On Wednesday the 28th of December/05 I was due to depart Los Angeles Union Station on #14 at 10:15 am. I thought something was amiss when by 9:45 am I did not see any check-in desk or any sign that the Coast Starlight was due to board. At around 10 am I approached a red cap sitting in his electric cart used for transferring elderly or lazy passengers (at 59 perhaps I can still be classified as lazy). He told me he had a message that #14 was not yet in the station but it should be arriving very soon. He placed my bags in his cart, and I took a front row seat for a prime view (with video pictures) of my ride through the Union Station tunnel and up to track level, where indeed #14 was no where to be found. The red cap did assure me that my sleeping car #1432 would be spotted at the location where he placed my bags. It was obvious that we were not going to have an on-time departure, and I thought this was a bad omen. However, the train gods were in a good mood as #14 did back into the station by 10:20, and we departed at about 10:40 am. While waiting for my train I was able to obtain videos of a Surfliner and some of the new LRT’s (streetcars?) proceeding on the elevated trackage into Union Station. One disappointment however. As #14 was backing in it appeared that something was missing, a parlour car. The is the first time in more that a dozen trips on this train that I would not have the joys of this wonderful lounge. Instead the passengers were provided with a newly refurbished sightseer lounge. Adequate, but not really the same thing.
We had two Genesis locomotives, a baggage car, transition sleeper, three Superliner II sleepers with names (Washington, Texas and Connecticut) the first-class lounge, diner, coach lounge car and four coaches. I was in Washington, the first sleeper, and it was in quite good condition, but I was concerned about the new-type toilet that has been plaguing Amtrak passengers recently, i.e. their failures in high altitudes. It did work just fine until we reached the Cascades where it would flush, not flush, etc. However it did work more often than not so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, although since Amtrak knows of this problem, why don’t they fix it? The dining car was reasonably good with adequate service. The one really good thing was their steak. Cooked to perfection great taste and very tender. For dessert I noticed that Amtrak’s traditional turtle pie is long gone, however, I was happy with the ice cream with chocolate sauce. Lunch was the usual light fare of burgers and sandwiches (no canned soup). I was quite pleased with my usual breakfast fare of bacon and eggs. I do wish Amtrak could figure out a way to provide passengers with toast, I don’t really care for muffins or croissants. If Via can provide toast for breakfast, why not Amtrak?
Every year that I travel the Coast Starlight I notice the little amenities of the past are fast disappearing. No special towels or shower kits. No flowers in the bedrooms, no little gifts, no audio programmes, no package containing stationery, pens etc. They did hold two wine tastings in the first-class lounge that they constantly referred to as the parlour car. This lounge was better than nothing but I still preferred the real parlour car.
As for our running times it got worse after departing Los Angeles, running more than three hours late at various places, but amazingly we made up some time and arrived in Seattle at 10:15 pm only two hours 15 minutes late. Not bad at all considering the problems that I kept hearing about with the trains both before and after my trip. Poor #11 was running very late on the day I was due in Seattle. I heard on my scanner that we were going to meet the s/b train somewhere around Klamath Falls. I glanced at the timetable and said “impossible #11 hasn’t even left Seattle.” Of course this #11 was the previous day’s train, so it appeared to be running over ten hours late.
Altogether a fairly good trip on the Coast Starlight. My sleeping car attendant seemed reluctant to handle my bags at Seattle, but finally they arrived on the platform and he received my usual tip for average service ($5.00)
I stayed overnight at Marriott’s Springhill Suites in the more northerly part of Downtown Seattle. My taxi fare was about $7.50 each way, but would you believe that I only paid $75.00 a night for this excellent hotel? I usually pay much more in Seattle, so I wonder if Marriott was having a hard time selling rooms during the Christmas season. The next morning I took advantage of Marriott’s reasonably adequate free breakfast buffet, and then off to King Street Station for Train #510 the Talgo service for Vancouver BC.
My train departed on time, but due to many slow orders and very slow running in Canada, we arrived in Vancouver one hour late at 12:40 pm. I had the re-heated omelette in the bistro car (better than the Eagle’s omelette) and then went back to my business class seat for the rock and roll journey to Vancouver. On the U.S. side the ride is reasonably smooth, but when crossing the border into British Columbia it soon becomes obvious that the tracks are in bad shape. At about 20 mph for much of the journey on the Canadian side the train would rock violently back and forth similar to a ship in stormy weather. My video is really quite amusing seeing all these heads being tossed about during our rail “storm.” These Spanish-built Talgo’s are obviously not designed for North American tracks.
My next and final train was Via Rail’s #2 The Canadian. As usual this was the best train of the lot. We departed Vancouver’s Pacific Central Station a few minutes late, but for the most part we were on-time in fact arriving three days later in Toronto 15 minutes early. Obviously lots of padding in the Via schedule.
