Depart: Los Angeles Union Station (LAX)

Arrive: Chemult, OR (CMO)

Itinerary: 10:15AM-9:40AM (next day)

Accommodation: #14-Standard Sleeper/#11-COACH (later upgraded)

We left the house at 7:45am for Los Angeles Union Station. The day I had been waiting for so long had finally come. It would be my first long distance train trip and also my first time in a sleeper. I had done lots of research on Amtrak.com and Trainweb. I was looking forward to the Pacific Parlour Car very much. We got to Union Station around 8:50AM that morning.

We had trouble finding a "Smart Cart" in the station..So I had to walk all the way out to the Amtrak ticketing area to find a cart and bring it back out to the drop off and check-in area outside. We loaded are baggage and after a quick stop at Union Bagel we were off to pick up are tickets.

So we walked over to the Amtrak ticketing area and decided to avoid the lines by using the Quik-Trak machine.

It printed the tickets and we signed the top at the X. It read 14-31 #10. I new this was towards the front of the car (closest to 14-30). The only negative was the air conditioning we heard…But when we closed the door it could not be hear as much.

Now it was time to check-in. There was a red sign that said, "Train #14 COACH" in that line there were about 30 people. To the left of that sing there was a blue sign that read, "Train #14 Sleepers" we were the very first people in the Sleeper line. Soon after tons more people cam behind us. Finally the conductor came and ripped our tickets. He told us that the train had not pulled up on Track #10 yet and that we should wait in the waiting area until it comes. But we decided to go watch it come in instead.

We walked out to Track #10 and waited for #14 to pull in. I observed lots of Surfliners, Metrolink, and METRO Light Rail trains in the station.

Our train finally came in at about 10:03AM. The rear of the train was what we saw first…and on the rear was a private Pullman car that read, "Palm Leaf". I assumed someone had paid Amtrak to haul this. There were 2 or 3 men in the back waiving to us passengers waiting on the platform. I snatched a super quick photo of it here:

We made are way to 14-31 and we were the very first people to board. Our attendant was Cruz he greeted us and directed us to our Room #10. We left are baggage on the racks and I noticed how I could not have brought my bicycle as I hoped I could have.

Later I went back to my room and programmed my scanner to pick up some frequencies. I was not getting much at that time but later in the trip I began to get more signals.

I have a Radio Shack PRO-50 Programmable Scanner:

I relaxed in my room and waited for Lunch

Around 1pm we sat down for lunch! I was very hungry since all I had eaten that morning was cereal and those delicious blueberry muffins in the Parlour car.

My cheeseburger was excellent! The beef was very tasty. Also, the Kaiser roll was the best roll I have ever had a hamburger on! It was definitely fresh bread. Not a smashed freezer bun from a fast food restaurant. The burger also came with potato chips which were a nice alternative to French fries. Although I wish Amtrak had been a bit more generous with the chips.

We got to know are table companions very well…Well my mom did. So we decided to all meet again for dinner that night at 7:30PM we told the head of the dining car Joe that then. Instead of telling him when he goes through all the sleeping cars.

A few hours later around 4:00PM was the wine tasting. If you read Railforum a lot, you know that I am only thirteen. Eight years shy of a glass of wine. My mom decided to try the wine tasting and I went down stairs to watch a movie. The movie was Love Actually. They were also playing Mona Lisa Smile. I caught Love Actually about 20 minutes after it started. I was very impressed in the downstairs theater. The screen was very large and the seats were nice and comfy. The only con was that even I thought it was very cold downstairs.

At about 6:00PM (The Simpsons if I were back home in L.A.). We made are way back to 14-31 #10. I really had to go to the bathroom after the movie.

Since down in the Movie Theater you cannot see the outside I had no idea where we were. I asked Cruz and he told me we were outside of Paso Robles, CA. That meant that we had lost a lot of time. Since usually at around 6:00PM we should be approaching Salinas, CA which is just south of San Jose, CA.

As we went from our room to the Dining Car we stopped in the Parlour Car and saw Sharon already there. We waited for Maryann and when all 4 of us were in the Palrour Car we walked into the Dining Car. We had the same table as before in George’s section. All four of us had the T-bone steak. My mom, Sharon, and Maryann had it with a baked potato and I had it with Mashed potatoes. I really wish Amtrak could have fries but I suppose it would be very difficult to have a deep fryer aboard a train.

