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A Stay At The Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana, The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train and Portland Streetcars 3/28-4/6/2002

Following the completion of my journey to Maine in December, I decided to return to the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana to reclaim it for my sobriety. I used my Alaska Airlines mileage for a round-trip sleeper on the Coast Starlight and a round-trip in Business Class on the Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver, in order to ride the new Skytrain extension. Marty, my most wonderful night-time ticket agent in Santa Ana, booked that part of the trip, as well as the journey from Seattle to Essex and back to Portland. I asked her to check sleeping car prices and when they were favourable, I had her book a room both ways. In Portland, I would have two new light rail lines to ride before taking the Cascades the next morning to Olympia-Lacey to board the Coast Starlight, so I could have lunch on the train to start the trip back.

I went online to reserve the hotel rooms with the Pioneer Square Hotel in Seattle and the Mark Spencer in Portland. I also booked the Izaak Walton Inn online, but they were having problems with their new reservation system. I then called my friend Steve Fredson in Bothell, Washington and offered to take him on the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train if he would could come down to Seattle to pick me up, which he did. With everything set, I coached track at McFadden Intermediate, enjoyed Winterail 2002 in Stockton with Bruce Jacobs, and continued to deal with the most interesting children on Mrs. Carnett's case load. The week before the trip, I first booked two steam trips out of Minneapolis in June and two days before, booked Milwaukee Road 261's excursion to Duluth and Two Harbors in May. With that all accomplished, I definitely needed a vacation and counted the days until departure.

I could not wait to get on this train and was greeted by Conductor Bonnie who told me that her daughter Sonia and her husband Tom, both former conductors on this line, had a baby girl, which started my trip with some great news. I visited Thomas Lin in the caf é car for some herbal tea which I took back to the cab car to enjoy with some chocolate doughnuts that I had brought along. The journey to Los Angeles Union Station was quick and I waited on the platform for the Coast Starlight to arrive.

I boarded the sleeping car, fittingly named "California" for the journey to Seattle and wondered what the chances would be to have "California", "Oregon" and "Washington" all in the same consist. I had started to read "The Summons" by John Grisham and as with any his books, you cannot put it down. My excellent sleeping car attendant was nicknamed Cadillac and I had the ever-friendly Larry as my Parlour Car Attendant. We departed on time as I read and stopped at Moorpark then visited with Larry before having an excellent "14 Hamburger" and a turtle cake for dessert.

I enjoyed the sunshine at San Luis Obispo and within ten more minutes, we left town an hour and fifteen minutes late then crept over the bridge on a slow order, the first of many this afternoon. I enjoyed the climb over the very green Cuesta Grade with clouds overhanging the peaks. For dinner, I had a true Coast Starlight Prime Rib, not the Texas Eagle version, along with another turtle cake then watched "Hearts of Atlantis" in the Pacific Parlour Car theater before calling it a night at Salinas, now over three hours late. We must have had a multitude of slow orders during the film. I made my bed and slept the night away soundly.

3/29/2002 I awoke to a full moon in the western sky over the Sacramento Valley north of Chico as we were now running over four hours late. As I always say, "Running late can be a good thing", as in this case, a daylight trip up the Sacramento River Canyon and Mount Shasta. I went to the Pacific Parlour Car, enjoyed the early morning solitude and talked to Larry as we watched the passing of southbound Train 11 at Gerber. I then had a French Toast breakfast, which really hit the spot.

The Redding trestle on a perfectly clear morning. I could see Mount Lassen, Mount Shasta and the peaks of the Trinity Alps then later, a pair of tunnels led us out onto the lower level of the Pitt River bridge. After crossing the Sacramento River at Lakehead, I sat in one of the big plush chairs in the Pacific Parlour Car to enjoy the daylight run up to Dunsmuir, at which we arrived over four hours late. We ran north up the Cantara Loop and had wonderful views of Mount Shasta on three sides then continued non-stop until Worden siding in Oregon, where the Union Pacific had a non-clearing freight train on the mainline and another freight in the siding. We pulled into the siding, hoping to fit, which we barely did and the mainline longer freight then ran by us.

