Coast Starlight Discussion

The Cascades service moratorium should have been lifted at 5:00 AM Pacific Time today.

Word from a station agent is that the Starlight should resume full service starting on the 19th. The bridge should be fixed on the 12th and then they'll give it a few days of freights to ensure that all is well. This assumes that all goes to plan, which may or may not be the case.

Not sure why they didn't bus bridge people, which I think is a poor decision.

Thank you both for the updates and the information. Very good information regarding the room, thanks especially for that. This is my 50th birthday trip and the wife is "along for the ride" but the better/smoother everything goes the better the chance of taking more such trips in the future.

Thanks again.

Tickets for the Starlight can be booked on Amtrak’s website for the May 18 train and thereafter. The last Starlight to stop in Tacoma was on April 24, an Amtrak employee said.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/a ... rylink=cpy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You're probably good.

The "Bus Bridge" would have been SAC to KFS,the last yard to be able to turn the train back north.
Was there a Coast Starlight consist at Seattle to use? if not,then the only option was to cancel service untill
the bridge was repaired.
Believe a Detour via the UP/BNSF(ex WP) to Marysville (Binnny Jct) would require a runaround move at SAC,then a reverse move to
Haggin Jct to head north(was most likely the UP freight detour route).

Doesn't the Starlight run that way normally between Sacramento and Marrysville?

The Coast Starlight normally runs on the Valley Sub from Roseville(ex SP) to Marysville (Binney Jct)
The possible detour uses the Sacramento Sub(ex WP) from Haggin Jct(19th street Jct) via Pleasant Grove to
Marysville(Binney Jct)
Believe the Bridge between Elvas Jct and Citrus Heights was OOS.

Now the *RUMOR* is that things are running ahead of schedule and we might have 11 and 14 back later this week. We'll see...

Bridge is now open: https://www.up.com/customers/announceme ... 17-32.html

Expect Amtrak service to resume in a few days!

Or sooner! TheNewsTribune.com

Amtrak resumes Coast Starlight service from Seattle to Los Angeles

The Coast Starlight is on track again.

After a two-week hiatus, passenger rail service resumed Wednesday morning from Seattle to Los Angeles, Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said.

Amtrak took the West Coast’s only long-distance passenger train out of service between Seattle and Sacramento, California, on April 25 after a freight train derailed and damaged a crucial bridge near Mount Shasta, California.

The Starlight pulled into Amtrak’s Tacoma station on Puyallup Avenue at 10:15 a.m. as scheduled, the smell of breakfast wafting from the dining car.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/loca ... rylink=cpy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...

Back on a two-day hiatus.

Mudslide: http://www.kgw.com/news/amtrak-service- ... /444108791" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So I rode the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Emeryville on the 22nd/23rd. If you ask my wife how the trip was you'll get a much different answer than asking me. My summary of the ride:

As Seattle is the origin I fully expected an on time departure and the train pulled into the station and then out on the road exactly on time. Bedroom E was clean and cozy except for two things: The bathroom door wouldn't stay latched but that was easily fixed by placing a suitcase in front of it. We used the public bathroom down the hall anyway most of the time. The bigger problem and disappointment was the single seat. It was very well worn to the point of slanting downwards yet I managed to sit in it for hours at a time and be more comfortable than on an airline or even typical Amtrak coach seat. Having the large couch is nice I suppose but I think I like the layout of a roomette better and also think lying parallel to the tracks at night rather than perpendicular might be better. I'm actually curious about what others think of that issue - parallel vs perpendicular.

Hanging out here for so many years has tempered and educated my expectations so I knew to stick with the burger for lunch and the steak for dinner. My wife, not one to follow advice easily, went in a different direction. Somewhere between the "chef" who designed the menu and the galley where it is cooked there is a lot lost in translation on both the Thai curry bbq pulled pork on a croissant for lunch and the Asian inspired vegetarian noodle bowl for dinner. With late seatings for both meals (we were in the third car so last to be asked for seating times) the kitchen seemed to be out of a good number of choices as well. We had lunch with a lovely elderly woman who rode in from Coeur d'Alene on the Builder and she suggested getting off the train at Portland for a Polish Dog in the station waiting room. Great suggestion and my wife's lunch was saved. Very nice station in Portland with a newsstand/snack bar. Why doesn't Seattle have any type of amenities?

