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The Cold Northern States Trip 12/18-24/1993

Three weeks before McFadden Intermediate broke for the Christmas holiday, I was off on the second of my two-region All Aboard America Fare journey.

12/16/1993 I boarded the now-usual non-descriptive San Diegan to Los Angeles, followed by an uneventful Southwest Chief ride to Kansas City. The only difference was the great Indian guide and mid-level clouds all the way across Arizona and New Mexico.

12/18/1993 Arrival in Kansas City was to an overcast, cold day and I waited at Union Station until 11:00, stored my bags in a locker and walked over to Crowne Center to see what films were playing. I saw "Mrs. Doubtfire" with Robin Williams and really enjoyed it before dashing back to the station through the Skywalk, thereby avoiding the heavy rains to await my next train.

I boarded this all-Horizon car train bound for its namesake city in the pelting rain and we departed on time. While the conductor was taking my ticket, he thumbed through the others and was amazed at all the places I had been and where I was going, remarking that I was his first All Aboard America traveller and that I must really like trains. We departed on the Kansas City Terminal Railroad tracks used by Santa Fe and Union Pacific then crossed the north/south- running Burlington Northern and Kansas City Southern lines before reaching the former Missouri Pacific (Union Pacific) and climbed the hill to our first stop at Independence.

We continued to Lee's Summit and by Warrensburg, were really speeding through the night. I had a dinner of hot dogs, chips and a drink then at Sedalia, we rejoined the river-level freight line and passed numerous freight trains at speed. As we passed through and stopped at Jefferson City, I saw the state capitol lit up then we followed the Missouri River to our next stop of Hermann and the remaining miles to St. Louis passed quickly. I detrained and walked though the depot to wait for the Thruway bus to Centralia, Illinois.

After fifteen minutes, a bus arrived and the passengers boarded then shortly after, we crossed the Mississippi River to Illinois and drove down Interstate 64. About forty-five minutes into the journey, the driver announced we would be stopping for a fifteen-minute smoking stop so we went into a McDonald's where three of us walked across the street to a convenience store. Back on the road again, the bus ride was not so bad as we turned off the Interstate and drove north then stopped at the Centralia platform; there was station building so we would be waiting for the train on the bus.

The southbound train arried on time and I boarded a Horizon coach for the 55 mile trip to Carbondale. I watched the southern Illinois countryside pass and knew the next stop would be mine. I chose Carbondale since Centralia had no station and I would be waiting outside in goodness knows what type of weather for over four hours, versus the warmth of the Carbondale station and only a two hour wait. I arrived on time, went inside and found the agent, saying that I would be over in the corner getting a little sleep while waiting for the northbound train and to please wake me when it was near. I took my bags, made a low chair out of them on the floor, put my pillow down, laid covered up with my Amtrak blanket and fell asleep.

I had an extra hour of sleep because when the agent came and woke me up, he told me the train was an hour late, that it would arrive in five minutes and I would board the low-level coaches outside the door. I packed and walked outside into the very cold early morning air where the conductor asked my destination, to which I replied Chicago. He let me board the first Horizon coach before it was attached to the City of New Orleans and I chose a seat on the right, then he took my ticket and told me I could have both seats as tonight there would be very few passengers. Just as the City of New Orleans arrived, I fell asleep during the switching moves, and 55 miles after we departed, I would be on new mileage to Chicago.

I awoke at Champaign-Urbana, walked forward to the dome car and found a seat then went to get some breakfast. Upon return, I found forward-facing seats empty so moved to them and enjoyed the rest of my first ride to Chicago on this route in a dome seat. We crossed the Kankakee River then arrived at its namesake city then speeding across the Illinois farmland, I was surprised at just how flat it is here but remembered this area was glaciated, with the power of the glacier acting as though it were a bulldozer and pushed everything out of the way, thus making a level surface. The thought of the massive power it took to do that amazed me.

We stopped in Homewood and were now running along the Metra Electric line to the west then passed through Illinois Central's Markham yard before crossing the Calumet River and minutes later, ducked under Conrail's main line, the route most Amtrak trains take when travelling east of Chicago. We paralleled Lake Michigan and Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, then turned west on the St. Charles Air Line and crossed two station leads, one at grade from LaSalle Street Station and over the other one from Union Station. The elevated route gave an excellent view of the Chicago skyline, a magnificent tribute to 20th Century man. We left the Airline then reversed the rest of the way to Chicago Union Station and that had brought me to completion of riding the whole City of New Orleans route, albeit not all at once.

I walked into Union Station noticing that Metra 1301 bound for Aurora would leave in twenty minutes, so I went to the ticket counter and purchased a Metra weekend pass for $5.00. While this train's route was the same as the California Zephyr and Illinois Zephyr, the last two miles to Aurora were different. I thought that with the stops at the various stations, I should be able to see the small towns and villages much better than when travelling through them at 60 plus miles an hour.

This train was led by F40PHM-2 187 "City of Wood Dale", built by Electro-Motive Division in 1991. I chose a seat on the upper level of the gallery car, storing my bags on the baggage rack above the aisle. We departed on schedule, passed the Metra coach yards and curved onto Burlington Northern's triple track main line speeding towards Aurora. We stopped at Western Avenue then proceeded to Cicero, after which we passed Burlington Northern's vast Cicero Yard, their main Chicago facility. From here on, we started our three-to-four-minute running between station stops where the train rapidly sped up then slowed equally quickly to each stop and looking at each of the towns' stations, one has a feeling for what the community is like. At Brookfield, half of the coach's passengers departed to go to the Brookfield Zoo, with the remaining detraining at Highlands or Downers Grove. We sped west to Naperville then stopped at the park-and-ride station at Route 59, a very modern-looking structure compared to the other ones on the line. Approaching Aurora, we diverged from the Burlington Northern main line and proceeded past the overnight storage area and stopped.