We followed the freight in front of us into Klamath Falls and with the dining car already full, I asked Cadillac bring lunch to my room where I enjoyed a "14 Hamburger" and turtle cake, which I ate while we sat in Klamath Falls and even had time to jump off for some fresh air while the connecting passengers for Train 28, the Portland section of the Empire Builder, detrained to be bussed to Wishram, Washington to meet the train there. At the north end of town, we met the second freight of the day with Canadian Pacific power in its consist then at Algoma, we met a BNSF baretable train waiting for us to pass as we cruised along Upper Klamath Lake.

Root Beer Falls. We ran non-stop to Chemult with Union Pacific keeping us from getting delayed further by having all their freight trains in the sidings. I finished "The Summons" on the east slope of Cascade Summit and received my dinner reservation as I was on the last page. We descended down the snow-covered upper reaches to the bare ground further below then at Fields, we passed an eastbound pig train with both Union Pacific Olympic Torch Relay locomotives powering it. Further down the grade at Wicopee, was another eastbound with Canadian Pacific Railway, so it has been an interesting day for motive power watchers. It has also been interesting to see all the different locations along the line in different light conditions.

I had a repeat of last night's dinner as we sat in Eugene waiting for Train 11 running about thirty minutes late, which just happened to have Steve Grande, the co-founder of Trainweb.com, aboard. I waved at all the sleeping cars as well as the Pacific Parlour Car and dining car, hoping he might see me. North of Eugene, the clouds began to roll in as I listened to music and did word fill-in puzzles but started to tire after Albany, as it had been a good but long day and had an idea. Why not sleep the rest of the way to Seattle as I would get a full night's rest that way? I obtained a blanket from Cadillac and slept the miles to Seattle.

3/30/2002 Cadillac buzzed my room when we were in the tunnel ready to reverse into King Street Station in Seattle and we arrived at 12:50 AM, four hours and forty-five minutes late, a new northbound Starlight record. I said goodnight to Cadillac, thanking him for his excellent service. Talk about a complete opposite of Richard, who I had on the Southwest Chief going to Chicago in December. Cadillac was everything that you could ever want in a sleeping car attendant. I made a very quick walk through the still very lively Seattle nightlife to Pioneer Square Hotel, where after a very nice long hot shower, I was back in dreamland.

I woke up refreshed and ready to go and following a shave and shower, along with viewing the Weather Channel with no rain in the forecast, I enjoyed a few pieces of toast and orange juice before walking back to Amtrak via the waterfront. I met a northbound empty waterfront trolley then checked in to business class for Vancouver before picking up a revised VIA timetable. I boarded the Las Vegas Talgo set, choosing seat 9c on the inland side of the train for a change of pace. We departed on time, plunging into the tunnel under downtown Seattle, through Interbay Yard before crossing the drawbridge at the Ballard Locks then travelled along the shoreline of Puget Sound, stopping briefly at Edmonds prior to stopping at the waterfront station in Everett.

We went into the tunnel under Everett's downtown then past the new Everett Transportation Center, still awaiting track to be installed. The film was "The Count of Monte Cristo", which I had never seen before. We entered Canada and the film ended as we were travelling across the Fraser River from New Westminster on a cloudy but dry day. We crossed the river and went along the new Skytrain route with the first two stations now open that I would be riding to in a couple of hours before zipping into Vancouver's Pacific Central Station on time.

Being first in line at Canadian Customs sped me through and I visited an ATM before going to the gift shop for a pair of post cards for myself this time. I then walked over to the Main Street-Science World Skytrain station to complete my goal of riding the first part of the new Millennium Line. I rode an Expo Line train to Columbia, where I then waited for a train for the new line and boarded one of Translink's new cars with large front windows onto the new line as it ran to the two new stops of Sapperton and Braid, where I detrained.

