars is also on its way up to Seattle, maybe as a substitute for the Empire Builder Dining Car. That is the only logical explanation I can come up with as to why the Coast Starlight would have two Dining Cars attached to its consist. Either way, the train is in the station but a minute, picks up its passengers and continues on to Seattle.
After the departure of the Northbound, I go into the station to wait for the next arrival. Although the weather is somewhat sunny, it is quite chilly and a bit windy so the indoor accommodations are quite welcome to me. As I go into the station, people are already beginning to arrive for the next train. I take a look around from my seat. We are quite lucky to have such a nice station in the Salem area for Amtrak patrons to use. I have been in other stations that are not nearly as nice, nor as well-kept as the Salem station (e.g., Seattle). I took a short look at the available literature for Amtrak patrons and grabbed an Amtrak National timetable as well as timetables for the Southwest Chief, Empire Builder, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr , Coast Starlight and Sunset Limited. I plan on making a lot of trips on Amtrak in the next 6 – 7 years, and these timetables will help me in my preparations in these journeys. When all is said and done, in the next 6 years or so I will have ridden almost every long distance train Amtrak offers, covering 38 states and more than 40,000 miles. Something to look forward to!
The Southbound Coast Starlight pulled into the station about 10 minutes late. It was a lucky thing for me, because I was so engrossed in my newfound literature that I completely forgot to be watching the clock for the arrival time! Luckily, the station agent made the announcement about five minutes before the arrival which still gave me plenty of time to get outside and have my camera ready. Although I got a video of both the Northbound and Southbound trains coming into the station, I failed to get a consist listing for the Southbound Starlight.
As I watched the Southbound Starlight round the corner at the far end of the platform and fade away into the distance, I knew that I had to travel on the train again – and soon! The plan I hatched in my head at that precise moment turned into an impromptu daycation for the very next day – a train ride to Seattle and a visit to Pike Place Market! I will have a travelogue and some updated photos from that trip soon. Until then, stay well!
Travelogue from my first Amtrak trip!
Greetings, one and all! I mentioned in my last travelogue that I would be writing a travelogue about the first time I ever took a train. The events from that day have somewhat faded into memory since it has been over a year since that first trip. I will try to recall the events as best as I can, but I am only human. :- )
With that being said, here is the travelogue from my first Amtrak trip.
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AMTRAK CASCADES TRAIN 500 – SALEM, OR TO SEATTLE, WA
Friday, 6:00 AM (Pacific Standard Time), 11/12/10, Salem, Oregon
I have been a train enthusiast since childhood, so you might think that I would be excited for my first journey on the rails. However, the purpose of this trip is not a happy one. My sister and I are on our way to attend my Grandmother’s funeral. She passed away at home, 4 days after her 65th Birthday. The plan is for my sister and I to ride the train to Seattle, Washington, arriving at Noon; take a taxi over to the Colman Docks and then take a ferry over to Bremerton, where my grandparents live. We will then meet my uncle and go see the rest of the family. Soon, we find out that these plans are for naught. When riding an Amtrak train, it is best not to plan to adhere to a strictly set time schedule.
It is a cold November morning here at the Amtrak Station on 13th Street in Salem, OR. My sister and I are about to board Amtrak Cascades route 500 to Seattle. Neither of us has ever taken a train before, and although neither of us is thrilled about the circumstances it is still kind of exciting to ride the train! After leaving home at about 5:30 AM (after having been up since 3), we arrive at the Salem Amtrak station just a few minutes before the station opens at 6:00 AM. After the station is opened for the day, we promptly went inside. There were quite a few of us waiting to get into the station; there are maybe 20 people, with most of them taking the train and a few people there just for a send-off. Upon trying to print our tickets via the Quik-Trak Ticket Kiosk, I find that the machine is out of order. I then went over and spoke with the station agent (who was rather discourteous and snide), explained the situation about the Quik-Trak machine and requested to have her print our tickets for the approaching journey. Irritated, the station agent went over to the kiosk, slapped a hand-written “Out of Order” sign on it, came back to the desk and reluctantly took care of my request. After tagging and weighing our baggage, we are ready for travel!
