[?]

The 2004 Sierra Coast Limited - Santa Barbara to Los Angeles 5/17/2004 to 5/18/2004

This excursion was one I would have done in full if I had not committed to the Rare Mileage trips sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Railway Museum in a week, and a month later, the Milwaukee Road 261 excursion. Todd Clark of Trainorders.com put together a great five-day trip going from Los Angeles to Oakland to Sparks and return with three private cars: "Pony Express" built in 1941 for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a horse car and now an open-air observation, "Silver Lariat", built for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy as their 4718 California Zephyr dome coach later Amtrak 9452, and Southern Pacific 131 "Los Angeles", a former business car with an open rear observation platform.

Todd posted that he needed the new Amtrak schedules for his tour brochure, but it went unanswered for two days. On April 10th, I made one of my usual Saturday morning Amtrak trips and when I went into the Santa Ana station to check the status of my train, Gary, the agent, handed me a brand new Amtrak National Timetable with a cover date of April 26th, 2004. I was later surfing the Internet when I remembered Todd's post on Trainorders so posted the Coast Starlight's schedule. After returning home from an afternoon round trip to Solana Beach, I posted the California Zephyr schedule then sent Todd an e-mail, which he acknowledged and I was very glad I had been able to be of assistance. About thirty minutes laterm I received another e-mail from him, thanking me again and offering the excursion from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.

The days before the trip, I started checking the southbound Coast Starlight 11 arrival times into Los Angeles and the train was ten minutes late into Los Angeles on Friday and 32 minutes early on Saturday but then it fell apart. Sunday night's arrival was not until 7:20 AM Monday morning and the southbound train the cars would be put on was three hours and twelve minutes late when I checked on it first thing Monday morning. At work, I checked off-and-on throughout the day not sure if I was going to be on the trip since I was not looking forward to a bus ride home from Los Angeles in the middle of the night. I went home and checked for the last time, finding that the train out of San José had an estimated arrival into LAUPT of 10:20 PM, so I decided to chance it and go.

I arrived at the Santa Ana station in time for a picture of the magnificent building then checked the status of Train 775, learning it was already out of Irvine and it arrived four minutes early so I boarded Superliner coach 31018 and chose an aisle seat. Assistant Conductor Maurico collected my ticket before I walked the train for our consist of F59PHI 451 pulling Pacific Business Class 6802, coach-café 6304 coach 6408, Superliner coach 31018 and cab car 6903. We stopped in Anaheim and Fullerton before making our way towards Los Angeles.

Crossing the Los Angeles River and Alameda Corridor on the Redondo flyover with a Union Pacific train about to enter the corridor below.

Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751 was being prepared for its journey to San Bernardino for the station rededication next month. We arrived at LAUPT early and I switched to a forward-facing window seat for the rest of the journey to Santa Barbara. We departed on time and proceeded west across the San Fernando Valley to Chatsworth, where we waited for a Union Pacific tri-level auto rack train to pass us in the siding, after which we passed through Santa Susana Pass before entering the siding at Hasson for a late-running Pacific Surfliner 784. We made our way to Camarillo where a three-unit Union Pacific local occupied the siding and I was in relax mode this afternoon as we made our way to Oxnard then onto Ventura.

Now for my favourite part of the trip to Santa Barbara, the run along the Pacific Ocean.

The train later passed Rincon Point before arriving at Carpinteria.

From there, the train ran the rest of the way into Santa Barbara, arriving early and ending my first late afternoon trip to the magical county seat of Santa Barbara County.

Pacific Surfliner 775 at Santa Barbara.

I checked with the Amtrak agent, learning that the Coast Starlight had become even later and was now due in about 9:20 PM. With plenty of time to spare, I walked nine blocks up State Street to a Rite Aid for a new watch and on the way, saw a theater, so on my return, stopped there, All four theaters werer showing the same film "Troy" and while I missed the first ten minutes of a showing, the movie truly took off. As Achilles made his final stand, the Led Zeppelin song "Achilles Last Stand" played in my head. It was a very well-done filme which I really enjoyed.

I returned to the station with the train now having an estimated time of arrival of 9:40 PM, which would mean it would arrive after Pacific Surfliner 785 arrived. By now, I really did not care so sat on a baggage cart listening to Chicago XII and Chicago 13. Train 785 arrived with David Esparza as the Assistant Conductor and I had a brief visit with him before he departed for Goleta and they must have let him go all the way there as there was still no Coast Starlight. Time passed slowly with me spending time with Joel Bingham and at 10:30 PM, the Coast Starlight finally arrived and had to do a double spot to let off the Trainorders people as well as board me. I met Stan Garner, owner of the "Pony Express" on the ground who welcomed me to the trip while we waited to board.

The Coast Starlight arrived at Santa Barbara with this consist. P42DC's 117 and 66, baggage 1715 , transition 39037, Superliner Sleepers 32117, 32076, 32085, sightseer/lounge 33048 (used as a parlour car), diner 38059, sightseer/ lounge 33044, coach 34116, kiddie coach 34515, coach 34113, coach 34098, "Pony Express" PPCX 800320, dome "Silver Lariat" PPCX 800190 and Southern Pacific 131 "Los Angeles" PPCX 800335. I boarded "Silver Lariat" and spoke briefly with Todd before exploring the "Pony Express" and venturing through "Silver Lariat" and into "Los Angeles" for the first time. I went out to enjoy the ride on the open platform from Santa Barbara to Oxnard, which was a real thrill.

The "Los Angeles" had floodlights for nighttime viewing, so the tracks were lit, the stars shone overhead, the offshore oil platforms were all lit up and I could see the surf crashing on the rocks and beach as we headed east. It was a great experience. At Oxnard, we met a Union Pacific freight in the siding before I returned inside the train for a while. I sat at the dining table of "Los Angeles" and talked with Chris Fussell, owner of former Amtrak F40PH 231, who offered me a ride back to Santa Ana. Chris and Ryan Martin were both working as help on this trip. I worked on the story as I enjoyed the ride then when we departed Simi Valley, I was riding in the dome of "Silver Lariat" to the first western tunnel before returning to the open platform of "Los Angeles" the rest of the trip through the three tunnels and passed the depot at Chatsworth. After that, I went to "Pony Express" and talked with Stan Garner who took the above picture sitting at a table in his excellent car. We had a nice chat all the way to Glendale.

Midnight came before Bob Hope Airport with me changing dates of sobriety from 3,407 to 3,408. I returned to the open platform of "Los Angeles" for the rest of the way to Los Angeles Union Station, where we arrived at 12:34 AM and the passengers detrained, ending their trip on the Sierra Coast Limited. Chris and Ryan started cleaning the cars as Stan and I talked in "Pony Express". Once all the Starlight passengers had detrained and the train's stock had been off-loaded about an hour later, the train was reversed out to Mission Tower in order to be pulled to the yard. Stan closed his car before we went into the car washer where the entire consist was given a great wash. The train was pulled into the maintenance shed to be cleaned and worked on during the nightly layover in Los Angeles. Chris finished vacuuming "Pony Express" and once we said our goodbyes to Stan and Ryan, we went out to his car and Chris went back in to get his bags and a few minutes later, we were on the way back to my car in Santa Ana. He dropped me off and I drove home, hitting the sheets at 3:10 AM for a 5:45 AM alarm clock to get up for work.

I awoke up tired, but grateful I had made that fantsatic journey on the 2004 Sierra Coast Limited.

RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE