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Friday 5/31/02

Into the Sacramento Valley

From bed I watched as we pulled out of Sacramento at 1:17am. Six minutes later we passed the huge Blue Diamond almond facility, before heading into the darkness of the central valley. I had some trouble getting to sleep, not because of the train's motion but because of my constant curiosity to see what was outside. Eventually I forced myself to doze off.

I awoke at 3:30am to find we had stopped. It must have been Chico. I knew the Chico station was on the opposite side of the train, so I could not see it, but I could see a lot of trees, a park, and many attractive homes. I put my head back down and fell asleep quickly.

Lake Shasta

6:00am found me awake again. I looked out and saw the first glimmers of daylight as we crossed the Lake Shasta bridge. I reached for my camera, took a shot just after the crossing. Then went back to sleep.

Good morning!

At 7:40 I woke to breakfast announcement from Russ, the dining car steward. He was serving breakfast if anyone wanted it. Yes, eventually. Sleeping car passengers could get on a waiting list at the bar in the Pacific Parlor Car. I just hung in bed awhile to get the cobwebs out of my head. At 7:51 I ventured out. We were near Mt. Shasta. In the hall I met woman conductor who was looking for attendant Dave. I hadn't seen him yet, but I hadn't gone more than six feet from my room.

Black Butte and Mt. Shasta	Lava beds on the Northwest flank of Mt. Shasta

At about 8:30 I went to the Parlor Car to wait for breakfast. I put in my name with Nanette the bartender, and hung out with the folks in one of the bench seats. The word among the other passengers was that we were about 2 hours late. I could not verify that at the time, but it seemed about right. Mt. Shasta was visible behind us. It should have been long gone if we were on time.

Mt. Shasta peeks into the Pacific Parlor Car

Sitting next to me was a man who saw my camera, and lamented that he had run out of film. I had several rolls, two of which I had gotten free the last time I had film developed. I went back to my room to get him one. He offered to pay for it, but since it didn’t cost me anything I declined to accept it.

Breakfast

Around 8:50 I sat down to breakfast at a window seat, facing rearward. The view from the table was of gentle mountains and pasture land, with an occasional farm thrown in.

Pastoral scenes from the breakfast table.

I ordered pancakes, which turned out to be huge and fluffy. They were much bigger and better than those I had last year, but their sheer volume prevented me from getting more than half way through.

The company was also terrific. On my left was an older woman, an interior designer from Tacoma. Across from me was a charming and attractive couple who were in my car. They were from Salt Lake city and had connected from the California Zephyr. They were members of the Salt Lake Symphony, and they had played at the Olympics. When I asked how they played in the cold night air I learned the shocking truth. They had actually recorded the music in December and January, and were only pretending to play in the cold night air. The orchestra used cheap instruments to prevent damage to their own, and later donated the instruments to schools.

My breakfast companions

I had taken my camera to the diner and they were gracious enough to let me take their picture for this travelogue.

I was back in my room at 9:35 when it was announced that we would experience some speed restrictions in Southern Oregon. They also explained that we were running behind because of a signal malfunction near Redding. Compared to my trip last year, these delays were minor, and nobody seemed to mind one bit.

Oregon

A few minutes later I saw what appeared to be a flock of white pelicans in a lake just south of Klamath Falls. Pelicans? So far inland? Did I see that right?

Somewhere near the California/Oregon border

At 9:53 we were approaching Klamath Falls. Nanette in the Parlor Car announced that says she will play Ocean's 11 in the movie theater after Klamath Falls. That sounded tempting, but I really wanted to spend my time making photos of the passing landscape.

We stopped in Klamath Falls at 9:55, exactly 90 minutes late. Not too bad. This is a smoking stop, or as one passenger put it, a "fresh air" stop. We had about 10 minutes so I was able to walk to the front of the train and get a few shots of the locomotive and the train wrapped around the curved platform. A few other people had the same idea.

Our lead locomotive in the Phase V colors	The second locomotive in Phase III colors

Here at Klamath Falls we have a shift change among the crew. Our service staff remains on board for the entire trip, but engineers and conductors are limited in how long they can work. One of our new conductors was an attractive young lady who seemed to be good friends with Dave. I have seen female conductors before, but they are fairly rare, and they tend to be much older.

We began passing the extensive Klamath Lake at 10:20pm. I decided to walk to the rear of the train for a few shots out the back door. While passing through the Sightseer Lounge I saw a volunteer tour guide pointing out landmarks along our route.

The Sightseer Lounge Car	The volunteer guide

Unfortunately, by the time I got to to the back of the train for photos, we had passed the lake.

Out the rear of the train, North of Klamath Lake

I walked back to the Parlor Car and found my friend John, the man I met last night. I asked if I could join him at his table and he invited me to sit down. We chatted about his boat, fishing, this and that, while out in the woods I saw a jackrabbit hopping across a dirt road. John mentioned that he had also seen the flock of white pelicans. He was sure they were pelicans, because, evidently, they are a regular feature of the landscape. John knew that because he saw the word "pelican" on the sign of a local establishment in Klamath Falls. We were both accustomed to seeing the brown variety near the ocean, so this was a new sighting for both of us.

I had my scanner with me, and at I heard my first detector of the day at 11:08, 56 axles, 77 MPH no defects. I didn't catch the milepost.

John and Don	Me (photo by John)

Meanwhile, we had our own little men's club going as Don from Tennessee joined us for some more spirited discussions. Don was thrilled to report that he was able to see the upper Sacramento River canyon this morning. Speaking of canyons, there was a lovely one just off to our left. I briefly stepped across the aisle to get a better view.

An unknown canyon

During our chat, Nanette came by to take our names for lunch. John and Don wanted to eat as soon as food was available. I opted for something closer to 1:00, and Nanette made the arrangements.

11:23am, "UP detector, Milepost 501.2, no defects, axles 56, speed 69."

Two minutes later we stopped in Chemult, 1:45 late.

When the first call for lunch came, John and Don, along with most of the Parlor Car's population, went straight for the diner. Suddenly the Parlor car seemed very lonely. I went back to my room for a bit to await some of the many tunnels in the Cascades crossing. We came near the summit around noon. There was a fair amount of snow on the ground up here. I later learned that these mountains had experienced some snowstorms fairly late in the season.

12:06pm, "UP detector Milepost 533.7, no defects, axles 56, speed 44."

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