Amtrak often advertises the Coast Starlight as being the "hottest" train, but I don't think they meant it in this way! At about 4:15 PM, as we were speeding through Jefferson, Oregon, smoke began billowing from the front of the train, creating a spectacle of smoke along the left side of the train and a distinct stench throughout. I happened to have my scanner on at the time, and the conductor (at least I presume that's who I was) yelled over the radio for the engineer to ditch his unit and flip the emergency fuel cutoff on the way out! Our train came to an emergency stop, and it became clear what had happened. Our lead unit, P42DC #118, was on fire!

Head End Power was immediately cut, and passengers emerged from their rooms and began milling around. Many of us grabbed our cameras and headed to the lower level of our respective cars to try to get some shots of the fire. I managed to get a couple good ones, but the best shot will hopefully come when we set out 118 and I get to see it from the side. Getting back to the story, we came to a stop by the Interstate 5 freeway, and traffic immediately slowed at the sight. A Chevy Suburban from the Albany Fire Department was first on the scene. Jefferson, the community we're stopped in, is about 5 miles north of Albany, to which we were very close for an on-time arrival! So much for that. Soon, a utility truck from the Jefferson Community Fire Department was on the scene. Three cars from the Oregon State Patrol showed up and shut down one of two southbound lanes of the I-5 so that the emergency vehicles could work safely. The entire southbound side of the freeway were even shut down for some time! A firetruck from the Albany FD showed up, but was for some reason turned away. A neon green firetruck which I could not identify later showed up and stayed.

Since the engineer had cut the fuel, there was no imminent danger because of the fire, and it simply burned itself out. However, a logistical mess in terms of completing the trip had been made. I called Steve Grande and let him now what's going, so he should be letting the web community know what's going on up here right about now! I'm not really writing this in real time. Without power, I'm unable to type on the laptop computer! And I didn't even bring paper on which to actually write. One good thing about the whole ordeal was that it afforded an opportunity to get to know my fellow passengers better! Everyone emerged from their rooms at some point to take a picture, ask a crewmember a question, or see what everyone else was doing. There was even a party of sorts in the Parlour car after the sun went down, to the light of the emergency Cyalume Glowsticks!

Dialogue between the train crew and the dispatcher about what to do next began around 4:40. The first of two likely scenarios was to wye the two engines so that the good engine, 115, would be on the point powering the train. The problem with that was there would be no HEP because of the damage done to 118. A better solution was to set out 118, wye 115, run with one unit to Eugene, and pick up a UP helper there to help us get through the Cascades. It took almost an hour before confirmation that this would be the scenario. We didn't depart from that spot in Jefferson until 5:50 PM, as there apparently were problems resetting the breakers in 118 because of burnt wires. But nevertheless we were moving. We stopped north of Albany ten minutes later, at which point the HEP was once again cut, this time for almost two hours. At 6:05, the Chief of On-Board Services said it would take 40-50 minutes to complete the procedure. He wound up making this same announcement an hour later! The second time he was right, and we were finally on our way, limping along with one engine, at 7:50 PM. We shortly thereafter arrived in Albany almost four hours late. I felt particularly sorry for those passengers detraining there, as we were running on-time until the fire! The frustration of sitting minutes outside of the station for hours must be incredible.

At 8:40 we stopped so that Cascades train 753 could overtake us and not get any later than it already was. At 9:05 we stopped in Eugene Yard to pick up our helper locomotive, and we left with it at 9:25. Upon arrival in Eugene at 9:35, there was a local news crew interviewing detraining passengers about what happened! Apparently our train was all over that night's local news up and down the West Coast, even in large cities like Sacramento and Portland. I stepped off at Eugene to see our helper, and was slightly disappointed that it was an SD40-2, number 3144. I was hoping for a newer, more powerful unit, such as a Dash-9 or SD70M. Also, this locomotive sure had a strange sounding horn! It almost seemed more like that of a barge, and was certainly a departure from what I'm used to. Eugene was the last station stop before I went to bed that night, but apparently we stopped somewhere in the middle of the night for a long time (probably the service stop in Klamath Falls), thus making our late train later.

When I woke up at 7 AM, we were just south of Dunsmuir, California. Perhaps one good thing about running late was that I'd get to see all of this Northern Californian scenery between Dunsmuir and Sacramento that would normally be impossible to see at all on the Coast Starlight, as both was it goes through in the middle of the night! I thought that the scenery would be mostly desert or agriculture, but the mix was fascinating. Before arriving into Sacramento at 11:10 AM, five hours late, the conductor announced that all passengers trasferring to the California Zephyr, San Joaquin train 714, and the Texas Eagle should all detrain in Sacramento. That's not a big deal, except for the Texas Eagle passengers! They were being put off so that they could make their connection in Los Angeles by taking the San Joaquins down, but I would've been fuming if that had happened to me. In my opinion, the best part of the Coast Starlight route is south of Sacramento, and these unfortunate passengers were being deprived of it. But hey, "c'est la vie dans Amtrak."

While stopped in Sacramento, there was debate over what do with the motive power. One early rumor was that we would dump 3144 in Oakland and take on 3 F59PHIs, which would make logical sense. But my car attendant, Larry, speculated that there might yet be "other plans." Because the 3144's cab signalling equipment was malfunctioning and giving penalty brake applications during the brake tests at Sacramento, the engineer indeed arranged for 3 F59s to join us in Oakland. We pulled into the "Black Hole" at Oakland yard at 1:10 PM. While we were stopped, I observed that full-length dome car 10031 had been brought up and was sitting near 10030, which I had seen there on my way north. That leaves only one dome on the Pacific Surfliner route! Could the end be near for regular revenue service of these cars?

After dumping 3144 and the five Swift SWFZ roadrailers that we were towing, we were on our way with our new power. I then discovered while stopped at the Oakland station that all three of the F59PHIs we had taken on were State of California CDTX units, and all four locomotives were arranged elephant-style! To many, it was a photographer's delight. It's not every day that there's an arrangement like this on the Coast Starlight! But it was a good arrangement, as we now had much more power than necessary with less cars to haul. It feels good to be overpowered instead of underpowered. However, it had a negligible effect on our on-time performance. We ultimately arrived into Los Angeles Union Station at 1:54 AM, 4 hours 39 minutes late. Surely we would've been later if it wasn't for padding, which helped somewhat.

My mother didn't have as much of a problem with the tardiness as she did with the way Amtrak handled it. On board the train, there was not one announcement of the Amtrak Satisfaction Guarantee program, which could've taken the edge off for many irate passengers. Many crews make their passengers aware of the program, but ours didn't. Also, platform operations in Los Angeles were disorganized. Perhaps there should've been customer service representatives on hand to answer questions, make alternate arrangements, and even do things as simple as getting red caps to move more efficiently. These little things could've made a big difference. But at least I got home safe and sound, and ready to call Amtrak to request my voucher for the trouble! Since I paid for my tickets with Alaska Airlines miles, apparently my voucher is going to be worth what I would've paid for the trip had I paid cash on the day that my tickets were issued. That seems like a logical way to handle it.

I am curious if you know what caused the fire. Was it the result of poor maintenence or just one of those freakish things? I read about a fire on a locomotive on the California Zephyr last summer. Were there any similarities between that incident and yours?