This is just a photo of cheesecake from the net

I apologize, I wish I had taken pictures of the food in the dining car. Even though it was extremely unhealthy, it was still very good.

For the rest of the night (9-10:15PM) I stayed in the a Parlour car until we decided to go back to our room and prepare for bed. I had Cruz make the beds. Cruz was very nice through the trip and we were going to tip him well. After he made are beds I volunteered to take the top bunk. I was a bit scared since all there was to keep me from falling was a 2-foot seat belt style thing. Soon I realized I wouldn’t fall. I set my watch for 5:00AM and went to bed.

I believe we made up about an hour during the night. I went to bed around 10:30pm and we had not even reached San Jose, CA so we had to make up as much time as possible. I woke up the next morning at 4:30AM. I stayed in bed until about 5:15AM until I tried to get up without waking up my mother. I grabbed a hand towel and wash cloth, then I took a bath towel from the luggage area downstairs. I then took a shower. The shower was not that dirty, small, or terrible as I thought so I was very glad. After I got out I got some toiletries to brush my teeth and gel my hair out of my suitcase. Then I was off to the Parlour car for a blueberry muffin.

Between Dunsmuir and Klamath Falls, OR, we went to go eat. We met up with Sharon who was up early since she was going to Klamath, but Maryann was still sleeping since her final destination was not until Seattle, WA. So just the three of us ate breakfast. Luckily no one else came to the table.

I had the Continental with Raisin Bran crunch, a biscuit, and fruit. My mom had pancakes, and so did Sharon. The food was fairly good. Breakfast not being one of my favorite meals though. We had a fairly short breakfast…and then we went back to the Parlour car. Sharon soon left the Parlour car to pack up because we were approaching Klamath Falls.

Old Empire Builder Logo

Back in my room I gathered all of my person belongings, because I knew Chemult, OR was only a three-minute station stop. After about 20 minutes of packing up Cruz came to are room and said we should come down stairs to prepare to detrain. At this point I gave him a crisp $20.00 since he was such a nice attendant. We gave him the money and he was very grateful. At this point I began filming the train approach Chemult.

YOU CAN WATCH THIS VIDEO BY CLICKING VIDEOS ON MY SITE

After this, we hopped of the train and we were in Chemult!

Before I left the station, I filmed train #14 departing on its way up to Seattle, WA (also on my site). It was fairly funny because the platform in Chemult is very small so a man in Coach had to get off 8 minutes after it departed us from the sleepers, and a family of four getting on the Redmond Airport shuttle.

After I finished filming Pam the owner of the Dawson House Lodge was there to greet us. She was very nice because she was letting us stay in are room until 8:00PM the next night since Train #11 (Southbound Coast Starlight) gets there very late. She led us to the lodge, it was just as it looked in the picture! I really enjoyed staying in an inn, instead of a Resort. We originally had the Caddis room at the lodge, which was a nice two-bed suite. But she offered for $10.00 more that we could go to the Loft, which is basically the penthouse of her lodge. Here are some photos, from the lodge website, of the Loft, the Caddis, and the whole lodge, which is, located right on Highway 97:

Caddis

I left my luggage in the room, and I decided to walk alone to a local restaurant. There were only 4 restaurants, and one that looked to have be "for sale" for over a year. I decided to go to a restaurant I had already researched online. It was called the wheel café. I had a cheeseburger with French fries and it was tasty!

After my food I walked to the train station which was just across the street. I checked out the shack and took many pictures. Then I witnessed a BNSF train going by. I thought this was pretty cool, but Iater realized that about every half-hour a freight train comes through. But this number would not come near to the amount of 18-wheelers going by on Highway 97!

After being at the station for about 2 hours I went back to the lodge to watch TV and be with my mom. The lodge actually had satellite TV, probably because there was no antenna/cable in Chemult, OR!

The wheel café was pretty good food, but several people in town recommended Lorries Chalet so we went there for dinner. And it would be the last time we went there! The food was so good we went there the next day for Brunch and Dinner!

For dinner that night though, I had there special Saturday night Prime Rib! They had a 12, 14, and 16oz. I’m not fat, and I do not eat a lot of meat since I am Italian. So I had the 14oz. For only $14.95 which is a 10oz. Sirloin steak here in Los Angeles at a nice restaurant.