Our attendant throughout was very nice and helpful as were the crew of the diner. The gentleman running the Parlor Car had a bit of an attitude chasing people away from the tables as they were for "dinner service only" even though clearly no one was interested in his leg of lamb. (Well, I was but there was nothing on that menu for my wife.)

Scenery throughout the first day and into the night was really something to behold especially at dinner time as we rode pretty high up into the mountains with steep ascents above and just as steep descents below. At one point during dinner we slowed to a crawl and were informed of a broken rail ahead but that a crew was already on sight making repairs. I don't think we ever came to a full stop for more than a minute or two as a result but we did lose about a half hour at least. We had earlier lost time between Seattle and Portland but that was easily made up by cutting the Portland stop short and departing that station on time. This later delay was only compounded through the night. We stopped somewhere in the middle of the night for quite a while. Crew change? Fuel? I don't know. We arrived in Sacramento the following morning about a half hour delayed which allowed for a leisurely breakfast of really good French Toast. Unfortunately we sat in Sacramento for close to an hour without any explanation. Arrival in Emeryville was about two hours late I think but we didn't have much planned for the day and were able to get a cab to our hotel right away where early check in was available.

Overall the ride was very pleasant, I was impressed with the ride quality - quiet and smooth and the overall condition of the train was excellent. Biggest problems for my wife were the food and too light blankets; biggest problems for me was the seat and the pillows which even when doubled up gave the feeling of sleeping with my head below my body. Also, using a CPAP machine is much easier in a roomette - the stairs to the upper bunk (as a shelf) and outlet placement are just much more convenient than trying to find a place to put it and plug it in in the bedroom.

In the end, I would definitely travel by Superliner again in either a roomette or bedroom and am looking forward to an opportunity to ride a Viewliner II as well. (The toilet in the original Viewliner scares/disgusts me.)

Slightly off topic but my whole vacation was planned around this leg of the trip and transit in general proved to be the highlight including: air, light rail, monorail, Amtrak, BART, Muni Streetcar, Cable Car, airport people mover, JFK Airtrain and NYC Subway.

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/pas ... enter.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Amtrak will build a $28-million locomotive service facility in Seattle.

The U.S. passenger rail corporation said the project is its third major investment in the Seattle facility that provides services for the long-distance Empire Builder and Coast Starlight; Amtrak Cascades state-supported corridor service, and maintenance for Sound Transit Sounder commuter trains.

The project, to be managed by PCL Construction Services, will include demolition of the site’s existing buildings, utilities, tracks, and other structures, as well as construction of a new 31,000-square-foot locomotive shop. Existing yard tracks will be reconfigured to provide access to the new facility, which will be equipped with a 55-ton crane and a new 125-ton drop table, the latter funded by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Will the Starlight be impacted by the fires in Northern CA? I looked at the Calfire wecsite and it seems to show the Carr fire around Redding could be a problem.

Both # 11 and # 14 got tagged with service disruption due to the Carr Fire.

andegold wrote: I think I like the layout of a roomette better and also think lying parallel to the tracks at night rather than perpendicular might be better. I'm actually curious about what others think of that issue - parallel vs perpendicular.

Talk about opening a can of worms! I just finished an excellent book, "Anglo-Scottish Sleepers" by David Meara. It covers the train currently known as the Caledonian Sleeper, a favorite of mine. Most sleepers outside the US have transverse bunks, and in the UK, they are not convertible to seats that I am aware of. At one time 100+ years ago, the bunks were parallel to rails. When they made the change, people were aghast. Keep in mind, change was a scary thing around 1910. A prolific poet actually wrote a poem about the change:

"Sleeping compartment" by Norman MacCaig

I don't like this, being carried sideways
through the night. I feel wrong and helpless - like
a timber broadside in a fast stream.

Such a way of moving my suit
that odd snake the sidewinder
in Arizona: but not me in Perthshire.

I feel at right angles to everything,
a crossgrain in existence. - It scrapes
the top of my head and my footsoles.

To forget outside is no help either -
then I become a blockage
in the long gut of the train.

I try to think I'm an Alice in Wonderland
mountaineer bivouacked
on a ledge five feet high.

It's no good. I go sidelong.
I rock sideways - I draw in my feet
To let Aviemore pass.