I rode back to Columbia in original equipment before transferring to another train out to King George then to the other end of the line at Waterfront before returning to Main Street-Science World. I walked over to the small Canadian National yard and went over to the Downtown Historic Railway whose sign said, "Open weekends and holidays 1-5". Well, this wa a Saturday but there was no signs of life. I went to the IMAX theater and bought a ticket for "Lost Worlds" narrated by Harrison Ford of Indiana Jones/Han Solo fame, a very educational film, then returned to Pacific Central Station and had a McDonald's hamburger to tide me over until I ate on the Talgo later.

I was first through US pre-Customs inspection, which now included a baggage X-ray machine. As I was enjoying my evening meal at my seat on the Talgo, the rain started, which had been threatening all day. We departed on time and after the customary realigning of switches, we returned south and for once, did not get delayed at the Fraser River drawbridge. We stopped at Blaine, Washington, but this time, we sat while the US Customs officials conducted their business, which I thought might be a post-9/11 situation. Once we resumed our journey, the film was "Ocean's Eleven" and at the end of it, I found the first and only negative thing about the Talgo, no drinking water in the cars. I had to walk to the bistro car for a glass of water from a pitcher on the counter. Other than that, it had been a great trip. We ran straight to King Street Station with no delays at the Ballard Locks and I walked back to Pioneer Square Hotel for the night.

Steve Fredson, a long-time friend of mine and my brother Duane, picked me up at the Pioneer Square Hotel and we drove to Renton on a mostly cloudy Easter Sunday to ride the brunch trip on the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train and we found the location easily with a map from their website. We passed a Milwaukee Road substation two blocks west of the depot from the railroad's good old days when their box cab electrics would pull cargo down the street.

The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train brought the romance of the rails to King County's Eastside for 15 years from 1992 to 2007. For a price guests enjoyed an excursion through the communities east of Lake Washington from Renton to Woodinville and back, with a dose of history and a good meal along the route. In the end, the popular attraction lost out to changing transportation systems, including rail abandonment, bridge replacement and freeway construction.

Our story begins at the Ellensburg Rodeo during Labor Day weekend 1988. The Temple family -- father Nick and brothers Eric (b. 1966) and Brig -- had recently purchased a short-line freight railway they called the Washington Central Railroad. Entrepreneurial sorts, they decided to try an experiment in rail excursions. They leased a set of old dining cars from the Canadian Railroad Historical Association and offered a dinner excursion along the Yakima River Canyon south of Ellensburg for the duration of the rodeo. The trip proved so popular that the Temples continued the enterprise the following spring, even adding a second route from Kennewick to the Hogue Cellars winery in Prosser. With the 1989 centennial of Washington's statehood in mind, the family christened the train Spirit of Washington.

May 1992 found the Temple family moving the dinner-train operation to Puget Sound with hopes of benefitting from a larger market and a year-round temperate climate. Eric Temple, with a degree in business administration from the University of Washington, was put in charge of the operation. The little-used Woodinville Subdivision of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) line offered an excellent route between the burgeoning city of Renton at the south end of Lake Washington and the popular wineries of the Sammamish Valley near the lake's north end. The Temples brought their collection of vintage engines and passenger cars across the Cascades and set up shop at the Renton Depot, contracting with BNSF for use of the line and retrofitting the dormant passenger station to serve as a welcome center.

The tracks from Renton to Woodinville and points north, once dubbed the Lake Washington Belt Line, were completed in 1904 by Northern Pacific Railway as a freight corridor, with some passenger service. All passenger travel along the route had ceased entirely decades before the coming of the Dinner Train.

The Dinner Train experience offered a three-and-a-half-hour excursion six days a week from Renton to Woodinville and back, approximately 24 miles each way. Guests were served dinner on the way up and coffee and dessert on the way back. Soon a weekend brunch train was added. The initial destination in Woodinville was the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. After a year or two, when the active event schedule at that winery became an obstacle, the Dinner Train moved on to the Columbia Winery, where guests had a break of about 45 minutes to stretch their legs, perhaps taste some wine, and browse in the winery gift shop.

Views along the journey ranged from the gritty and industrial (Boeing, PACCAR) to the scenic (Lake Washington, Mercer Island). Riders experienced the somewhat harrowing trip along the 102-foot-tall Wilburton Trestle across the Mercer Slough in Bellevue. The train traveled under both Interstate 90 and State Route 520, took in the ever-changing skyline of downtown Bellevue, chugged through the tony residential neighborhoods of Kirkland, and fetched up in winey Sammamish Valley.

The Spirit of Washington was powered by F9 diesel electric engines built by General Motors in the 1950s -- one at each end. F9 number 84, painted red and with the Spirit of Washington logo on its nose, pulled several passenger cars and two domed cars; the latter offered better views for a premium price. Train cars bore iconic names: "Olympic", "Mt. Rainier", "Columbia Winery", "City of Renton", "Cascade", "City of Seattle", and "Chateau Ste. Michelle."

Gretchen's of Course, the well-known caterer, provided the meals in the early days. Once the business was established, Eric Temple built a catering kitchen adjacent to the Renton depot and took meal preparation in-house. Washington wines (and some others) were available, of course, for an additional cost. The full train had an advertised capacity of 370 passengers, with a crew of 43. Promotional literature dubbed it "the biggest dinner train in the country!"

Wait staff provided running commentary on the passing sights, expounding on the abrupt drop in the lake's shoreline occasioned by the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1916; the building in 1904 by the Northern Pacific Railway of the Wilburton Trestle, at 975 feet the longest wooden trestle in the Pacific Northwest; the industrial roots of Kirkland; and the growing wine industry of the bucolic Sammamish Valley.

Washington Central Railroad F7A 84, ex. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 84, exx. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 7184, exxx. Baltimore and Ohio 4472, nee Baltimore and Ohio F3A 165 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1948 an and rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen in 1980, leading our consist of rounded-end observation car "Olympic Crusader", dome 106 "Mt. Rainier", dining/bar car 103 "Columbia Winery", full dome 100 "City of Renton, kitchen car 102 "Cascade", dome car 104 "City of Seattle", plaform car 101 "Chateau Ste. Michelle", former Santa Fe head-end power car and Washington Central F9A 82.

We left nearly on time after waiting for some late arrivals who ran down the street before we crossed the Cedar River with Interstate 405 to our east. We passed the Kenworth plant just before Boeing Field at the south end of Lake Washington then ran along the east shore of the lake with Mercer Island in the middle. Amy, our most wonderful server, brought out my meal of just French Toast (since I cannot eat eggs), potatoes and sausage, which were fabulously delicious. After we passed the Interstate 90 crossing of Lake Washington, we climbed away from it under Interstate 405 and ascended to and then crossed the 975 foot long and 102 foot high Wilburton Trestle built in 1891.

A few miles further, Lake Washington returned, but it was much further down the hill with Seattle standing guard beyond. We travelled through some unspoilt forest where there were several impressive houses and gardens then stopped at 124 Street in Kirkland to allow the conductor to turn the signals red at a five-way intersection. We cut across the ridge line of the hills into the valley with the Sammanish River and saw the Red Hook Brewery in the valley before arriving at Woodinville, where the train switched tracks and reversed direction to travel up the floor of the valley to the Columbia Winery, which was across from the Red Hook Brewery, our train's destination.

The interior of Columbia Basin Railway super dome 100 "City of Renton", ex. Princess Tours 7093 "Mt. Elias", exx. Tour Alaska "Mt. Elias", exxx. "Lindsay M" part of a restaurant complex in Shreveport, Louisiana, exxxx. Amtrak 9383, nee Milwaukee Road 59 built by Pullman-Standard in 1952.

Washington Central F7A 82, ex. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 82, exx. Maryland Area Regional Commuter 7182, exxx. Morrison-Knudsen 5, exxxx. Baltimore and Ohio 4582, nee Baltimore and Ohio 939 built by Electro-Motive Divisoin in 1952. While I was taking these pictures, Steve went wine-tasting.

Once everyone was back aboard, we returned to Renton and during the journey, chocolate mousse arrived for dessert. I rode the open platform of the "Chateau Ste. Michelle" back past the Wilburton trestle before I returned to the Great Dome for the rest of the trip. The weather had been great, the service by Amy was excellent and I had a fantastic ride on a very special train. Steve drove me back to King Street Station in Seattle where I waited for my next train, this one to Montana.

About 4:00 PM, the Empire Builder was brought into King Street Station with my sleeper, 32003 "Edward Ullman", right outside the door ready for me to board. Sleeping car attendant Jimmy Wong greeted me and I settled into my Superliner One car. My luggage cart and second bag rode downstairs as they would not fit in the room. We departed the same way I went yesterday, as far as Everett, and I was again riding on the inland side of the train. I was seated on the Puget Sound side for dinner and enjoyed the watery views until Everett where we turned east towards the Cascade Mountains as I enjoyed Porterhouse steak and turtle cake for dessert. It had certainly been a good day of food this last day of March.

I returned to my room to enjoy as much of the climb to the Cascade Tunnel as I could. Well, it was long after dark by the time we reached the west portal and we entered, passing the occasional safety lights which lit up my room for a brief second or two. Upon exiting, I turned in for the night and slept well into Montana.

4/1/2002 Waking up to the snows of Montana about forty miles west of Whitefish, I went to breakfast and had some great pancakes prior to our arrival at Whitefish.

Great Northern NW-3 181, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1942, on display with our train behind. We ran east through a snowstorm with the Empire Builder licking up the new fallen snow then stopped at Belton (West Glacier) before making our way through the snowstorm along the southern boundary of Glacier National Park, whose views were obscured by the weather all the way to Essex, where I detrained.

Just as had been the case in the late 1980's, when I visited here last, the hotel van was waiting and after we picked up a family from the Portland section of the Empire Builder, we drove to the front of the Izaak Walton Inn. I walked inside for the first time sober with everything looking just as it did in 1989. My room was not going to be ready until noon, so I stored my luggage in the basement.

Originally built as the Izaak Walton Hotel in 1939 by the Great Northern Railway as a soup kitchen and lodgings for railway workers, the hotel was also originally envisioned as a potential official southern gateway to Glacier National Park, hence its size. However, World War II intervened and that plan never materialized. The Tudor Revival-style inn is named after Sir Izaak Walton, the English writer and fisherman and Essex itself was originally named Walton. About 400 people lived in the town of Essex in the 1920's and some workers were able to obtain houses there. However, many intermittent workers were forced to seek shelter in wall tents, abandoned railroad cars and other improvised structures, even during the winter.

Before the inn was built, there was only a "beanery" and a restaurant with no lodging facilities built in 1910 and 1920's; both structures were destroyed by fire. Today, the inn is served by Essex station, the only request stop on Amtrak's Empire Builder route and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The inn has 33 rooms for rent within the inn itself, with some other space available in refurbished cabooses. It has been privately owned since the 1950's and is open year-round, except for several weeks during the off-season.

I then ventured outside into the snowstorm and caught a couple of BNSF freights as I walked up the hill to see the four cabooses, that you can rent as a cabin, painted as Great Northern, Burlington Northern, Montana Rail Link and Burlington. I think they need two more to complete the railroads of Montana, the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee Road. As I stood out on that bridge, it dawned on me that this was the first time I had stood out in a snowstorm and how many shapes of snowflakes there are. After about three hours, I returned to the warmth of the Inn, bought some postcards which I filled out and mailed before receiving the key to my room then took my luggage up to the second floor to trackside Room 18.

The bed had a Great Northern bedspread and Great Northern stained glass over the bathroom. After I napped and went for another walk out to the bridge now that the snow had ended and the sun was out, I returned but with US Highway 2 closed, decided against renting the car and called Amtrak for a round-trip to Havre on Wednesday, so I could at least ride over Marias Pass. I enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner before exploring every inch and picture in the Inn. I was amazed how much I remembered from my four stays here between 1986 and 1989. The Flagstop Bar looked exactly as it did all those years ago and I ordered a 7-Up to officially reclaim the Izaak Walton Inn for my sobriety.