Our consist was two locomotives, a baggage car, dead-head sleeper, two coaches a skyline dome car, a revenue sleeper, a diner, three more sleepers and the rear-end Park observation dome car. The sleepers were the Manor type consisting of three sections, four roomettes, and six double bedrooms. Of the double bedrooms, one (Bedroom “F”) is larger than the others which is the one I had. I was in Elgin Manor, and everything worked, including the new toilets that no longer dump out onto the tracks and plenty of hot water in the shower. This being the Christmas New year’s season the train had all sorts of decorations in the lounge and diner. (Compared to no decorations at all on the Amtrak trains).
For New Year’s eve, Via provided us with a special menu: an appetizer of Tiger Prawn shrimps, plus tomato bisque soup (no can on the table), plus a salad. You could either choose one of the above or have all three. We had one choice of the Entrée of Prime Rib of beef, or pan-fried halibut, or Baked Chicken b-r-e-a-s-t or Wild mushroom ravioli, vegetables and potatoes were included plus our dessert of crème brule.(For some strange reason this forum won't let me spell ****** hence the dashes). Altogether a really first-class meal. Meanwhile back in the Park lounge car, Via had a special party of faux champagne, various edible goodies and lots of silly party hats. Via provided music that for the short time I was there appeared to be a song about various activities at a YMCA. Whenever the refrain YMCA was played the party-goers raised there arms and sang along. I soon went back to the quiet of Bedroom “F” as I am a notorious party pooper.
So after 7600 miles and three straight days of train riding, I was glad to see our early arrival in Toronto. I did enjoy most of my journey (even the notorious soup incident won’t deter me from Amtrak except perhaps the Texas Eagle), and as I said before the train gods were really kind to me this year. Nothing ran very late, I made all my connections, and no doubt I will soon want another long-distance train ride.
Sorry for if this report was too long, but I hope you will find my posting of interest.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
My wife and I flew to Seattle, rode the Talgo to Vancouver, and then rode VIA #2 in April 2004.
Only once since then has she ventured aboard Amtrak.......and that being a 5 hour late Auto-Train in December 2004.
Since one of the best Amtrak had to offer, the Auto-Train, fell so far short of the experience aboard VIA, she's been off Amtrak for 13 months now and unlikely to give it a try this year either.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
Thank you for these reports. Just a question: Would you say the VIA Trans-Canada train heading east is nicer, scenery-wise, than heading west? Also, is that a seasonal thing, or all the time?
Posted by royaltrain (Member # 622) on :
My personal preference is eastbound. In the wintertime you may have a bit more daylight through the rockies, as well passengers will receive an extra dinner for the same fare. As you can see food is one of my priorities. As for the menu, the one I quoted was special for New Years. Usually there would be one or two fewer choices. The regular menu can be viewed at www.viarail.ca Posted by chrisg (Member # 2488) on :
thanks for taking the time to write such a great report. You really hit all the important points and I for one felt as though I were right there .
Posted by 20th Century (Member # 2196) on :
Your trip report was wonderful.Thank you. I did expect that Via Rail would be the best of the segments for train travel enjoyment. Sad that USA won't provide the same with Amtrak.
Posted by vline (Member # 1132) on :
Thankyou Royal train for your report. No report is too lengthy when ones imagination is carried away by reading the text of a report of a journey, that some kind traveller/writer has obviously enjoyed compiling. Mike in Australia.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Royal Train - great report!! Glad to see that VIA still offers the first-class excellent service it always has!!! Too bad AMTRAK won't use VIA as a "model" for good and acceptable customer service......
And no your report was definitely NOT "too long!"
Posted by royaltrain (Member # 622) on :
I'm glad you enjoyed my report, thanks for the kind comments.
Posted by jgart56 (Member # 3968) on :
Royaltrain,
Thanks for a great report! Did I just read lately that Via was going to get a new influx of cash???
I guess our northern friends are a bit more enlightened about the need for good trains.
Posted by royaltrain (Member # 622) on :
To jgart56, I hadn't heard anything about a "new" influx of cash. There have been rumours about Via receiving more money for some time now, but I haven't seen anything confirmed. We are in the middle of a federal election in Canada, and hardly a day passes that one party or another doesn't come out various promises and bribes for the voters. So who knows, perhaps we will receive more (probably broken) promises from the politicians about passenger rail funding.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
Great stories. I finally had time to read through it. Ironically, I had to go to work to find time to read it through. Too much to do at home, and things are really slow at work this week.
Perhaps Amtrak should hire someone away from Via to run things. And maybe throw in a few Swiss railroaders to keep things running on time.