This was my first trip on Caltrain. When we arrived at the station around 5:00pm, the ticket window was closed, but regulars there said we could buy our tickets on the train. Up on the platform we saw two ticket machines. They would accept coins, bills and credit cards. We tried to use one, but it wouldn't accept our credit cards. We tried two of mine and one of my mother in law's, all with the same result. We were about to try a cash transaction when the train puleld up.
On board it was a good 10 minutes before the attendant sold us our tickets. We bought round trip tickets to speed our return, as advised by thesigns at the station. Round trip fare was $5.50 per person.
Our train was in "push mode" with the locomotive at the rear. The first two cars were bi-level, while ours was single level. The first thing I noticed about our car was the smell. It smelled exactly like the old Amtrak streamliner cars I rode on in the 1970s. But the similarities to a long-distance train ended there.
This car was more like a transit bus. It had bench seats, the front half of which faced the front of the train, while the other half faced the rear. It and was very noisy, and clattering. Much more so than any Amtrak train I ever rode. While the car was obviously quite old, and showing some wear and tear, it was kept spotlessly clean.
The other riders pretty much kept to themselves. There wasn't any socializing on this train.
No train trip is complete without tunnels, and this one gave us four as we entered San Francisco.
The SF station was just a block from the ballpark. I doubt we could have parked as close. We exited through the bi-level car ahead of us and it had nice seats with striped upholstry. Much more train-like than our car was.
When the game ended two trains were waiting to take the game attendees home. One was an express, the other a local. We took the local, which had all single-level cars. I never got to ride in a bi-level car. This car had a PA system that was much too loud, but the ride of this car was a little smoother and quieter than the one coming up.
Neither train had rest-rooms on board.
Caltrain wasn't as comfortable as any Amtrak train, or even BART for that matter, but the service was efficient and the crew very friendly. For baseball fans from the SF Peninsula it is the only way to go.
Oh, the Giants lost 10-3. Houston got four of their runs in the first 5 minutes. We didn't get our three until the bottom of the 9th. [Sigh]
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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy
[This message has been edited by Mr. Toy (edited 09-23-2001).]