January 25, 2013
Amtrak Emeryville - Portland 1000p – 332p Coast Starlight First Class

Train 14, the northbound Coast Starlight, was scheduled to arrive into Emeryville at 9:45pm. Once mocked as the Coast Star-late for its chronic delays, the Coast Starlight's on-time performance record has improved considerably in recent years thanks mainly to better coordination with Union Pacific, the host railroad between Los Angeles and Portland. Tonight’s departure exemplified that perfectly.

At 9:44 I heard the whistle from the lead P42DC locomotive, and at 9:45pm watched open mouthed as the train powered round the bend with considerable alacrity and rolled all the way through the station, brakes squealing, finally stopping about 30 years down the track. That is to say the last car of the train was down there. Who’s driving that train? Casey Jones?! We’re talking a fairly substantial overshoot here! Unfortunately the sleepers were located way down at the front of the train so I had to drag my bag past three coaches, the Sightseer Lounge, the dining car, the Pacific Parlour Car and two sleepers to get to my car. It was a long walk and I was thankful that the overall consist wasn’t longer. During the more popular spring and summer months it often is.

The longest Amtrak train I’ve ever ridden was the combined California Zephyr, Desert Wind and Pioneer back in the mid-eighties. Between Chicago and Denver that train was as much as nineteen cars long. I’ve ridden many trains in Mexico through the seventies and eighties that were over twenty cars long but by far the longest train I’ve ever ridden was Australia’s The Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs to Darwin in Australia. That train was thirty-four cars long. Crikey!



The Ghan in Alice Springs looking LEFT from my car



The Ghan in Alice Springs looking RIGHT from my car

It’s worth noting here that before Amtrak, no single passenger train ran the length of the West Coast due mainly to the fact that no single railroad owned tracks all the way from San Diego to Seattle. The Southern Pacific came the closest with its Los Angeles to Portland streamliner The West Coast but, unlike the California Zephyr which was operated jointly between Chicago and Oakland by the Burlington, Rio Grande and Western Pacific railroads, there were no such interline agreements on the west coast.

The Coast Starlight takes its name from Southern Pacific’s Coast Daylight which operated between Los Angeles and San Francisco from 1937 until Amtrak’s takeover of the nation’s passenger rail service in 1971. The Starlight was then rerouted through Oakland and merged with Southern Pacific’s Cascade which since 1927 had provided service between Oakland and Portland. This new train was then extended from Portland up to Seattle over the Burlington Northern tracks, thereby providing the first ever single train service between Los Angeles and Seattle.

Perhaps due to the fact that I was traveling on an award ticket, no Amtrak employee expressed any surprise or took issue with me boarding the train three stops and 85 miles before Sacramento. However, because my roomette was occupied by a passenger who’d purchased it from Los Angeles to Sacramento, I was asked to relax in the Pacific Parlour Car until we reached Sacramento.

Ah… the Pacific Parlour Car. For many, this car is the primary reason why they booked First Class accommodations on the Starlight. Unquestionably the most luxurious car in the Amtrak fleet, the Pacific Parlour Cars are available exclusively to First Class passengers riding aboard the Coast Starlight. There are no similar cars on any other Amtrak trains.

The Pacific Parlour Cars have an impressive railroad history dating back to the mid-1950s when they were built by the Budd Company for the Santa Fe Railway’s all coach El Capitan operating between Chicago and Los Angeles. The El Cap was the first long distance train to employ completely Hi-Level or two-level cars in its consist and those early Hi-Level cars were the model Amtrak used to design its current bi-level Superliner fleet.

The Pacific Parlour Cars were originally built as lounge cars for the El Capitan. I rode aboard some of them in their original configuration when I used to travel aboard Amtrak’s Sunset Limited between New Orleans and Los Angeles back in the early 1980s. They sported their original southwest interior back then, with Navajo themed art and fabrics throughout the car. Amtrak refurbished them in the mid-1990s and renamed them Pacific Parlour Cars. They were assigned to Amtrak’s most popular long distance train – the Coast Starlight – and, as mentioned earlier, were available exclusively to First Class passengers. On all of Amtrak’s other long distance trains, First Class and Coach passengers share a common lounge.

