Riding The Rails

Written By David Wilkening

Travelers Digest

            On our way to boarding America's premier train, we stood at a shelter-less bus stop at Embarcadero and Mission Streets in downtown San Francisco. "It's a safe neighborhood," the taxi driver reassured us after noting our dubious faces.

            There was an Amtrak sign on a nearby brick building. But no covered station, as we had expected. Just this empty bus stop.

            And at 8:41 p.m., it started to rain. Our bus was not due for another hour.

            Not an auspicious start for a trip aboard the Coast Starlight, but the Amtrak agent booking our trip told us the best way to go was to ride the Amtrak-scheduled bus to the nearby town of Emeryville because there is no train station in San Francisco.

            We were here to find out how Amtrak is doing these days, at least when it comes to its most famous train?

            Wet but still willing to give the rails a try, we made the 15-minute bus ride to the Emeryville Amtrak Station, a surprisingly modern building with high ceilings and oversize paintings near the new shopping district known as Jack London Square.

            The train we were scheduled to take, the Coast Starlight, connecting Los Angeles with Seattle, "is Amtrak's premier West Coast train," according to "The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Steam & Rail."

            The scenery along the 1,389-mile, two-day route is generally regarded as among the most spectacular anywhere, or as Amtrak puts it, "America's hottest train with the coolest scenery."

            We skipped the LA portion of the trip to climb aboard near San Francisco, where the train was only about 45 minutes late getting into Emeryville.

            After stowing our luggage in a compartment below our sleeping car, which was too small to contain any bags, we immediately set out for the Pacific Parlour Car.

            If there's one impression you can't help but have aboard trains, it is the friendliness of passengers. And our immediate friends there were quick to remind us that we had missed perhaps the best part of the trip  --
from Los Angeles  along the Pacific Ocean, where the train is so close to the ocean that the rails are sometimes splashed with water.

            "This is probably the best train and the best route Amtrak has," suggested a fellow passenger and frequent train rider who pointed out the lack of dust and cleanliness of the train (which was a far cry from what I remembered on my last train trip about six years ago).

            The train on the November evening we boarded it seemed to be approaching a full house, giving the impression perhaps that more people than ever are riding the rails these days. Not so, however.

            "Since Sept. 11, ridership has been all over the map. Some areas it's up, while other areas are down," said Liz O'Donoghue, who works in the Communications, Public and Government Affairs office of Amtrak West in Oakland, Calif.

            "Ridership is actually slightly down from last year, which is consistent with people traveling less," she added.

            For the Coast Starlight, ridership from Oct. 1 of last year to Sept. 30 of this year fell 1.7 percent. But about a half million people ride this train each year.

            Those who do ride the train and take the option of a sleeping car quickly find it is a small space My wife, Suzanne, compared it to a coffin. We had visited San Francisco's famous prison, Alcatraz, and cells
there seemed spacious compared to our room. It's also a steep climb to the top of the bunk where the ceiling was about a foot from my face.

            But if you're tired enough, it doesn't matter. And once you get used to the constant squeaking and swaying of the train, however, the bed becomes comfortable.

            The next morning found us ready for the much-anticipated scenery, which was no disappointment as viewed from the Parlour Car's floor-to-ceiling windows that put everything right in passenger's laps.

            The train twists and turns up and down mountain passes with pitch-black tunnels. The train route is strewn with jagged mountain peaks, red covered bridges, dense evergreen trees, sun-glistening blue lakes, fields of dandelions and red and white clover, trestles crossing fast-moving rivers, broad alluvial plains dotted by prosperous farms and tiny communities, and fields of strawberries and blackberries. Everywhere, there are water towers and brown fields and landscaped chunks of commercial sod.

            Near Roseville, we saw a huge railroad center with classification yards and idle locomotives. Near Klamath Falls on the border of California and Oregon, we saw lumber piled up like giant toothpicks (the area is a major lumber distribution point).

            Near Salem, Oregon's state capital, we saw the Capitol and Supreme Court buildings and part of the campus of Willamette University. Going through Portland, we passed through historic Portland Union Station, which opened in 1896, and in the distance were the tall, snow-crested peaks of 11,245-foot Mt. Hood.

            The trees everywhere held more shades of gold than anyone could imagine.

            There's plenty to see, but if there's a detriment to train travel in the U. S., it's the poorly-maintained rail beds which cause the train to squeak, sway and rattle as passengers stumble through the aisles holding onto chair arm rests. The train's movement is punctuated by periodic railroad whistles that echo like a broken piano key.

            For those who have not ridden trains for a while, the relative luxury of the Starlight may come as a surprise, however.

            Passengers who buy sleeper cabins find such amenities as fresh flowers and embossed stationary. Upgraded passengers are also offered three meals a day, which are described by Travel Holiday as only "edible," but which I rated higher. Service is brisk and efficient and diners can't help but notice the white tablecloths and Corningware dishes, which evoke more elegant days of train travel.

            Other amenities include a Kiddie Car, stocked with stuffed animals, books, toys and coloring materials. Videos and cartoons are always on.

            There's also a movie theatre in the Sightseer Lounge Car ("Shrek" was the featured film).

            For sleeper passengers, there's a free wine tasting with cheese and crackers and several different wines, some of which can be bought on board the train.

            We found restrooms to be clean, and there were flimsy-looking showers (though we did not try them out).

            The train has a policy of "No Smoking," but loudspeaker advisories tell passengers when stopovers are long enough for them to grab a quick cigarette, though that information is followed with the warning not to go to
too far because the train will not wait for them.

            For those who leave the train for just a few minutes, a stopover at one of the small but picturesque towns along the way might be a temptation. And passengers can buy tickets that allow for several stopovers.

            After 24 hours (the entire route is 36 hours), we arrived in Seattle about an hour late. Perhaps a small train delay was as predictable as the Seattle weather. It was raining, of course.
 

            A few travel tips from Liz O'Donoghue, a Communications, Public and Government Affairs specialist for Amtrak West based in Oakland, Ca: