My Trip Report, By Jonathon D. Ortiz -The Coast Starlight-
-August 11th-
(5:00 AM) I wake up early, and get my Baggage, make shure all the windows are closed, turn off the fan, and go down stairs to the garrage, Me and my dad go to the Truck, put the stuff in and head for Anahiem.
When we get to Anahiem, we park, watch a few Metrolink Trains go by, then get the Tickets from the glove compartment and enter the Station. When we go in, I see that the Anahiem Station
now has new seats, after a few minutes, we go to the platform to wait, I watch a Metrolink come and go, then They make a boarding call for a South-Bound Pacific Surfliner, a few minutes later the South-Bound Train Pulls in, while the Head lights of The Train I'm about to board are visible in the distance. The year before, on a simalar trip, the Surfliner going the other way had had an odd consist, and this year it happend again, The South-Bound Surfliner was lead by an F59PHI Pulling 8 Horizon Cars!, behind all the Horizon Cars was a Baggage Car, then, behind that,, A Genisis!!
talk about an odd Surfliner Consist!, when this Train begins to pull out, My Train Pulls in, blocking a chance at a photo of the South-Bound Train, as the North-Bound Surfliner stops, I was bearly able to get a shot of the Genisis at the end of the other Train. I boarded the North-Bound Train with a few shots of the odd South-Bounder, the Train Pulls out and we head for Fullerton, when we get into L.A. we sit and wait for awhile, then, when the first Bording Call is maid, we go to the Platform (Platform 9b) when I get there, I see that we have a Private Coach at the end, once we board, there is a small wait as alway, then, we Take off!!!
While making a curve out of the Station, I see that we have 4 Locomotives!, 2 F59PHI Locos, and 2 Genisis!,, Later, I go down to the Sight Seer Lounge to see whats going on down there, nothing much, I stay and watch out the window for a few hours then return to my seat.
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-Pulling into Salinas-
After being on the Train for some time, we Finaly get into Salinas, I think were runing about 90 Minutes late, at this stop, I'm to meet Mr.Toy!, when we come to a stop, Me, my Dad, and about a dozen poeple are down stairs, waiting for the Conductor to open the door, but no Conductor, we all waited, wondering if they were gonna open up, so then a Passenger opens the door themself, right as he dose this, the Conductor steps right infront of the door, shes not happy, tells him to Never do that, then she ask for the stool to be passed forward, and then we all De-Train, while other Passengers pull out there cigaretes and lighters, Me and my Dad meet a person walking towards our Coach, Guess who... Thats right, its Mr.Toy!, we shook hands, said Hello,an all, took photos, some of the Train, but the conversation was cut short, since we were running late, they desided to cut the smoking break short, so Me and my Dad re boarded and we were off again!
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-Pulling into Portland-
After a few Delays from UP frieghters with the right-of-way, a few of the people behind me have desided to make a few choice coments out-loud, kinda got anoying, espeacialy when they got there kids to join in, then, when pulling into Portland, going over some low Class Track, the Train was realy rocking back and forth, after Portland, the anoying tourist family behind me has gone from out-loud complaining to Vandelism, one of them took off the seat cover, actualy cut holes into it, and drew on it, the whore it on his head and runing threw the Train, amaizingly, he didnt get caught doing this, I've seen a Conductor through an entire pack of Boy Scouts off for just drawing on a seat cover, this guy cut hole in it, and was wearing it, with his tongue threw one of the holes, more along the way they kept getting more anoying, so, I went back to the Lounge Car,, once in the Lounge, I got some diner and watched a movie, Shrek 2, later, they also showed the movie, Jersy Girl.
Later, in Martinez, our lead Locomotive, an F59PHI, lost power, HEP I guess, then only a few stops from Sacramento, where I am schedualed to meet JKchubbes,, so after SAC, I wait in the Lounge, then, a half hour later I begin to watch who comes into the Lounge-
-August 12th-
(4:00 AM) Have been in the Lounge since SAC, no Chubbes, oh-well, I'm shure he had a good reson not to show, I find out later in the trip why.
After going back to my seat, I sleep for a bit, When I wake, I notice we are still late, when we get to Klamath Falls, I look around for Chubbes, didnt see him, this was his stop, pulling out, I look out the Lounge Car windows, didnt see any one of intrest, so, guess I would simply IM him after the trip, we continue through the trip, listening to the Scanner, watching the movie in the Lounge,ect.
-August 13th-
(4:00 AM) Pulling into Seattle, We get off the Train to find Amtrak Staff pulling the lever to uncouple the Train while people are still De-Training, not to mention the Switcher waiting in the Station to take the Train apart, once I get a few photos, we get a cab to the hotel, at the room, I unpack and watch TV, then sleep.
(10:00 AM) I wake up, and first thought I think when I get up, is to go to see the MonoRail, My Dad, wasnt exactly jumping at the thought of getting up to see a MonoRail, espeacialy after getting there only hours before, so, we go to eat first, then straight from there, go to the MonoRail, I take a few photos of the curve where the Train burned, then to the Train itself...