I was particularly happy to see Pacific Parlour Car “Napa Valley” included in tonight’s consist because on many of my past rides aboard the Starlight, there was no Parlour Car. Due to their advanced age, they were maintenance hogs that required a lot of extra – and expensive – attention. The word is that Amtrak has overcome many of those early problems and now the reliability of the remaining cars is less of an issue.



Pacific Parlour Car “Napa Valley”



Pacific Parlour Car Logo

I was met at my sleeping car by its attendant, Jay. What a great guy! Throughout the trip he could not have been more gracious or accommodating. Relieving me of my bag, he informed me about the situation with my roomette and offered me a welcome aboard choice of orange juice or Champagne, either of which he’d be happy to deliver to me in the Pacific Parlour Car. Champagne, please. Well, sparkling wine really but except for the French and a handful of wine snobs, who’s really keeping tabs?

Perhaps due to the late evening departure out of Emeryville, the scene was pretty quiet in the Pacific Parlour car. I thought about heading back to the main Sightseer lounge but I was so comfortable enjoying the free Wi-Fi in my big overstuffed swivel chair that after polishing off my Champagne I walked back to the bar and purchased an ice cold bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Back at the “comfy chair”, I recorded a couple of notes about the journey thus far while enjoying the lights reflecting off the bay as we rolled through Richmond, Martinez and Davis enroute to Sacramento.



Comfy Chairs in the Pacific Parlour Car

Departure time from Sacramento was 11:59pm (I can’t imagine why they don’t just round that off to midnight…) and per my request Jay had already prepared my roomette by lowering the seats, setting down the mattress and making my bed. On my pillow were a couple of delicious Amtrak chocolates. Nice!

I awoke as we were pulling into Klamath Falls, Oregon. We were running about 20 minutes early, and all the smokers appeared to be positively exultant over the opportunity to smoke not just one but two cigarettes during the stop. Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette!

Klamath Falls is also a service stop for the train. Trash is disposed of and ice and water are restocked. At some of these stops the locomotives are also refueled. First Class passengers get the morning newspaper delivered to their rooms. I returned from the shower to find that Jay had already returned my roomette to its daytime configuration and dropped off a copy of USA Today. I took it and headed up to the diner where a hot coffee and a vegie omelet got the day off to a good start.



Breakfast in the Cascades

It should be noted that breakfast, lunch or dinner can also be taken in the Pacific Parlour Car, however
the menu there is not as extensive as the regular dining car menu.



Early morning along Klamath Lake as seen from the Pacific Parlour Car



Pacific Parlour Car set up for Luncheon

North of Chemult the weather changed from sunshine to cold gray skies and occasionally heavy snow as the Starlight began its long and steady climb across the Cascade Range. The route guide indicated that the train passed through twenty tunnels before commencing the long descent down through Salt Creek Canyon to the Willamette Valley.

The Willamette River is one of the few North American rivers I’ve ever seen that flow from south to north. I enjoyed this phenomenon from the comfort of the diner where I joined two women, one in her thirties and one in her sixties. Shortly we were joined by a middle aged guy who took a quick look at the menu, mumbled something about the prices and decided to head back to the lounge car for lunch.

It’s worth noting that while meals are included in the fare for First Class passengers, they are not for those seated back in Coach. The café located in the lower level of the Sightseer Lounge Car offers an affordably priced menu that is a great alternative to the more expensively priced dining car meals. When I travel in Coach on Amtrak, I usually take breakfast in the diner, lunch in the café and only occasionally dinner in the diner. It would be easy to shell out upwards of $50.00 per day on dining car meals alone, and for those budget minded travelers who may have paid only $95.00 for their coach seat between Los Angeles and Portland, that extra $50.00 might be considered a substantial expenditure.

