Passenger Trains > California Zephyr Trip Report #6(8/20)

It was time to depart Roseville, CA on Tuesday August 20th for my return trip to Mount Pleasant, Iowa on Amtrak #6. I had originally booked this trip for Thursday the 22nd, but changed it to the 20th. Amtrak dutifully sent me a handy email reminder on the 17th with the title "Your Train Leaves the Station in 5 Days". (I never did receive a reminder email for the train I was actually travelling on) I double checked of course to make sure that I did indeed have an eticket for the 20th, but in the back of my mind I wondered if I would actually be on the manifest for the train. I was about to find out. Amtrak's systems (and their website) leave much to be desired.

As large a population center as Roseville is, and considering that this station is also served by Capitol Corridor Amtrak trains and connecting Amtrak Thruway Bus service, it's astounding to me that there is no agent here of any kind. Everyone is on their own regarding what to do and where to go. It is a stark contrast to the small town of Mount Pleasant which has an agent on duty every day at train time for the one train that serves the town each way. Anyway I kind of know what the routine is with this train at Roseville, so I made it a point to help as I could with some waiting passengers who were riding Amtrak for the first time.

6 departed Emeryville about 5 minutes late, and then spent some extra time during the stop at Sacramento. I later learned that this was due to mechanical remedying a non-working light in one of the sleepers.

For this trip I was booked in the 40 transition sleeper. These days half of this car is for OBS crew, and the other half is sold as revenue space to passengers. There is a crew lounge on the lower level. I was booked in Roomette #2 - and upon boarding, the attendant "Miss Reed" (who was great BTW) told me that I could have either #2 or #17. She pointed out that room 2 was adjacent to the crew quarters, and that "sometimes we can be a bit noisy". I told her that I might want to join in on the fun, to which she replied "Sure!! Why not?!". But I did decide to take roomette 17. The car was 39041 - a refreshed Superliner 2.

This was a different OBS crew than I had coming out on 5, and it was interesting to see how the crews give each train its own personality. I had no prior experience with this particular group. One difference that was immediately noticeable was that there were limited announcements. It was not an issue for me, but it did change the flavor of the trip.

Everything was going well across the Sierras and past Reno. I went to dinner and noted while eating that we came to a stop just prior to Winnemucca, NV. It was 6:40pm. Then a freight appeared to make a reverse move on the track next to us and it too came to a stop. Something felt off, but my scanner was in my room and so I had no clue what was happening. For the remainder of dinner we remained stopped. No announcement of any kind was made, which I thought was odd. I finally had the bright idea to check the Amtrak app, and that's where I learned that there were power lines down blocking the tracks. Ok at least that explained things, but yet nothing at all was communicated to us by the train crew.

After dinner I returned to my roomette, and since I was in the 40 car I walked downstairs and there was the Conductor and AC in the crew lounge. I said something like "Some problems ahead, huh?" to which the Conductor replied "Yeah can't be too much of a big deal - pull the lines off the tracks and walk us through I guess". I agreed and went back to my room.

By the time quiet hours began @10pm, we still had not moved. And amazingly there had still been absolute silence on the PA system. It was so strange. Sleeping was easy since we were stopped, but I happened to be jarred awake when I heard 2 shorts from the locomotive and we were finally underway again. It was now 1:40am. We had been stopped for almost exactly 7 hours. Proceeding at 10mph, we passed through what looked like a war zone. There had obviously been a heavy brush fire, and the ground reminded me of live coals from a charcoal grill. I couldn't tell for certain but it looked like the fire was right up to the tracks. I surmised that it had jumped the tracks to the other side and likely ignited a lot of the ties in the process. (I later learned that this was indeed the case) The air was acrid as the car's ventilation system drew in the smoke.

Winnemucca is a crew change point and normally a "fresh air break" for passengers, so I made it a point to get off there. It was just me, the Conductor and the AC who got off. I'm guessing they must have made some kind of agreement with the diner crew (who were by this time in their bunks) because the Conductor and AC opened the door to the diner and began hauling bags of trash to the dumpsters there at the station. I think it is normally the Diner OBS crew who performs this task.

In talking to the Conductor, he told me that the fire was huge and that I80 had been shut down for hours as well as the railroad. I did do some googling and there were apparently something like 3,000 people without power in Winnemucca at one point. It remained unclear if a high tension power line caused the fire? Or if the fire somehow involved the power lines. I still don't know the answer to that.