The food was really good! It even came with garlic bread, veggies, and I had mashed potatoes. I was really glad that we had found a very good restaurant.

The next morning I woke up at about 9:30AM. It looked like a nice day in Chemult so I took a shower and got ready for are favorite food. We were ready by about 11:00AM after I had taken a walk to the train station to watch the train we got off yesterday come in. I thought I had missed it but naturally the Starlight was running late!

Back at the lodge, I decided to watch more HBO. I caught Daddy Day Care which is a movie I wouldn’t spend $7.25 on in a theater but wasn’t bad for a free movie. It was actually fairly funny. At around 2:00PM I walked again to the station and took a walk. After awhile I saw a sign that said "Union Pacific Railroad Property" But I still saw houses of people. This sign kinda scared me so I turned back and just stayed at the station thinking about how it would be cool to own a station and be the announcer.

Through the day I tracked the train at 1(800)USA-RAIL . Since I did not have any Internet access. The train was only running less than a half-hour late. So, I recommended to my mom an early dinner.

So at around 5:00PM we walked over to Lorries and had some dinner. This time I had the Rib Eye. Again…it was…well…DELICOUS! IT was a very large 14oz. Steak and it was worth every penny and the precious room in my stomach. When the owner of the restaurant Lorrie found out I was a Railfan, she gave me a book with Railroad stickers! I was very thankful for the book. She told me she received it as a present from some people that stayed in there lounge until 4:00AM because once the starlight was running late in winter (snow). She said the peoples waiting sent lots of presents and one would be for me!

As we said farewell to the restaurant for the last time, we picked up their card for we could also mail them a present.

Now, we were going back to the hotel to pack-up. Thankfully we had not really unpacked since are whole trip was a total of 3 nights. When we were done packing we talked to Pam and she said we should leave in about 20 minutes. In time we left the lodge and were off to the train station in her car. It was about a two-hour drive form the lodge. No, I’m just kidding! It was less than one minute on a dirt road through a forest. She left us there and as she pulled in the Redmond Airport shuttle also pulled in. Two ladies, one guy alone, and us were the only ones waiting for the train. As Pam left we gave her $10 extra for letting us stay past the check-out time of 11:00AM. We didn’t want to give her to much and act like we were rich Los Angeles people.

It came in about 10 minutes and we boarded Coach class. We left are baggage down stairs and we were planning on going right to are coach seats. When the conductor came we would request and upgrade.

We had this plan for along time, but when we tried upgrading on the phone it was still $237.00 and no cheaper. But we wanted it cheaper so we waited ‘til we boarded.

Soon after we were seated in Coach the Asst. Conductor came to us and we asked him about upgrading. He said he would have to check the book to find the price and ask us if he wanted it.

In about 15 minutes (it felt like forever) he came back and told us he wanted $100.00 for a standard sleeper. We still had some questions: Is it with Cruz? Up or down stairs? What room? The answers were Yes, Up, and NUMBER 10 again!!! You might be wondering how I got #10 with Cruz and South Dakota again. I will say more a bit later. The conductor was asking all these questions on his two-way radio. My scanner was currently not on. I believe he was speaking to the head conductor.

Now, the Asst. Conductor asked us if we wanted to walk are baggage car to car, or wait until Klamath. We decided we would walk through.

It didn’t sound so bad…But I took a lot of old railroad spikes and junk I found at the rail station in Chemult. My suitcase was REALLY heavy! We were in the 2^nd to back Coach. After the next coach and one more, I was tired. We finally made the observation car and rested there. Barely anyone was there and all 3 of us took a break. The Asst. Conductor was not helping us but he had already relieved us enough, with the $137.00 save of money on the upgrade. We went through the diner and we saw George! He said, "Hey" and he and us were all very glad to see each other again. After the diner we stopped in the Parlour car. After than it was 11-30, then FINALLY 11-31!!! Cruz, who was in room #1, heard us coming and he responded just like George…that we were back. I guess were good tippers!

After we got settled again in our sleeper, by away we did put are baggage downstairs. I went to the Parlour car to relax. Unfortunately there were no Blueberry muffins or crackers from the wine tasting.

Look, it’s our sleeper!