Friday, 6:45 AM (PST), 11/12/10, Salem, Oregon
As I have come to find out from my other trips on Amtrak, trains are rarely exactly on time. This is the case today; we are all on the platform for the scheduled arrival time of 6:42 AM when we are told that the train is running a few minutes late. Fortunately, it really is only a few minutes. The train arrives at 6:47 AM. The conductor meets us at the door to our car, checks our tickets and identification, and instructs us on how to get to our seats. Little did we know that these would be our seats until 6:00 PM that evening, nearly 12 hours later! The train does not stop for very long at the Salem station; after making its 6:47 stop we are under way one minute later at 6:48. After taking our seats in our coach car, we began to experience some of the thrill of riding the rails for the first time!
Although the sun is beginning to come up, it still appears to be quite cold outside. We speed past the towns that dot the I-5 Corridor along our route as it meanders in a northerly fashion to Portland. Along the way we make a stop at Oregon City. To people outside of Oregon, Oregon City is known as the end of the world-famous Oregon Trail. To most Oregonians, it is known simply as a suburb to the much larger Portland. We stop here at 7:31, about 7 minutes behind the scheduled arrival time of 7:24. We sit in this station for what seems to be less than thirty seconds, as no one is apparently boarding or detraining here today. As we continue towards Portland, it is quite clear that the train is making excellent time. We have yet to be pulled into any sidings by dispatchers, and there have been no other trains to pass us on the adjacent tracks. I estimate that we will arrive into Portland ahead of schedule; this estimate turns out to be correct as we glide into Portland’s historic Union Station, 9 minutes before the scheduled arrival time of 8:05 AM. It would appear that there is quite a bit of padding built into the schedule between Salem and Portland!
Friday, 8:15 AM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Portland, Oregon
With an extended layover in Portland, my sister and I take advantage of the time by going to the Bistro Car to get some breakfast. On most long distance Amtrak trains, the Bistro Car is normally referred to as the Café/Lounge car. I’m not sure why it is referred to as the Bistro Car on this particular route; perhaps it is simply because this is not a long distance train. The corridor in which the Cascades trains all operate is only 466 miles long between Vancouver, BC and Eugene, Oregon and the trip takes just 10 hours. Perhaps this is why Amtrak has not labeled it as a Café Car. We are greeted in the Café Car by the attendant, a hearty fellow with a red goatee named Jeff. We exchange a few pleasantries with Jeff as we wait for our food.
As we waited for our food, I barely noticed a tip jar at the far end of the counter. I get the feeling that Jeff purposely put the tip jar in an out of the way place so that it was not noticed, an act that speaks volumes about the character of our cheerful car attendant. When the service is as good as Jeff provided, I have no problem leaving a robust tip! After receiving our food, I make sure to leave a few dollars in the inconspicuous and almost unnoticeable tip jar for Jeff as we return to our seats. Just about the time we finished our breakfast, the conductor announces that we are underway and that our next stop is a short jaunt across the river in Vancouver, Washington.
We arrive in Vancouver right on time at 8:45 AM, and continue on our way to the next stop, Kelso, Washington. We arrive at Kelso at 9:36 about 16 minutes late, and sit at this stop for several minutes for no apparent reason. No announcement is made regarding why we are stopped, and nobody seems to have an idea of what could be causing the delay. Right about the same time I notice some train inspectors from Burlington Northern walking past outside our car, a voice comes over the train’s PA system. It is the voice of Duncan White, the Conductor for our trip to Seattle. Duncan explains that the engineer running the train was experiencing a loss of air pressure in his brake system. Officials from Burlington Northern were walking the train to check hoses and try to locate the source of the problem. Little did we know that the announcement Duncan made was going to be the most detailed and informative notice us passengers would get all day.
Friday, 9:45 AM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Kelso-Longview, Washington
After the brake check, we are cleared by the Burlington Northern crew to continue on our journey. We go along at a steady pace for a bit as we clear the freight yards of Kelso and make our way back out onto the BNSF mainline. We go at a quick clip for the next several miles. It is then that I start to notice a substantial amount of slowing in our speed. Just as many of the other passengers are finally starting to pick up on this decrease of speed, we glide to a stop. We are stopped here for maybe 5 minutes, and then continue on at a very slow speed, maybe 30 miles per hour. After less than two minutes, the train once again comes to a stop. At this point we begin to back up, going about the same speed of 30 or so miles an hour. The reason for this is that the train is being pulled onto a siding, or an adjacent track to the mainline. It is here that we will sit for the next 8 hours right outside the city of Vader, Washington, which is about halfway between Kelso-Longview and Centralia, Washington.
Friday, 1:15 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Vader, Washington
We’ve officially been stranded in the same location for 3 hours now. Conductor Duncan made an announcement right after we pulled into the siding that we had lost all pressure in our air braking system and that the brakes were not able to be applied when the train was in this condition. That assessment seems quite silly to me as we were able to go forward, stop, back up and stop again to get into our current position. Either way, the engineer called for a Burlington Northern crew including a mechanic in from Portland, an hour and a half drive from where we are at currently. The work crew showed up at about 12:30 and has been working since then. At least, we have to assume that they have been working, because there have been no further on board announcements.
Around 11 o’clock, I supposed that the Bistro Car would eventually run out of supplies since we were stranded. I saw many people going back and forth to the Bistro Car, and I figured that if my sister and I wanted something for lunch, now would be the time to get it. I am glad we went when we did, because not long after that Jeff came across the PA System to let us know that the Bistro Car was out of supplies and that he had nothing left to sell his passengers in the way of food. He did mention to us that he had plenty of Amtrak souvenir items left to sell, but advised us that they would not make the tastiest of meals. Boy, does this guy have a sense of humor! I imagine that if more passengers weren’t irritated with the situation, they would have found the situation quite comical.
Speaking of comical situations, there is always much to be said about the people who are travelling around you. A young gentleman named Huey was sitting across from my sister and I. When he boarded the train in Portland he had been quite talkative, but had since gone to a back and forth position of being on his cell phone and listening to an iPod. Across the aisle from us, the situations were no less comical. Seated next to each other were an older lady (whom I believe was named Mary) and two college students. One of the college students seemed like he must have been exhausted, because I only ever saw him leave his seat to use the restroom or to go to the Bistro Car. Otherwise, he slept quite soundly in his seat.
The other college student in the seat next to the sleepy passenger deserves a paragraph all of his own. This young man was quite honestly the most entertaining thing happening on board the train for the first few hours of our marooning. Although he was asleep until Kelso, once he awoke he was nothing but entertainment for us. I don’t particularly find public displays of foul language to be something that is appropriate, especially in the company of those who are older than you. Apparently, this young gent never got that memo! From the time he awoke in Kelso, he was on his cell phone. I’m not sure who he was talking to, but every other word out of his mouth was the “F” word. Normally in these kinds of situations, the Conductor would be told and the person would be put off the train. In this case, however, it didn’t matter much; it’s not like he’d be going anywhere any faster than the rest of us! Overall the entire scene grew less funny and became wearier as the day progressed.
Friday, 3:15 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Vader, Washington
We’ve been stranded at the same spot just outside of Vader for just over five hours now at this point when an announcement comes across the intercom: They’re sending busses from Portland to ship us to Seattle and all intermediate points! This is the good news. The bad news? They have just now ordered those busses, and they have to come all the way from Portland. Best case scenario, they will arrive at 5 PM. During all this, the Conductor attempts to take a head count. We have one of two options: We can either take the chartered busses to Seattle and all intermediate points; OR, we can stay onboard the Amtrak Cascades in its current position until the northbound Coast Starlight arrives, around 6 PM. My sister and I make a quick decision to wait for the northbound Starlight. It seems as if many people are taking the busses, and at this point we won’t mind an hour wait on an emptier train.
Friday, 6:30 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Vader, Washington
The charter busses from Portland arrived at around 4:45 PM. Since it is November, it was completely dark outside by this point in time. The busses leave at about 5:15, once it is confirmed that everyone who wants to take the busses is on them and those of us that are left want to wait it out for the Coast Starlight to show up. Thankfully, the Coast Starlight shows up right at the quoted time of 6:15 PM. It stops directly aligned next to us on the adjacent track. We all grab our baggage and step off the Cascades and onto the Coast Starlight. Since it is early November and the train is usually pretty empty this time of year, the Car Attendant puts us upstairs into a roomette. I am seated in a roomette with Huey on the west side of the train, and my sister is seated in a roomette across the hall from us with a young college girl named Taylor. We are all thankful to be on a train that is moving!
Friday, 7:15 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Centralia, Washington
We have been quoted an arrival time of 9 PM into Seattle’s Union Station. Unfortunately, we are pulled into a siding by the BNSF dispatcher and told to wait until a southbound freighter has passed us. All in all, we waited almost 25 minutes until this freighter finally passed, and started moving again at 7:40 PM. We manage to lose some more time between Centralia and Seattle.
Friday, 9:45 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Seattle, Washington
After this harrowing and exhausting day, the Coast Starlight glides us into Seattle at 9:45 PM - Nearly 10 hours after our scheduled arrival time of Noon, and merely an hour late from their own scheduled arrival time of 8:45 PM. For a train going from Los Angeles to Seattle in the course of a day and a half, an hour late isn’t bad! Completely exhausted, my sister and I are both fed up with Amtrak and emotionally drained at the further stress of this trip -- not counting the stress of the original reason for the trip -- remember, this trip was for my grandmother’s funeral to begin with…not really an avenue for relaxation! That being said, my sister and I opt to just go straight to the Washington State Ferry terminal at Colman Dock and decide to not even deal with Amtrak’s Customer Relations Department. Being a person who gets somewhat hot under the collar when I’m irritated and under stress, I figured this would be the better option.
I didn’t expect to get any of the cost of my trip refunded by Amtrak, and in that instance I turned out to be right. I heard a person being turned away by an Amtrak employee with the explanation, “It’s not our fault; we don’t have to guarantee an on-time connection.” This person obviously missed a connecting train, and Amtrak should be at fault for that despite whether or not the person was connecting with a train that is a guaranteed connection. Normally I would side with Amtrak on this, since the Cascades is not a guaranteed connection train; however, under the special circumstances of this trip I think Amtrak should have made the concession of refunding some of the passengers’ money.
My sister is quite disappointed with the events of this trip. It would turn out to be her only trip to Seattle, a city she loves dearly. I had hoped to show her around the city a little bit, but arriving 10 hours late doesn’t afford many opportunities for sightseeing. We had originally decided to take our first taxi ride ever in Seattle, but by the time we got to the station neither of us had the energy or patience to deal with more public transportation. Being a Friday night in Seattle, it was quite busy; however, this did not hamper us in our decision to walk from King Street Station to the Ferry Terminal. It is about a one half mile walk, and we did it in just under 15 minutes. We waited about 45 minutes in the Colman Dock Ferry Terminal before our 10:45 PM ferry to Bremerton. After taking an hour ferry ride across Puget Sound we are picked up at the Ferry Terminal in Bremerton at 11:40 PM by our father, and finally got to bed at around 2 AM. At this point, I had been up for 23 hours and was more than ready for a good night’s rest! Thankfully, we had not paid for round-trip tickets on this journey as we would be returning to Oregon with my other sister, who was driving up early Saturday morning.
All in all, my first Amtrak journey was not the greatest although it did afford me the opportunity to take two trains on one route, which is quite rare. I can look back at this trip now and make jokes about it, having ridden more than 1,000 total miles on Amtrak. It is definitely a story I will never forget, and hopefully it will have been the worst experience I ever get to have with Amtrak as I plan to travel with them again in the future!
With that being said, here is the travelogue from my first Amtrak trip.
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Friday, 6:00 AM (Pacific Standard Time), 11/12/10, Salem, Oregon
I have been a train enthusiast since childhood, so you might think that I would be excited for my first journey on the rails. However, the purpose of this trip is not a happy one. My sister and I are on our way to attend my Grandmother’s funeral. She passed away at home, 4 days after her 65th Birthday. The plan is for my sister and I to ride the train to Seattle, Washington, arriving at Noon; take a taxi over to the Colman Docks and then take a ferry over to Bremerton, where my grandparents live. We will then meet my uncle and go see the rest of the family. Soon, we find out that these plans are for naught. When riding an Amtrak train, it is best not to plan to adhere to a strictly set time schedule.
It is a cold November morning here at the Amtrak Station on 13th Street in Salem, OR. My sister and I are about to board Amtrak Cascades route 500 to Seattle. Neither of us has ever taken a train before, and although neither of us is thrilled about the circumstances it is still kind of exciting to ride the train! After leaving home at about 5:30 AM (after having been up since 3), we arrive at the Salem Amtrak station just a few minutes before the station opens at 6:00 AM. After the station is opened for the day, we promptly went inside. There were quite a few of us waiting to get into the station; there are maybe 20 people, with most of them taking the train and a few people there just for a send-off. Upon trying to print our tickets via the Quik-Trak Ticket Kiosk, I find that the machine is out of order. I then went over and spoke with the station agent (who was rather discourteous and snide), explained the situation about the Quik-Trak machine and requested to have her print our tickets for the approaching journey. Irritated, the station agent went over to the kiosk, slapped a hand-written “Out of Order” sign on it, came back to the desk and reluctantly took care of my request. After tagging and weighing our baggage, we are ready for travel!
Friday, 6:45 AM (PST), 11/12/10, Salem, Oregon
As I have come to find out from my other trips on Amtrak, trains are rarely exactly on time. This is the case today; we are all on the platform for the scheduled arrival time of 6:42 AM when we are told that the train is running a few minutes late. Fortunately, it really is only a few minutes. The train arrives at 6:47 AM. The conductor meets us at the door to our car, checks our tickets and identification, and instructs us on how to get to our seats. Little did we know that these would be our seats until 6:00 PM that evening, nearly 12 hours later! The train does not stop for very long at the Salem station; after making its 6:47 stop we are under way one minute later at 6:48. After taking our seats in our coach car, we began to experience some of the thrill of riding the rails for the first time!
Although the sun is beginning to come up, it still appears to be quite cold outside. We speed past the towns that dot the I-5 Corridor along our route as it meanders in a northerly fashion to Portland. Along the way we make a stop at Oregon City. To people outside of Oregon, Oregon City is known as the end of the world-famous Oregon Trail. To most Oregonians, it is known simply as a suburb to the much larger Portland. We stop here at 7:31, about 7 minutes behind the scheduled arrival time of 7:24. We sit in this station for what seems to be less than thirty seconds, as no one is apparently boarding or detraining here today. As we continue towards Portland, it is quite clear that the train is making excellent time. We have yet to be pulled into any sidings by dispatchers, and there have been no other trains to pass us on the adjacent tracks. I estimate that we will arrive into Portland ahead of schedule; this estimate turns out to be correct as we glide into Portland’s historic Union Station, 9 minutes before the scheduled arrival time of 8:05 AM. It would appear that there is quite a bit of padding built into the schedule between Salem and Portland!
Friday, 8:15 AM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Portland, Oregon
With an extended layover in Portland, my sister and I take advantage of the time by going to the Bistro Car to get some breakfast. On most long distance Amtrak trains, the Bistro Car is normally referred to as the Café/Lounge car. I’m not sure why it is referred to as the Bistro Car on this particular route; perhaps it is simply because this is not a long distance train. The corridor in which the Cascades trains all operate is only 466 miles long between Vancouver, BC and Eugene, Oregon and the trip takes just 10 hours. Perhaps this is why Amtrak has not labeled it as a Café Car. We are greeted in the Café Car by the attendant, a hearty fellow with a red goatee named Jeff. We exchange a few pleasantries with Jeff as we wait for our food.
As we waited for our food, I barely noticed a tip jar at the far end of the counter. I get the feeling that Jeff purposely put the tip jar in an out of the way place so that it was not noticed, an act that speaks volumes about the character of our cheerful car attendant. When the service is as good as Jeff provided, I have no problem leaving a robust tip! After receiving our food, I make sure to leave a few dollars in the inconspicuous and almost unnoticeable tip jar for Jeff as we return to our seats. Just about the time we finished our breakfast, the conductor announces that we are underway and that our next stop is a short jaunt across the river in Vancouver, Washington.
We arrive in Vancouver right on time at 8:45 AM, and continue on our way to the next stop, Kelso, Washington. We arrive at Kelso at 9:36 about 16 minutes late, and sit at this stop for several minutes for no apparent reason. No announcement is made regarding why we are stopped, and nobody seems to have an idea of what could be causing the delay. Right about the same time I notice some train inspectors from Burlington Northern walking past outside our car, a voice comes over the train’s PA system. It is the voice of Duncan White, the Conductor for our trip to Seattle. Duncan explains that the engineer running the train was experiencing a loss of air pressure in his brake system. Officials from Burlington Northern were walking the train to check hoses and try to locate the source of the problem. Little did we know that the announcement Duncan made was going to be the most detailed and informative notice us passengers would get all day.
Friday, 9:45 AM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Kelso-Longview, Washington
After the brake check, we are cleared by the Burlington Northern crew to continue on our journey. We go along at a steady pace for a bit as we clear the freight yards of Kelso and make our way back out onto the BNSF mainline. We go at a quick clip for the next several miles. It is then that I start to notice a substantial amount of slowing in our speed. Just as many of the other passengers are finally starting to pick up on this decrease of speed, we glide to a stop. We are stopped here for maybe 5 minutes, and then continue on at a very slow speed, maybe 30 miles per hour. After less than two minutes, the train once again comes to a stop. At this point we begin to back up, going about the same speed of 30 or so miles an hour. The reason for this is that the train is being pulled onto a siding, or an adjacent track to the mainline. It is here that we will sit for the next 8 hours right outside the city of Vader, Washington, which is about halfway between Kelso-Longview and Centralia, Washington.
Friday, 1:15 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Vader, Washington
We’ve officially been stranded in the same location for 3 hours now. Conductor Duncan made an announcement right after we pulled into the siding that we had lost all pressure in our air braking system and that the brakes were not able to be applied when the train was in this condition. That assessment seems quite silly to me as we were able to go forward, stop, back up and stop again to get into our current position. Either way, the engineer called for a Burlington Northern crew including a mechanic in from Portland, an hour and a half drive from where we are at currently. The work crew showed up at about 12:30 and has been working since then. At least, we have to assume that they have been working, because there have been no further on board announcements.
Around 11 o’clock, I supposed that the Bistro Car would eventually run out of supplies since we were stranded. I saw many people going back and forth to the Bistro Car, and I figured that if my sister and I wanted something for lunch, now would be the time to get it. I am glad we went when we did, because not long after that Jeff came across the PA System to let us know that the Bistro Car was out of supplies and that he had nothing left to sell his passengers in the way of food. He did mention to us that he had plenty of Amtrak souvenir items left to sell, but advised us that they would not make the tastiest of meals. Boy, does this guy have a sense of humor! I imagine that if more passengers weren’t irritated with the situation, they would have found the situation quite comical.
Speaking of comical situations, there is always much to be said about the people who are travelling around you. A young gentleman named Huey was sitting across from my sister and I. When he boarded the train in Portland he had been quite talkative, but had since gone to a back and forth position of being on his cell phone and listening to an iPod. Across the aisle from us, the situations were no less comical. Seated next to each other were an older lady (whom I believe was named Mary) and two college students. One of the college students seemed like he must have been exhausted, because I only ever saw him leave his seat to use the restroom or to go to the Bistro Car. Otherwise, he slept quite soundly in his seat.
The other college student in the seat next to the sleepy passenger deserves a paragraph all of his own. This young man was quite honestly the most entertaining thing happening on board the train for the first few hours of our marooning. Although he was asleep until Kelso, once he awoke he was nothing but entertainment for us. I don’t particularly find public displays of foul language to be something that is appropriate, especially in the company of those who are older than you. Apparently, this young gent never got that memo! From the time he awoke in Kelso, he was on his cell phone. I’m not sure who he was talking to, but every other word out of his mouth was the “F” word. Normally in these kinds of situations, the Conductor would be told and the person would be put off the train. In this case, however, it didn’t matter much; it’s not like he’d be going anywhere any faster than the rest of us! Overall the entire scene grew less funny and became wearier as the day progressed.
Friday, 3:15 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Vader, Washington
We’ve been stranded at the same spot just outside of Vader for just over five hours now at this point when an announcement comes across the intercom: They’re sending busses from Portland to ship us to Seattle and all intermediate points! This is the good news. The bad news? They have just now ordered those busses, and they have to come all the way from Portland. Best case scenario, they will arrive at 5 PM. During all this, the Conductor attempts to take a head count. We have one of two options: We can either take the chartered busses to Seattle and all intermediate points; OR, we can stay onboard the Amtrak Cascades in its current position until the northbound Coast Starlight arrives, around 6 PM. My sister and I make a quick decision to wait for the northbound Starlight. It seems as if many people are taking the busses, and at this point we won’t mind an hour wait on an emptier train.