What I did know is that we were now over 7 hours behind schedule, and incredibly no announcement of any kind had been made to the passengers. I actually thought I must have somehow missed something, because on the trip out on #5 every single thing that affected our train was communicated promptly and clearly by the different crews. But anyway.. there was nothing to do but go back to bed after Winnemucca and be grateful we were at least finally back on the move. A relief crew had been brought to Elko, because our crew was going to time out and would not be able to bring the train into Salt Lake City.

As an aside, as I walked the platform at Winnemucca toward the rear of the train, I stopped short near the lounge car because the first coach (I think) was RIPE. It smelled bad enough that I turned around at that point. Just think "open sewer" and that's what it was like. Wow it was bad.

In the morning I went to the diner @6:30 for breakfast - and I did it right this time. When I walked in, the car was completely empty of passengers. At first I thought I was going to be told I was early again, but the steward instead ushered me to a table. For about 10 minutes I had the car to myself. During breakfast I did ask the others who eventually joined me at my table if any kind of announcement had been made during the time we were stopped for the fire. I hadn't missed anything. No announcements had been made. In fact I learned that at least one passenger in one of the sleepers had become quite irate over the matter. This could have been avoided with some basic communication. I still cannot fathom the reason for this. As someone here on TO said recently, "Information goes a long way. People are much more tolerant of delays if they are told why."

Incidentally, I have not commented on the food only because it was uniformly good for the entire trip. Amtrak has definitely gotten the food right in their conventional dining service. It makes taking a long trip like this palatable (pun intended!) and I really have nothing negative to say about any of it. Kudos to Amtrak.

So this brings me to the topic of breakfast in an Amtrak dining car on a LD Amtrak train - well on the CZ anyway. They open for breakfast @6:30am in the time zone the train would be in if the train were on time NO MATTER WHAT. This is not communicated clearly, but I finally figured it out (I think). I'm guessing that they do this to properly space the mealtimes for the day. So anyway, I considered this a minor triumph for myself personally by gaining this understanding.

After 7am a member of the train crew did make an announcement and said something to the effect of "By now most of you have received texts or are otherwise aware of the problems encountered last night and why the train is late. We apologize for the delay..." etc.

One upside of the train being so late was going through Salt Lake City (and by the Great Salt Lake) in daylight. In Provo there were quite a few railfans in town who were literally running up the street getting their photos of the train that rarely makes an appearance in daylight there. It was fun to watch.

Darrell, the cafe attendant, announced that there were free snacks in the lounge car. And I spent a few minutes in my room answering the Amtrak questionnaire I had received about my trip on #5 the week prior.

By the time we reached Glenwood Springs, it was dark. And my only memory of Denver was waking up briefly and noting that it was 3am as we were backing into the station.

The run over BNSF out of Denver was normal - including the roughness of their crossovers and grade crossings. It remains a fast railroad, but not a smooth one. It puzzles me why they don't smooth things out. Bouncing an Amtrak train around is one thing, but subjecting heavy tonnage at speed to that kind of rough track has to take its toll I would think.

There is a man named Mike Jensen in Fort Morgan, CO who has a youtube channel "Mike Jensen 80701". He records the arrivals of trains 5 & 6 every day. When his video of the day was posted, I looked at it and Darrell from the lounge car had brought coffee out to Mike. After watching this, I walked down to the cafe specifically to tell Darrell how famous he is. He got a charge out of that.

At lunch I joked with the others at the table that we may get the famous "Last Supper" of Dinty Moore Beef Stew emergency canned rations. (Often when the train is very late and an extra meal is needed, this is served to everyone in lieu of the regular menu)

Instead, at Omaha they brought onto the train a large order of sub sandwiches from a local deli. Then they invited all the coach passengers to the diner and fed everyone - seating everyone in shifts. I'm sure this was very much appreciated.

And so the Last Supper was not the beef stew. They instead offered a limited selection from the regular dinner menu, with desserts from the lunch menu. The crew had fun with it. There was jazz music playing upon entering - Darrell from the lounge car seemed to be in charge of that. After eating, whichever dessert you chose, they gave you double. It was a light-hearted vibe and was definitely fun. Amtrak really made an effort because the train was so late, even though none of the delay was Amtrak's fault.

Prior to this trip, I wasn't sure what to expect about riding in the transition sleeper, but I found only positive things about it. First of all, the traffic in the hallway is minimal. There are only a few passengers in the car, and the crew comes and goes at specific intervals. I found it very quiet. And the noise of the locomotive horn was a non-issue for me as well.