Now to the Parlour car, where I met two nice people one was an older man that boarded in Tacoma, WA who was heading down to San Diego with a Surfliner connection. This man was an O scale enthusiast. He told me about model railroading and his many years. I found it very interesting how he told me about gauge and how my buildings should be a certain size.

I also met another man, which I also enjoyed chatting with. As the three of us talked of trains I brought up the Acela Express and the 2^nd younger man said he had ridden it out of Philadelphia. It sounded like a very nice ride. He told me about the Bistro car and how there was first class coach on that train. Instead of first class sleepers as on a long distance haul such as the Starlight.

At around 9:45PM when these guys went to bed, I relaxed for another 45 minutes until around 10:40PM, George came from the dining car and said hell, and goodnight to me. I believe he was on his way to the Transition Sleeper (Dorm).

Now, I went to bed and when I got back to 11-31 #10 the sleepers were already down as were they when we first went into are room after the upgrade. I took the upper bunk again and I was not scared as I was on the inbound trip. I went to bed that night thinking about the blueberry muffins in the morning.

After I got out of the shower we were in Martinez, California. On the northbound train I had not witnessed Martinez since it was in the middle of the night. It was a very nice station. I was surprised, because I had pictured it much smaller.

After Martinez I went to the Parlour car. As I approached the buffet table…all the blueberry muffins were gone! All they had was the banana nut and the cranberry. I was very disappointed. After 20 minutes in the Parlour car I went back to the room. My mom had gotten dressed and we went to breakfast. We were a little disappointed since are eating companions were not aboard this southbound train. But we did meet other nice people.

Back in the Parlour Car I relaxed waiting until we approached Northern California stops such as Sacramento, Emmeryville (San Francisco connection), and San Jose. Since these stops are usually pitch back for me on the way up the coast on #14.

When we got to Emmeryville, CA they made an announcement on the PA system that they would be adding 4 more cars to the train consist in the Emmeryville yard. They said this would cause a 45 minutes delay. I didn’t know if this was more Superliner coaches or just private coaches. After we stopped and discharged/picked-up passengers at the station, we proceeded slowly to the yard. Finally in about 45 minutes to one hour we were finally out of Emmeryville.

About 25 minutes after we departed Jack London Square the train made a complete stop in the middle of Oakland. In a few minutes someone came on the PA again and said that a car was on the tracks from a high-speed pursuit in the Oakland area. This was another 45-minute delay. It was very disappointing that we were running 20 minutes late and now after these two delays we were running 2 hours later and estimated to arrive into Los Angeles Union Station at 11PM!

Between San Jose and Salinas it would be quite awhile. So I went back to the room and relaxed since there were not exactly spectacular views for this part of the ride.

At around 1:30PM we decided to go to lunch.

Our lunch companions were Steve and Carole. They were from Kelly’s Island, Ohio. They told us about this Island and I found it very interesting. For lunch I again had the Angus Kaiser Roll Burger with potato chips. It was just as good as it was on the northbound train. Well, I was on the same train and it was the same cook. My mom also had the burger as did. Steve and Carole had a chicken sandwich. For desert I had the cheesecake again. My mom had the Chocolate Bundt cake. Steve and Carole were coach passengers since they were going a short distance juts to Glendale, CA from Sacramento. So, we shared our deserts with them since ours were complimentary in the fat sleeper car charge. At around 2:45PM I went back to the room and scanned for about an hour. I was getting a lot on frequency 160.320 at this point. Soon Joe came around to take dinner reservations. He said that the latest reservation we could have was 5:30PM because they needed to have cleaned out the Dining car by Santa Barbara to prepare for Los Angeles. So we made a 5:30 dinner reservation.

Joe and Julio (L to R) in the Dining car.

We finally got to Salinas. When we were in the station I also saw the thruway bus going to Monterey and Carmel.

We went to the Parlour car at around 5:10PM to prepare for our dinner reservation. I had looked at the dinner menu during breakfast that morning, and I saw that the beef that night would be the Delmonico Steak.

At 6:30 back in the Parlour car I believe we were in San Louis Obispo, CA. Which is right my Morro bay. I don’t remember when we were in Paso Robles, I think we were still in our room listening to the great scanner entertainment.