Later, I walked out to Train 8, the eastbound Empire Builder, to reclaim my scanner that had ridden to Havre without me. Watching the Empire Builder leave made me think just how lucky I was to be sober here at the Izaak Walton Inn at this moment in my life. I returned to my room for a few word fill-in puzzles and a call home before calling it a night.

4/2/2002 I awoke to the alarm today since I wanted to test it for tomorrow morning and had a nice long hot shower. Today was a day of rest. I had pancakes for breakfast before venturing out to the bridge for Amtrak with a couple of eastbound BNSF freights, one which was racing the Empire Builder. The freight won to West Java as Amtrak stopped to do its station work at Essex, but would win the race to East Java and Havre as well as all points east. I then went in and read by the fire and relaxed, truly this vacation more than any of the others I needed a rest from the childen I was working with this year. I had another hot shower before napping with very vivid dreams and spent most of the afternoon on the bridge on a most beautiful clear April day.

One of the hotel workers, Felipe, walked by and asked if I wanted to see his N gauge trains and it seemed that he really enjoyed them. Back at the bridge, I received my wish for an-all Cascade Green consist of four locomotives and that was it for the trains for the next few hours, so I was glad that I did not rent the car with the limited trains. I had an excellent steak dinner prior to working on a visitor's jigsaw puzzle and added twenty new pieces to it then relaxed the rest of the evening. A Boy Scout troop arrived from Duluth and after a few minutes of rowdy behaviour, they settled down for a quiet night.

4/3/2002 I awoke, showered and met the leaders of the Boy Scouts by the fire until I had breakfast. It was rather amusing that this was their first trip to Montana and I would be in Duluth for the first time in May when I ride Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 261 there. A small world, is it not! I packed, really not wanting to leave, said goodbye to Larry, the owner, and was driven back to the platform at Essex.

This was the first time I had boarded an eastbound train here and would be my first sober eastbound daylight trip over Marias Pass, as the only other eastbound sober trip left Essex in twilight. The conductor came and sold me a one- way ticket to Havre then I sat back for a perfectly wonderful clear day and I could not have picked a better day to cross the pass with everything that made a great wintry passage, although it was spring. Once we reached Browning, I resumed doing my word fill-in puzzles and we ran undisturbed to Shelby, where we met major freight train interference and was thankful that I was on the BNSF, and not the Union Pacific, where things quickly clear up. As I preoccupied my time across Montana, I felt as though I was practicing for my journey in June when I was going to Minneapolis to ride the steam trips. We ran to Gildford where we crept along for a few miles due to slow orders and the landscape had been ploughed with the wheat stalks beginning to show. We arrived at Havre thirteen minutes before the Empire Builder was scheduled to leave and I detrained to purchase my return ticket to Essex, or so I thought.

No matter how well I explained it to a reservation agent, somehow I knew in my heart that there my plan would go awry. I went to the counter and there was no Havre-to-Essex segment in the computer. The wonderful female agent there worked on it and sent me to have lunch at Subway and when I returned, my ticket was ready since she had delved into the Guest Rewards rules and my profile while I was gone. After calling my friend Barry Christensen and sharing with him my experiences in Essex, I sat on a bench watching a freight pull in before Amtrak Train 7, the westbound Empire Builder, arrived to be fuelled. The assistant conductor took my ticket so I could walk straight onto the train and I went to see if my sleeping car room was open, which it was, so I settled in for the journey to Portland and could relax.