Friday, 6:30 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Vader, Washington
The charter busses from Portland arrived at around 4:45 PM. Since it is November, it was completely dark outside by this point in time. The busses leave at about 5:15, once it is confirmed that everyone who wants to take the busses is on them and those of us that are left want to wait it out for the Coast Starlight to show up. Thankfully, the Coast Starlight shows up right at the quoted time of 6:15 PM. It stops directly aligned next to us on the adjacent track. We all grab our baggage and step off the Cascades and onto the Coast Starlight. Since it is early November and the train is usually pretty empty this time of year, the Car Attendant puts us upstairs into a roomette. I am seated in a roomette with Huey on the west side of the train, and my sister is seated in a roomette across the hall from us with a young college girl named Taylor. We are all thankful to be on a train that is moving!
Friday, 7:15 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Centralia, Washington
We have been quoted an arrival time of 9 PM into Seattle’s Union Station. Unfortunately, we are pulled into a siding by the BNSF dispatcher and told to wait until a southbound freighter has passed us. All in all, we waited almost 25 minutes until this freighter finally passed, and started moving again at 7:40 PM. We manage to lose some more time between Centralia and Seattle.
Friday, 9:45 PM (Pacific Time), 11/12/10, Seattle, Washington
After this harrowing and exhausting day, the Coast Starlight glides us into Seattle at 9:45 PM - Nearly 10 hours after our scheduled arrival time of Noon, and merely an hour late from their own scheduled arrival time of 8:45 PM. For a train going from Los Angeles to Seattle in the course of a day and a half, an hour late isn’t bad! Completely exhausted, my sister and I are both fed up with Amtrak and emotionally drained at the further stress of this trip -- not counting the stress of the original reason for the trip -- remember, this trip was for my grandmother’s funeral to begin with…not really an avenue for relaxation! That being said, my sister and I opt to just go straight to the Washington State Ferry terminal at Colman Dock and decide to not even deal with Amtrak’s Customer Relations Department. Being a person who gets somewhat hot under the collar when I’m irritated and under stress, I figured this would be the better option.
I didn’t expect to get any of the cost of my trip refunded by Amtrak, and in that instance I turned out to be right. I heard a person being turned away by an Amtrak employee with the explanation, “It’s not our fault; we don’t have to guarantee an on-time connection.” This person obviously missed a connecting train, and Amtrak should be at fault for that despite whether or not the person was connecting with a train that is a guaranteed connection. Normally I would side with Amtrak on this, since the Cascades is not a guaranteed connection train; however, under the special circumstances of this trip I think Amtrak should have made the concession of refunding some of the passengers’ money.
My sister is quite disappointed with the events of this trip. It would turn out to be her only trip to Seattle, a city she loves dearly. I had hoped to show her around the city a little bit, but arriving 10 hours late doesn’t afford many opportunities for sightseeing. We had originally decided to take our first taxi ride ever in Seattle, but by the time we got to the station neither of us had the energy or patience to deal with more public transportation. Being a Friday night in Seattle, it was quite busy; however, this did not hamper us in our decision to walk from King Street Station to the Ferry Terminal. It is about a one half mile walk, and we did it in just under 15 minutes. We waited about 45 minutes in the Colman Dock Ferry Terminal before our 10:45 PM ferry to Bremerton. After taking an hour ferry ride across Puget Sound we are picked up at the Ferry Terminal in Bremerton at 11:40 PM by our father, and finally got to bed at around 2 AM. At this point, I had been up for 23 hours and was more than ready for a good night’s rest! Thankfully, we had not paid for round-trip tickets on this journey as we would be returning to Oregon with my other sister, who was driving up early Saturday morning.
All in all, my first Amtrak journey was not the greatest although it did afford me the opportunity to take two trains on one route, which is quite rare. I can look back at this trip now and make jokes about it, having ridden more than 1,000 total miles on Amtrak. It is definitely a story I will never forget, and hopefully it will have been the worst experience I ever get to have with Amtrak as I plan to travel with them again in the future!
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