As I understand it, there are two different variations of the trans-dorm car. The one I was in had 2 showers on the upper level, and a third shower on the lower level. And the showers upstairs are combination toilet/showers. They are roomier and I liked them better. When I used the shower, the water was nice and hot. There is no place for towels etc. (I'm presuming this is because the cars were designed as crew dorms, so no consideration was given to fancy extras like storage for towels and toiletries). Miss Reed had towels in the downstairs shower, as well as the "hamper bag" for used towels. It all worked well and she kept the car clean and fresh, including vacuuming the hallway. My roomette was like 5 feet from one of the upstairs toilet/showers, so it was very much like having private facilities for the entire trip. I think on my next journey I will actually try to book the 40 car again.

Speaking more generally, I like the Superliner cars. They were designed well and built to last. Even though they are now over 40 years old, they still offer a solid heavy quiet comfortable ride. So much institutional knowledge has been lost over the years now, that I don't expect the next generation of cars to be any better than the Superliners.

Ottumwa, Iowa is a crew change point, and the conductor who boarded there asked "What the heck happened anyway?", to which I replied "Oh I know what happened. I was there for the whole thing!!" and proceeded to tell her the tale. She announced to the train that all Galesburg and Chicago connections were broken and that Amtrak would be accommodating everyone for the night in Chicago.

Arrival at Mount Pleasant was at 7:30pm - over 9-1/2 hours late. As soon as I saw Ron Graber I told him "You said my train would be on time!!". He laughed and said "I lied!!". (As I am typing this, I looked out of curiosity and today's #6 arrived at Mount Pleasant 3 minutes early) It really was an enjoyable trip, even with the delays. In this day and age I consider it a minor miracle that you can still ride an inter-city passenger train like this with passenger comforts and good food. I look forward to doing it again.

Note: As a postscript, I did not receive a survey questionnaire for this trip. But Amtrak sent a $200 voucher good toward Amtrak travel anytime within the coming year. This was appreciated and not expected, as none of the delays were Amtrak's fault.

Photos:
1. Conductor, Dining Car Steward, Attendant Miss Reed @Reno
2. Crew lounge in the 40 car
3. Darrell @Fort Morgan, CO
 

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Ron Graber and "Shadow".

(One of them is the agent at Mount Pleasant)

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Glad you had fun! Nice report.

some crews are reluctant to use the intercom at night?  almost monthly, more really,   there is a CZ that goes past the  salt lake in the daylight,  and it is  a treat to see areas passed thru at night normally, and a couple of times a year one goes thru Ogden.   Not since 2018 ? has one gone thru wyoming den-slc.   Think southern nebraska is really wet, wonder if that is why the roadbed has always been rough there?

What a  wonderfully well written report. Lots of work to do this and you have my respect and thanks!

Darrell @Fort Morgan on this trip.

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dan Wrote:
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> some crews are reluctant to use the intercom at
> night?  almost monthly, more really,   there is
> a CZ that goes past the  salt lake in the
> daylight,  and it is  a treat to see areas
> passed thru at night normally, and a couple of
> times a year one goes thru Ogden.   Not since
> 2018 ? has one gone thru wyoming den-slc.  
> Think southern nebraska is really wet, wonder if
> that is why the roadbed has always been rough there?

I don't know Dan. Could be. Although since it just seems to be the turnouts and crossings, I think they just don't maintain them to high standards. Maybe it's a money thing. (Dare I say cutting costs??)

Darrell reminded me of Redd Fox tho not as grumpy.

POW Wrote:
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> Darrell reminded me of Redd Fox tho not as grumpy.

If I were making a movie, and I called over to central casting and told them I needed someone to play a lounge car attendant/bartender on a passenger train - this is exactly who I would hope they would send me.
 

That’s the kind of man Amjoke should be proud to have as an employee, and if I was a passenger trainman I’d want to be on his crew.

The agreement employees that try and make chicken salad's out of chicken sh!t every day are to be admired for their fortitude.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Drknow Wrote:
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> That’s the kind of man Amjoke should be proud to
> have as an employee, and if I was a passenger
> trainman I’d want to be on his crew.
>
> The agreement employees that try and make chicken
> salad's out of chicken sh!t every day are to be
> admired for their fortitude.
>
> Regards
>
> Posted from iPhone

Amen