Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
Planes, Trains & Automobiles - The Sequel
Clickety-clack, wheels on the track
Thanksgiving Day, that most uniquely American of public holidays, brought for us the prospect of one of the great highlights of the trip: the main part of a 23-hour train journey from Seattle to San Francisco. (Strictly speaking, the train journey was to Emeryville, CA, where a connecting bus would transfer us to downtown San Francisco, but let's not get picky!) The day started early at 6:30am. It was clear from the outset that Seattle was covered in a layer of mist and fog, but it was also reassuring to see that the city hadn't closed down completely for the holiday: buses and taxis were running and garbage was being collected.
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LEFT and ABOVE: Seattle King Street Station, shrouded in mist |
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ABOVE and RIGHT: Our 'family bedroom' spanned the entire width of the car |
After showering and assembling our belongings, we took a cab through the deserted streets to King Street Station. Check-in proceeded without a hitch - a great relief following the previous night's luggage shenanigans - and there was time to find a local Chinese store that was open, sold coffee and breakfast items and had a microwave oven available in which to prepare the latter for consumption!
Boarding
got underway at 9:05 and was hindered slightly by some confusion
over the car numbering. Our friendly sleeping car attendant Jorge,
who hailed from Argentina, showed us to our 'family bedroom'
accommodation. As the name implies, this room was capable of
accommodating a group of two adults and two children. It was
situated on the lower deck immediately behind one of the
bogies and therefore was the railway equivalent of a much sought-after,
end-of-corridor room in a hotel. Clearly we were not going to be
affected by through pedestrian traffic. The stand-out
attraction of the room was that it spanned
the entire width of the car, with a window to the
outside world at each end of the long, sofa-type seat.
Toilet and shower facilities were shared, but we
were hopeful that this would not be a problem as the toilets, in
theory at least, should only be used by passengers in this small,
self-contained section of the lower deck. Prior to departure, we had
time to explore our own car and visit the adjacent Pacific Parlour
Car and the dining car. The former was a unique feature of the Coast
Starlight train in the Amtrak network: using 50-year-old 'heritage'
rolling stock acquired from the Santa Fe railroad, this car and the
others in the small fleet
provided additional amenities for the exclusive use of sleeping car
passengers.
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| ABOVE: Guided tour of train - hover mouse for description of each photo | |||||
Once the immediate neighbourhood had been sussed out, we settled back into our own private cabin and celebrated the departure from foggy Seattle with complimentary small bottles of 'California champagne' presented by Jorge. Although it looked for a while as though the fog was going to be persistent, it eventually burned off and allowed us to view the passing countryside. When lunchtime eventually arrived, we elected to use the Parlour Car, which offered a 'no table sharing' guarantee to each party at the expense of a more restricted menu selection. As it hadn't been the most active of days so far, my turkey ciabatta sandwich seemed to fit the bill nicely. I felt sure that it wasn't the recommended way to have turkey on Thanksgiving Day, but at least I could say that I'd eaten the customary meat!
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| ABOVE: The timetable allowed for a short break at Portland's Union Station | |||
Shortly after lunch, we found ourselves on familiar territory as the Coast Starlight pulled into Union Station in Portland, Oregon. This presented a perfect opportunity to get out for a quick leg-stretch and to take a few pictures of the train in bright, sunlit conditions. Departure from Portland was via the lower deck of the Steel Bridge, bringing back memories of our top-deck crossing on foot the previous Sunday afternoon.
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ABOVE and LEFT: Wine and cheese tasting |
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| RIGHT: Scheduled stop at Eugene, Oregon |
The scheduled wine and cheese tasting at 3:45pm proved to be a popular attraction, no doubt assisted by the fact that it was complimentary. We had already installed ourselves in two of the parlour car's swivel chairs and retained them for the event. Four varieties of wine and three cheeses were presented and it was a pleasant enough way to pass the time while rural scenes slipped past the picture windows. The lower deck of the car was - remarkably, I thought - home to a small cinema, but the movie that was competing with the top-deck event had no takers at all. A short time later, darkness was well on its way as the train called at Eugene.
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For some reason, an attendant other than our own allocated us a very early dinner time of 6:30pm. We had once again chosen to eat in the spacious and quiet parlour car and once again we had the place to ourselves. The meal started with the traditional Amtrak salad with choice of dressing and I had a beef main course with rice.
We both felt tired afterwards and decided at 8:45pm that it was time to get the bunks made up. I volunteered to take the top berth and, in stark contrast to the previous occasion on our first 'PTA' trip, I felt quite the expert this time around, managing to get myself installed into the very limited sleeping space without bumping my head or suffering any other indignity or mishap. I fell asleep quickly, despite the frequent 'wheel squeal' and incessant lurching of the train from side to side as it undertook the long, twisting climb into the Cascade Mountains.