Betty waiting on Platform 10
Stepping off the Southwest Chief in Los Angeles we were told that we had about ten minutes before we were scheduled to board the Coast Starlight for our journey up the coast. We had originally hoped to have at least a few minutes to take in the sights at Union Station. There is a fair amount of history just in the building itself. But rather than miss our train we decided to forego the tourist walk through the station. As it turned out, we would have had ample time to look around. The station agent at the top of the Track 10 departure platform informed us that the station master had not yet cleared the Coast Starlight to pull into the boarding area. Possibly he was afraid that the Coast Starlight might actually keep to its schedule. Thirty minutes later the train pulled in to the platform and we boarded.
Our “sleeper roomette” on the Coast Starlight was significantly smaller than our room the night before. Roomettes do not have baths or lavatories. Instead roomette travelers have shared access to showers and bathrooms elsewhere in the car. Betty checked out the shower option and declared it superior in size and functionality to the shower in our full sleeper. Since I had not availed myself of my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shower in a shoebox I can’t offer my own comparison.
Betty settling in to roomette. Champagne waiting. Does she look like she had a good night’s sleep?
As we settled in the porter stopped by to offer complimentary champagne. We were each handed a small bottle of champagne and a plastic cup embossed with an Amtrak logo. The porter encouraged us to enjoy our wine because “this is the last of it.” His declaration was followed by a heavy sigh a a slight roll of the eyes. He clearly wanted us to ask what he meant by his statement. We obliged.
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He then went into considerable detail about how Amtrak was still subject to the whims of Congress. Congress has decided that the best way to make Amtrak profitable is to eliminate the complimentary champagne for first class travelers. Our porter was careful not to specifically criticize Congress (his putative employer), but it was implicit in his presentation that he felt that the American traveling public would be better served by a Congress that focused on the infrastructure concerns of the railroad system. He specifically mention worn out equipment and dangerously outdated segments of track. Little comfort to captive train passengers. As he worked his way up the car we could hear him making the same pitch at every roomette.
We popped the corks on our champagne, toasted Amtrak, and started to look around our roomette. The room had two wide seats which faced each other and that somehow could be magically reconfigured into the lower berth. There was a small closet for hanging clothes. There was an upper berth where we stowed our luggage. Had we planned on sleeping I don’t know where the luggage would have gone
Traveling companions on Coast Starlight.
As we headed up the coast, the windows provided wonderful views of sweeping strawberry fields, acres and acres of broccoli, and many of the other fruits and vegetables that allow California to feed the nation. The lush greenness of it all whetted our appetite for the arrival of spring in NC.
As we moved further north the train inched westward out of the valley until it eventually ran along the coast. Passengers on the west side of the train had views of the Pacific Ocean. Our room was on the east side of the train. So we headed for the dining car where we had views out of both sides of the train. While we ate lunch we watched the California coastline roll by on the west while hilltop rancheros and cattle ranches flew by on the east. The central coast appears to be sparsely populated. Miles and miles of coastline went by without so much as a house. I had not expected to see vast stretches of undeveloped coastline. We were told that the California Coastal Commission keeps a tight rein on coastal development.