The TRAC Conference, since TRAC is a Rail Advocacy Group, always
holds their conference in a city easily accessible by rail. Since
my home station is Fullerton, in Southern California, this would mean a
train ride on the Coast Starlight
of about 1,182 round-trip miles, not a bad assignment.
Get a Room
The Amtrak ride from Fullerton to Sacramento is actually not an
overnight trip, but I like to get a roomette for this 8:15 a.m. to
11:59 p.m. trip northbound, and 6:35 a.m. to 10:40 p.m. trip
southbound, for several reasons: 1) Having a room on an Amtrak
Train includes meals; 2) Coast
Starlight room accommodations allow you to use the Parlour Car
(A refurbished Lounge Car in which sleeper passengers can lounge for the trip and order drinks from the bar,
(softdrinks at no charge), enjoy morning coffee, juice, and pasteries,
take their meals (or go to the diner), and partake of afternoon wine
tasting [$5].); 3) Having a private room on an Amtrak Train means
I have an "Office without a ZIP Code" in which I can spread out, enjoy
music, and use my laptop to write my report (I can even take a nap in
my "office" if I like.)
Surfliner to LA, then Coast
Starlight
Since the Coast Starlight
officially starts in Los Angeles, a ticket from any stop south of Los
Angeles includes a ride from your destination station to Los
Angeles. In my case, I board the Surfliner in Fullerton, and step
off in L.A. on the same platform at which the Coast Starlight arrives from the
yard. Since the Coast Starlight
backs in from the yard, so that it can leave this non-run-through
station, I know to get to the north end of the platform for my assigned
sleeping car.
The Surfliner ride to LA was uneventful,
but different than my
usual trip in that it was in Business Class. It sseems
that if you book a sleeper on the Coast Starlight, northbound from any
point south of Los Angeles, it includes a Business Class ticket on the
Surfliner to get you to Los Angeles where the Coast Starlight
departs. The Business Class Car, always next to the locomotive,
includes 'free' (I like to use the term 'pre-paid') coffee, juice,
muffins, and a copy of USA Today.
(Click any photo for a
double-sized copy; Click BACK in your browser to return to this page.)
In Los Angeles, the Scottish Thistle
was added as the last car in our Coast Stalight consist.
Dean McCormick, owner, ties up the Thistle in "the garden" in Los
Angeles where about nine cars are kept. Dean was dropped off in
Oakland, and had a private car charter back to Los Angeles on a later
date. His website for the car is: www.scottishthistle.com.
Coast
Starlight - Los Angeles
to Sacramento
You
meet the most interesting people on a Train.
Take some calling cards
with you on your Amtrak Tip, or you'll be writng down your e-mail
address constantly for the folks you meet on the train. I
exchanged cards with the 'Amtrak Suit' onboard today, Martin A. Soholt,
Service Quality Manager, before we left the station.
Actually, my first calling card
exchange was while I was waiting for the Coast Starlight
to back into LAUS, I noticed four private cars in the station.
One fellow was taking some photographs of what turned out to be the Montana private car. Since I
too was photographing the private cars, I introduced myself and it
turns out he was the owner, Sean Breen, from Los Angeles
[www.railcarmontana.com]. He is
in the process of refurbishing the car and it has just been
repainted. We talked about next year's AAPRCO Convention which
will originate in Washington, DC, and go through the South for their
convention in Savannah, Georgia. He was waiting for his car to be
moved to the work area so an electrician he had hired could do some
work on the car.
We decided to have lunch early so we could be finished
and could step off the train in Santa Barbara where they have their
first smoke stop. At lunch, we were seated with Daniel Botkin and
his wife. Daniel is Professor Emeritus, Department of Ecology,
Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Roomette (closet with a window) on the
Coast
Stalight
Parlour Car Comments
One thing missing from the Parlour Car is any type of Route
Description along the way, such as that which the Trails and Rails
group provides in the Lounge Car. Sleeping car passengers can
go to the Lounge to hear the speakers, as announced in
the Parlour Car and Sleeping Car.
Also, our Parlour Car attendant seemed to be a little shy on the
execution of his duties. The most noticeable was his lack of
housekeeping, never making his way through the end of the Parlour Car
with the 8 swivel chairs to pick up drink bottles and glasses, napkins,
etc. Except for setting up, serving, and cleaning up the
tables, he spent the rest of the time at the bar. When asked
about wine tasting times, he gave various times, but never mentioned
that it would take place after San Luis Obispo, which would give an
exact time to those watching our progress. In fact, from boarding
until past lunch, Dan never spent any time housekeeping the Parlour
Car. It was as if his responsibility ended at the steam
table. I pointed out empty champagne bottles and empty glasses at
the chair section of the car twice to supervisiors, and they simply
picked them up rather than telling Dan it was his responsibility.