Before departure, I was thinking about the Amtrak routes on which I had not ridden in a sleeper, and only the Texas Eagle came to mind. With the start of the wheels turning, I was now on my way home with the exception of the side trip to Olympia-Lacey to catch the Coast Starlight on Friday morning. I sat back and enjoyed my re-crossing of the high plains then at Shelby, after doing our station work, we reversed to the east switch before running around an eastbound freight that had been on the mainline in front of us. The early dinner reservations were called and I enjoyed a Montana Porterhouse and a turtle cake, which lasted all the way to the summit of Marias Pass, where we spotted a herd of elk. The sun had set so we made our westbound descent in twilight and I had my room light on at Essex, so everyone could see me wave from my sleeping car room. I turned off the light and enjoyed the darkened snow-covered countryside to West Glacier, where I made up my bed.

4/4/2002 Waking up briefly in Spokane, I slept until Pasco where I went to the lounge car to enjoy the trip down the Columbia River on a beautiful clear morning. Mount Hood stood out nicely and the train made great time until Bingen-White Salmon, where we went into the siding for BNSF 1088 East. After our station work, we proceeded to Stevenson where we went into the siding for two more eastbound BNSF freights and I truly enjoyed the journey down the Columbia River Gorge being completely relaxed and never feeling better.

We stopped at Vancouver, Washington's depot before crossing the Columbia River to our last stop on the Empire Builder, Portland Union Station, where I detrained, stopped for a picture of my train before calling home.

Portland 4/4/2002 The Sad Visit, But Life Must Go On!

It was the saddest phone call of my life, learning that my former vice-principal at McFadden Intermediate, Ed Cole, had passed away. The worst part of it was being in Portland and missing the funeral back home tomorrow. I knew in my heart that Ed would have wanted me to be on this trip and to be enjoying myself. He was "Mr. Railroading" at McFadden before I arrived and I loved talking trains with him and will be eternally grateful that I gave him that roundtrip on the Coast Starlight to Seattle and Cascades to Vancouver, British Columbia for his retirement. He had a way of lighting up a room and my life. I will never forget the light he brought to me and everyone he met. He was truly a man who will always be loved. Ed Cole, I will never forget you!

After the shock had settled, I walked out the depot picking up some Tri-Met schedules before walking to the Mark Spencer Hotel, checked in and receiving a very nice room on the second floor. I left a message for Mrs. Carnett as I felt really sad, but remembering that life must go on, decided to start my day of streetcar riding.

I bought an all day Transit Pass and then rode a MAX Red Line train to Portland International Airport over the new line that branches off the Blue line at Gateway station. There, the new line makes a U-turn on a bridge to run north along Interstate 205 to the bottom of the bluff, where it turns west to the Airport. Great views of both Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens were found on this line. I returned to Gateway before taking a Blue Line train to the end of the line at Gresham then returned downtown and had a Subway sandwich for lunch before returning to my room for a little television.

Later I rode the new Portland Streetcar line on a Skoda streetcar made in the Czech Republic and saw some more of Portland, especially Portland University at the south end. The line has a southern stub end where the operators switch ends. I then rode a standing room-only trolley in a seat to the west end of the line at Hillsboro before going to KFC for dinner.

I finally managed to photograph a Portland and Western light engine move, led by GP39-2 2317, ex. Willamette and Pacific 2317, nee Santa Fe 3616, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1974. I returned to downtown, went to Powell's Books for a pair of railroad books then returned to the hotel and watched "Friends" and the Los Angeles Kings vs. Detroit Red Wings game from Los Angeles, with the Kings winning 3-0, ending a five game winless streak. I called Mrs. Carnett again and we talked about Ed, which made me feel better, after which I had an excellent night's rest.

4/5/2002 I watched the Weather Channel with rain forecast later in the morning, then Sports Center, before going downstairs for a continental breakfast and checking out then riding the Downtown trolley to within four blocks of Portland Union Station to wait for my next train.

Amtrak Cascades 750 4/5/2002

Due to Union Pacific freight train interference, the train finally arrived and we left twenty-five minutes late, which should cut my waiting time if all goes according to plan. It was an overcast morning with rain expected later and so far on this trip, I had been lucky with no rain and I hoped that it stayed that way until after I was on the Coast Starlight. We made our way to the Columbia River and crossed into Washington to our Vancouver stop. Now I would sit back and enjoy the high speed Talgo run north. The film was "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Sword" which I watched as much of as possible, removing my headphones at 10:00 AM and had my own private service for Ed Cole as the train sped north. We arrived at Olympia-Lacey and I called home to talk to my mother. Ed'ss funeral would be over and he was with God now, while I was waiting on the southbound Coast Starlight.