About 20 minutes later in the Parlour car a woman was being escorted by the

11-30 car attendant out of the sleeping car and back into coach. Me, and six other people in the Parlour car heard that she had sneaked into a sleeper from coach! She seemed very drunk and she kept walking back and fourth with the 11-30 attendant following her. We heard later that he could not touch her since he is not an authority. But in Santa Barbara the Head Conductor told us that she would have to detrain in Santa Barbara. Most likely she was heading to Los Angeles. Hopefully for crazy her there was a Surfliner coming south soon.

Now in about 10 minutes after that…a man carrying to bottles of wine stumbled through the Parlour car from the dining car very drunk. H e then came back without the wine and he began yelling at Joe the head of the dining car.

He finally went back to his sleeper and I didn’t see him again until…well I’ll tell you later.

Finally we came to Santa Barbara! A ton of people from coach got off in Santa Barbara but even more got off for the smoking break. Santa Barbara is another one of my favorite stations. It is right on State Street in Santa Barbara, CA. It is not like Los Angeles Union Station where you have to drive an hour to get out of dangerous parts of Downtown Los Angeles.

After 15 minutes we proceeded onto Oxnard. Nothing much was in Oxnard nor Simi Valley.

Now my trip was almost over! I was very sad but I had enjoyed it a lot and writing this trip report now makes it come back!

Soon we were in Glendale!

Glendale was north of Los Angeles and Fullerton was just south of Los Angeles. In Glendale, it is technically not a stationed stop but I heard from Maryann that there are some men that drink coffee at the station and help passengers find there way around. Even though they are not official Amtrak personnel.

Now I was all packed up after Glendale and ready to detrain in Los Angeles. Not that the train was going to Fullerton it would be on Track #10 for quite awhile. Once I was packed up I got out another $10 for Cruz and he was very grateful. He even gave me some paper engineer caps! They were really cool.

We went through A little of the LA yard not as much as when you’re going out of it, and we were in Los Angeles. We got off the train. And thanked Cruz and took a quick picture of him. We also asked him how we could get Cruz, George, and Joe, Julio, and the Pacific Parlour car attendant’s name, which I never got. Cruz said he left on the 2^nd, 12^th, and the 22^nd of each month and he was always 11/14 —31. We said goodbye to Cruz and we waited for a red cap to come since we missed the first round of them.

When the red cap came we told him to take us to the outside area. Unfortunately he told us they were waxing the floor and the whole area was caution taped off. So he took us by the patio.

Guess who we saw by the patio???

The drunk guy from the Parlour Car with a LAPD officer! He was receiving a ticket and was trying to get a ride home since he couldn’t drive. His embarrassed wife was also with him. I took a photo of them but I do not want to release it.

While we were waiting out by the patio for my brother some kids complimented my hate from Cruz so, I gave two out of the six away. I should have been greedier! By the patio we saw the Parlour car attendant and later George both pass us. WE said goodnight to them and hoped we would see them again on future Amtrak trips.

My brother finally got to the station and was very mad. He told me that the streets by Union Station (Alameda and Caesar Chavez) were very hard to navigate through and also a very dangerous area. He told me he went to 3 gas station and they all had several police and the people he asked for directions didn’t even speak any English. ‘

Soon we were finally home, I went to bed later that night wishing I was in a sleeper and not my large bed.

I have a few questions for my future Amtrak/Coast Starlight trips, hopefully someone can help me answer them:

1. Where does Amrak get the blueberry muffins? They are not the same ones as in the Sightseer Lounge…those are bigger.
2. Who made the Pacific Parlour car? I think it is a great think on the Coast Starlight consist and it really could help ridership to many Amtrak routes.
3. Is there any way to assure getting the same route on a future trip?
4. Can you ask for a certain car at 1(800)USA-RAIL ? Or could I contact like the supervisor?
5. If you want to get information about a train station that is not manned…like who owns it etc., how would you do that?
6. Can you buy a station? Or is it state property?
7. Why doesn’t Amtrak just use 4 consists for the Coast Starlight? Instead of taking them apart and using them for other routes like the SW chief in the photo I found.
8. Do attendants usually only work for one route? George said he does the Chief sometimes.

Thanks, if you can answer any/all of these questions!

OR if you think I should add/take away anything from this report, or if you have any questions for me…contact me at the above address.

THANKS,

Anton, 13