More than a few people have been known to bring aboard their own food including items such as instant oatmeal or Cup-A-Noodles that might require boiling water which the café staff will provide at no charge. Back in the late seventies when I’d bought a rail pass and set off on a two week coast to coast train extravaganza, I had only about $80.00 to my name for whatever I might require during the trip. Back then, while Amtrak didn’t care if someone packed sandwiches or crackers along for their trip, they didn’t encourage passengers to use either the café or its water to prepare or eat food from their personal cache. As such, I had to buy my hot water at the going rate for tea and coffee – about $1.00 a cup back then. Thankfully, Amtrak has relaxed this policy and will – depending upon your café attendant – either cheerfully or begrudgingly provide you with a cup of hot water for your food.

My luncheon companions this afternoon were Patty and Lisa. Patty – the older of the two – was heading up to Centralia to visit her sister. She had ridden the Coast Starlight often on past trips and found it found it far preferable to flying, especially since she lived near Paso Robles, California where the train arrived and departed at “civilized” hours in the mid-afternoon. Additionally, if she were to fly into either Portland or Seattle it was difficult for her sister or her husband to come meet her.

Patty’s situation highlighted the attractiveness and importance of train travel for many Americans who don’t live in or near large cities. Be it the convenience of nearby rail travel or the often higher costs associated with flying out of smaller towns or cities, trains play a significant role in moving our rural brethren about this big, broad land of ours.

Our other luncheon companion, Lisa, was returning to Montana from San Jose where she’d attended a training seminar for her company. Like more than a few Amtrak riders, she was traveling by train because she simply didn’t enjoy anything about flying these days. This was only her second time riding long distance on Amtrak – the first being on her outbound trip – and while she loved the scenery and the train “life”, she really wished she were riding in a sleeper rather than in Coach. She’d asked about upgrading to First Class on tonight’s Empire Builder out of Portland but was informed that it was sold out. I wasn’t surprised. First Class travel on Amtrak can be one of the best travel bargains on the planet, especially compared to what you’ll pay in other developed countries for similar accommodations.

I was recently checking the price for a roomette between Santa Barbara and Portland for a trip later this spring on the Coast Starlight. A winter sale put the Coach fare at $82.00 with the First Class add on being only $198.00. Subtract my 10% AAA discount (off the coach fare) and consider that I get my own private room plus the cost of all enroute meals in the dining car I can order whatever I like off the menu – including dessert and I think that the total of about $290.00 is a steal compared to the $1000.00 or more that one would pay for a similar journey in Australia or Europe.

I should note however that not all First Class accommodations are so affordable every day of the year. They can really vary from day to day depending upon the route and the demand. During the popular spring and summer months, you’ll often find the cost of upgrading to First Class quite a bit higher. It’s still a pretty good deal relative to First Class fares you’ll find in Canada, Europe or Australia but as an example the cost of upgrading to a roomette that I referenced above can occasionally be upwards of $300.00.

Our friendly dining car attendant mentioned that she had been with Amtrak for over twenty years. During that time she had worked on every western train except the Southwest Chief. Looking over the menu, I decided to try out the Chef’s Market Place Special – a bowl of penne pasta topped with five good sized meatballs and marinara sauce. Patty had the Soup and Salad Combo and Lisa opted for the cheeseburger. Everything looked and tasted pretty good though I thought Patty’s Soup and Salad Combo was a bit of a disappointment given that the salad was just a little bowl with some head lettuce, a couple of cucumbers and two cherry tomatoes. She seemed to enjoy it though, and our cheerful server did a great job of topping off coffee and talking Patty and I into dessert. We were both in the sleepers, so at no extra cost – why not? Amtrak has some very generously portioned cheesecakes and brownies on their dessert offerings this month but neither of us was that hungry so we both settled for Häagen-Dazs ice cream cups. That chocolate peanut butter ice cream is really good!