Therefore, Dan will never learn that he needs to pick up in that area
if they do it and don't tell him to do it.
With the Parlour Car now
offering a two-item meal as an alternative to the diner, there were 13
for dinner, fewer for lunch. Even though only two persons are
seated per booth for meals in the Parlour Car, Dan, the attendant was
still challenged to provide timely service, even calling for help from
the Amntrak Suits and sleeping car attendants on occasion.
Agreed, his job is more than full time with having to dish up the
food from the steam table, reset tables, do dishes, and serve drinks to
the passing guests.
<>I might suggest,
however,
that a dining car
steward take a look at the procedure and give tips. Dan was
spending much time in meaningless walking between the galley and the
tables. (My Dad used to tell me not to walk anywhere without
carrying something related to the work I was doing...never make an
extra trip.) Dan, for instance, since each entre includes a
salad, he would
leave order forms, return to the galley, return to the tables, take the
drink order, return to the galley, return to the tables, take the food
order, return to the galley, return to the steam tables to get the
food, and finally deliver it to the tables. WAIT, since we all
get salads, why not bring them when he comes to take the dinner order
(which I have seen waiters do in the diner)?! He seemed
unconcerned that we were seated 30 minutes after our reserved time,
which became a most-of-the-evening time at the dining tables. Of
course, the two Amtrak Suits who were on this trip and who spent most
of their time watching Dan, probably have not ever been waiters and
could see no place for improved efficiency.
Wine Tasting
After offering wine
tasting to sleeping car passengers for $5, during the day, as the
Tasting Time arrived, a final announcement was made in the coach cars
that they could join us (since it was not sold out) for $10 per
person. This caused the car to fill to capacity, allowing
the Parlour Car to show more income and perhaps secure a permanent
positon in the consist.
With the Parlour Car now
offering a two-item meal as an alternative to the diner, there were 13
for dinner, fewer for lunch. Even though only two persons are
seated per booth for meals in the Parlour Car, Dan, the attendant was
still challenged to provide timely service, even calling for help from
the Amntrak Suits and sleeping car attendants on occasion.
Agreed, his job is more than full time with having to dish up the
food from the steam table, reset tables, do dishes, and serve drinks to
the passing guests. I might suggest, however, that a dining car
steward take a look at the procedure and give tips. Dan was
spending much time in meaningless walking between the galley and the
tables. For instance, since each entre includes a salad, he would
leave order forms, return to the galley, return to the tables, take the
drink order, return to the galley, return to the tables, take the food
order, return to the galley, return to the steam tables to get the
food, and finally deliver it to the tables. WAIT, since we all
get salads, why not bring them when he comes to take the dinner order
(which I have seen waiters do in the diner)?! He seemed
unconcerned that we were seated 30 minutes after our reserved time,
which became a most-of-the-evening time at the dining tables. Of
course, the two Amtrak Suits who were on this trip and who spent most
of their time watching Dan, probably have never been waiters and could
see no place for improved efficiency. In fact, from boarding
until past lunch, Dan never spent any time housekeeping the Parlour
Car. It was as if his responsibility ended at the steam
table. I pointed out empty champagne bottles and empty glasses at
the chair section of the car twice
to supervisiors, and they simply picked them up rather than
telling Dan it was his responsibility. Therefore, Dan will never
learn that he needs to pick up in that area if they do it and don't
tell him to do it.
At the Santa
Barbara Fresh Air Stop, I made it back to the last car, the Scottish
Thistle,
|
There happened
to be a European Tourist doing an impromptu video interview of Dean
McCormick, owner.
|
I heard "All
Aboard" and stepped on the last coach car to get back to my roomette,
thus avoiding being left in Santa Barbara. This car happened to
have the Arcade Room on its lower l
|
Going through
the train, I saw that the Rails and Trails speaker (green shirt) was
about to begin her talk about California History that includes
Vandenburg Base through San Luis Obispo.
|
San Luis Obispo
is a crew change and often a train meet with the southbound Coast Starlight
#11.
|
SLO in addition
to being a crew change, also has many passengers boarding and
detraining for local sights such as Morro Bay, Cal Poly SLO, and Hearst
Castle.
|
Passengers
awaiting the southbound Coast Starlight
#11, as we were in the station.
|
For our safety,
we were ushered back on our Coast Starlight #14, and our counterpart
#11 pulled in.
|
Last shot of the day at Paso Robles from the diner.
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