-Seattle Center-
The damage wasnt as bad as I thought the window on the right side facing Seattle Center is melted, 2 hallowed out seat frame are all that remains of a midle sections of seats, only burned wiring is left of some lights directly above that, the (metal -or- fiberglass???) covering that covers the section where the 2 car-end meet is ether burned off completly, or has been removed, I could see right through from one side of the Train and out the other, the section of floor that was burned was compleatly eaten through by flames and I could see from the Train's left side into and through the floor to its track and maintnance area, the rest of the Fire Abused Train looked unharmed, I am glad the city has desided to save it, the hotel clerk said one of Seattle's old Trains ( I dont know if its a MonoRail he was talking about or not) called the "Bubleatore" ended up being save from the junk yard and is in someones backyard, he said that evan when he rode it he notice that there was Duct Tape everywhere and that its been on it's last leg for a while
The burned section is in bad shape, I'd say the floor (where all mecanical and electonic hardware is) would most be hard to repair, they would need to find something to fill in that missing section of floor, plus, replacing/repairing burned hardware
----(You might notice that I've "Copy&Pasted" this from the report I gave you from Seattle)----
After a Day or 2, I was wondering witch day to Take The Cascades to Canada, but My Dad got a bad tooth ek, so we didnt do much for 2 days.
After renting a car, one that was not what we had exspected, since the dealer was out and only had 1 car left, we ended up with a Land Rover Discovery 2, it was not the best one to drive, my Dad said the pedals were to close together, and sometimes when stoping, he would hit the gas and the brake at the same time, plus it had blind spots everywhere.
While visiting all the neat places, like the Air and Space Museum, the mall, ect. I got some realy good photos, including a Cascades Train set that was still in the Talgo Paint Sheme, plus, some good shots that will make good Animations for Amtrak Pages, and some other neat things you'll see when the pictures come out.
-August 18th-
Its early in the morning, I get up and get my stuff to put in the car, to head for King Street Station, the night before, I had bought a Sub-Woofer, and it needed a handle, so I punched a few holes in the box it was in, took some plastic bags, tied em together, and made a handle!, so I put it all in the car, and we went to turn the car other to EnterPrize.
-King Street Station-
I'm at The Station, I've been waiting an hour and theres about 10 minutes to Boarding, My Dad nuges me and pionts, I look to see our Train Backing in, so I go out side, then, I notice that this Train look like an
Empire Builder Consist, only 1 Loco, and no Parlour Car, I was wondering what was going on, then, About 5 minutes till Boarding, an anouncement is made: TO ALL PASSNEGERS ON TRAIN 11, THE COAST STARLIGHT, A TUNNEL FIRE HAS CLOSED THE LINE, TRAIN 11 WILL GO AS FAR AS EUGENE AND TERMINATE, PLEASE GO TO THE TICKET COUNTER FOR A REFUND, THEN YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.
Thats how they said it, just like that, so we get a Refund, and we Take The Train to Eugene,Org, when we board, I find out a tour group has reserved the full rear half of the Coach, and were very rude about it, when I moved to the rear to let some poeple up the stiars, they told me to get out of there end of the car, I told them I was leting people through, they just said to hury up, so after a few minutes of sitting in the Coach, I went to The Lounge Car, to find that it is 1 of Amtrak's Un-refurbisched Coaches!, It was realy cool!, I went down stairs to find out that it was huge down stairs!, bigger than all the other Lounges, atleast 6 to 7 tables with seat, and more bathrooms, it looked so much better Un-refurbished, I wish there were more like it.
-Pulling into Eugene-
We pulled into Eugene, it was hot there, my Dad's tooth was hurting worse, I had told the lady in the snack car and thanked her for the ice she gave my Dad for his tooth, so she got a big bag and filled it with Ice! before the last stop, right before she closed!, while my Dad stayed with our stuff on the platform, I went down the Train colecting the Car numbers, and getting a photo, on the way back, another Amtrak RailFan asked me if I had got the Locomotive's number, and I told him, I told him about my web site, and about Rail Forum, he said he'd herd of it, and he might check back on it.
-Our Consist-
Genisis-120
Baggage Car-1705
Transition Sleeper-39031
Sigh Seer Lounge-33005
Coach-34098
Coach-34049
Coach-34106
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-That is the Seattle-to-Eugene Consist, in order from top to bottom-
We went to a Hotel across from Grey-Hound Bus station, I went to an internet Cafe, but it was closed, so, I went to the room, and went to sleep.
The next morning, My Dad wakes me up, saying his tooth dosnt hurt any more and that we can make the 10:00 AM Bus to SAC, so we got on, but since a Box isnt considerd a sealed package, grey hound wouldnt let me check it as Baggage, so from Eugene to SAC, I had to cary it on my lap, in SAC we had to change Buses, to an old bus, that was hot, and I could smell Fumes of Deisel fuel every time we stoped, it was the worst bus ride every, so when we finaly arrived in L.A., we took a cab to Union, then took, an 8 Car Surfliner to Anahiem, then, The F250 ( My Dads Truck) home. The End.
That was My Trip, photos will come soon, My Dad has seen a dentist and his tooth is not hurting him any more!.
Soviners: Mini-Pal, Amtrak Pins, Sub-Woofer, A Trip To Remember
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JONATHON D. ORTIZ
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Been there myself. This helps: 
I take it you were not able to get a train from Sacramento. 