View from the diner while speeding through the Willamette Valley

After lunch, I headed up to the Pacific Parlour Car for the final hour and a half ride into Portland. The conductor made an announcement that we’d be arriving at Portland’s Union Station a full forty minutes early. We’d left Eugene right on time at 12:36pm and the schedule gives the train almost three hours to cover the 123 miles between Eugene and Portland. Judging by the blur of the ubiquitous telephone poles passing by, we were ripping along the fairly flat terrain at a good 70 mph or more. No doubt Amtrak must incorporate some inflated times into its schedule in order to allow trains to make up time if they’re running a bit late.

Meanwhile, I was taking it all in while chatting with Jeremy – a real live “foamer” who’d boarded in Sacramento last night and was just heading up to Portland for the weekend. For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, a “Foamer” is a term reserved for railroading fanatics whose enthusiasm for all things rail is such that they practically foam at the mouth. I’ve met a foamer or two in my travels and they’re always a lot of fun because they’re clearly excited by the journey and often quite well versed on railroad history and equipment.

I figure most everyone who chooses to ride a train in this age of exceedingly affordable air travel is a rail fan to some extent. Consider that on many longer routes it’s more expensive to take the train than to fly, especially when you add in the cost of meals. Many rail passengers are willing to pay a bit more if only because they enjoy the leisurely pace of train travel. Some are full blown railroading fanatics like Jeremy who can quote chapter and verse the pre-Amtrak history of Southern Pacific’s Daylight and Starlight trains through California or the gear ratios on GE’s new Genesis Class locomotives. I’m definitely a rail fan but outside of having ridden all but 260 miles of rail in Amtrak’s system, I can’t keep up with most of the history and technical buffs. The one thing we all share in common is the pure enjoyment of traveling somewhere on a train. Given my present circumstances, comfortably sat in the big plush swivel chairs of the Pacific Parlour Car while enjoying a cold beer and good conversation with my fellow travelers, it was hard to imagine a finer way to travel between two points on the West Coast.

One of the highlights of a trip aboard the Coast Starlight is the complimentary afternoon wine tasting. This is available exclusively for First Class passengers and takes place in the Pacific Parlour Car. An announcement was made that due to our early arrival into Portland, the wine and cheese tasting would take place shortly after our arrival there. All passengers continuing on to points north of Portland would be welcome to attend. I approached Ramon, our affable and engaging bar tender if - given our early arrival into Portland combined with the fact that I had an hour beyond that for my connection to the eastbound Empire Builder, might I stick around for the wine tasting. No problem, ‘mano! He cautioned though that I let my car attendant know that I’d be getting off a bit later so that they wouldn’t be looking for me.



Crossing the Willamette on arrival into Portland

Copies of this month’s Wine and Cheese Menu were placed at each table along with plates filled with a variety of cheese, crackers and grapes. A small bouquet flowers at each window added a nice touch. Although eight wines are listed on the menu, only four were offered this afternoon, all of them from Oregon and Washington. The California wines were sampled yesterday afternoon out of San Luis Obispo. The crew did a nice job of describing each wine as well as making the event that much more fun with the inclusion of trivia questions for which a correct answer would win a bottle of wine. All wines were available for purchase by the bottle, and though I quite enjoyed the Hogue Genesis Syrah, I had no room in my luggage for anything larger than an airline sized bottle.

Bidding adieu to my car attendant Jay with thanks and a $10.00 tip, I made my way across the tracks and into the impressive red brick edifice that is Portland Union Station. Amtrak provides a nice little lounge for its First Class passengers at Portland, so I strolled in there and dropped off my bag before heading into the station to pick up the local paper and fire off a couple of pictures.



Trackside at Portland’s Union Station



Portland Union Station



Portland Union Station Main Hall



First Class Metropolitan Lounge at PDX