Coast Starlight 11 4/5/2002

I boarded an on-time train, taking my assigned Room 5 in sleeping car "Iowa" on the east side of the train then went to the dining car for a "11 Hamburger" with a turtle cake and was finished by Centralia then napped to Portland, where it was really raining. I finished "Bill Miner - Last of the Famous Western Bandits" then started Paul Theroux's "The Old Patogonia Express, by Train through the Americas". We went into a siding at Hallawell for the three-hour late northbound Coast Starlight as we out-distanced the rain. I had a grand dinner of prime rib and another piece of turtle cake, the best Prime Rib yet, almost a Black Angus Restaurant quality. As we left the Willamette Valley, we proceeded into the Cascades and more rain then crossed Cascade Summit in the dark.

In the "It's a small world department", I met Courtney and we talked about Emerson, Lake and Palmer and a Jethro Tull show we were both at in the Long Beach Arena in 1977 and 1979. It turned out that she and one of my brother Jon's friends, Chris, along with Jon, had gone to our ranch together years ago. She was married and travelling with her husband and their son. You never know who you will meet on a train! I said my goodnights before Chemult and slept until south of Chico.

4/6/2002 I awoke early and rode the Pacific Parlour Car, passing the Sutter Buttes and I talked with the conductor who informed me we lost forty minutes this morning at Chico since earlier in the morning at Redding, a woman had stepped off her sleeper to have a smoke and that he told her to wait there and get on with the coach passengers, giving her longer to smoke. Two men grabbed her and took her to the bottom of lounge car and started to have their way with her. They had the idea to break into the café area to get some liquor. The conductor was looking for the woman when he heard noise coming from the lower level of the lounge car and he went down and caught the men in the act and had them arrested at Chico on federal charges so they were hauled off and taken to jail.

I enjoyed breakfast in the dining car as the Starlight ran down the former Western Pacific tracks before arriving at Sacramento then enjoyed more of the Theroux book as I was in Costa Rica as we entered Emeryville. At Oakland, two Amtrak California locomotives wered added to the consist and we left an hour and twenty-five minutes late. I napped to near Salinas before having another "11 Hamburger" and turtle cake in my room then watched "Ocean's Eleven" again as we travelled down the Salinas Valley which finished at Paso Robles. The trip down the very green covered hills of Cuesta Grade was extremely beautiful and we met Train 14 at Chorro before arriving at San Luis Obispo for an extended fresh air break.

There was an almost-perfect meet with Pacific Surfliner 775 at Conceptio but before that happened, I had dinner with a honeymoon couple riding from San Jose to Los Angeles, cruising the Mexican Riveria and flying home, along with a young man who was on a return leg of a round trip to Wisconsin. I had a repeat of last night's dinner and told them about the first train trip I ever took and we all had a good laugh about it. After we reached Santa Barbara, I watched "Domestic Disturbance", which lasted until Camarillo, where we met Pacific Surfliner 783.

My sleeping car attendant Gary White did an excellent job on this trip. From Camarillo to Los Angeles, I sat in my darkened room listening to "Out of the Blue" by Electric Light Orchestra. What a way to finish a great trip on the Coast Starlight. We arrived at 9:35 PM, a little over thirty minutes late, but I did not care as it reduced the wait time for my train home.

Pacific Surfliner 794 4/6/2002

The conductor upgraded me to Business Class when he saw me walking from the Starlight's sleeping car. Due to earlier major problems on the railroad, I had Ron Houston as my conductor with his wonderful announcements and we departed on time and made a quick and uneventful trip to Santa Ana, where my mother was waiting to pick me up and take me home, ending a most wonderful and restful Amtrak trip.

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