During my layover, I watched the Illinois Zephyr pass with an all-Horizon consist and a Canadian National freight using Burlington Northern trackage rights to reach Chicago. I explored the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy roundhouse which is Walter Peyton's Steakhouse, as well as the adjacent Aurora Transit Center. The journehy back to Chicago was quick and I saw how the triple tracks are used by locals, freights and another "Dinky", a name for a short Metra train) that the dispatcher has to contend with. I detrained, very impressed with the train's handling.

After a nice lunch upstairs in the station's food court, I returned to the Metra ticket area for a schedule for the train to Fox Lake since its name intrigued me so I walked to the north platform to find Metra Train 2117 waiting on Track 6 for its departure time. Much to my surprise, the locomotive was F40C 614, nee Milwaukee Road 54, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1974, the first time I had seen one in person. Metra is the only company that operates these engines and their sides are different from all the others. I dragged my bags upstairs and chose a seat on the right.

We departed on schedule, something I was quickly realizing Metra trains do, and proceeded north out of Union Station, curved under the Chicago and North Western tracks, crossed their line to Geneva, passed the Milwaukee Road's maintenance base and stopped at Western Avenue. We travelled north with the Metra line to Big Timber diverging to the northwest then crossed Chicago and North Western's Harvard line at Mayfair; the North Side neighbourhoods were row houses and reminded me of a television sitcom. This was the double track main line to Milwaukee, also served by Amtrak and we passed an inbound Hiawatha Service train. The buildings changed to single family homes and businesses as we started the speed up, slow and stop then speed up segment of the journey, stopping at place such as Golf, Glenview and Northbrook.

Departing Lake Forest, we sped through Rondout, where we turned off the Chicago-Milwaukee main line and proceeded northwest towards Fox Lake. I was asked by a passenger named Steve why I had bags with me and where was I going and I told him my destination, just to see what was there. He asked me if I would like to go and watch some of the Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Viking football game, in a Packers bar. It seemed as though the northern part of Illinois was not Bear fan territory, but they loved the Green Bay Packers and I had a warm spot in my heart for the Packers, so agreed to go. We passed through Libertyville and Grayslake before we passed the overnight storage area and arrived at Fox Lake. I had an hour-and-a-half layover so we walked over to the bar and watched the second quarter with Green Bay ahead then at half time, we walked over to the lake and Steve and I said our goodbyes as he went home and I returned to the train for an uneventful ride back to Union Station, where I went directly to the food court for dinner, then the south waiting area for my next train. For the record, the Vikings won 21-17.

The waiting room was full of Christmas season travellers and with each boarding announcement, the crowd thinned out, however when the gate opened for Train 347, only a few of us walked down the platform to the train. It seemed that Quincy was not a major tourist destination. I was surprised at the train's consist since it was not the Horizon set I had seen this morning, rather a five-car Superliner set. The seven of us bound for Quincy were boarded into the rear coach due to the shortness of the station platform there, then we departed on time and proceeded into the night, down the racetrack I had ridden this morning. We passed a three hours late-running California Zephyr then stopped at La Grange Road station and also Naperville but flew by the commuter station at Aurora.

Sitting in front of me was a family from Quincy and when they saw my set of tickets, the conductor taking one, and heard I was going to Quincy, they engaged me in conversation with me and I told them of my train travels and where I had been. They asked me where I was staying and when I answered with the Travelodge, the husband suggested I go home with them, drop off his wife and children, then he would take me out and show me the town. This was very kind of these strangers and I agreed to this plan so we talked all the way to our destination while travelling through Plano, Mendota, Princeton, Kewanee, Galesburg and Macomb. As we were riding the final miles to Quincy, I remembered I was ticketed all the way to West Quincy but with this year's Mississippi River flooding, the train no longer terminates there, instead making its final stop in Illinois.

We arrived in Quincy, a small station in an industrial area in the northeast side of town and piled into the family's van and drove the mile to their house, where we duly dropped off the wife and children, to whom I said goodbye and thanked them for such a nice pleasant evening. We drove to the Travelodge where I obtained my room and left my bags before driving around town. We went to two very nice club/bars before calling it a night then drove across the Mississippi River into Missouri so I could get to West Quincy, my ticket's destination. The husband showed the high water mark eight feet up on a signpost giving directions to Quincy and I was amazed that where we were driving at this very second was under eight feet of water this past summer, and that West Quincy, like so many other Midwest towns, was submerged. A complete difference from what California considers a flood and I could now understand why the town fathers of Quincy built upon the bluff to the east of the river as opposed to the lowlands to the west. We returned to Quincy, he dropped me off at the motel and we said our goodbyes then I asked for a 5:30 wakeup call before retiring for the night.

The wakeup call came all too soon and after a quick shower, the taxi arrived and I was off to the sttation. The cab driver asked me what I was doing for breakfast and when I said I had not thought of it, he said we had enough time to go through the drive through at Hardee's to get something to go so I bought hot cakes, sausage and a juice and we arrived at the station with five minutes to spare. I went upstairs in the Superliner coach, found my seat and ate a very good breakfast while the train departed on schedule and the crew was the same as last night from Galesburg. This conductor took my ticket, looked through my receipts and asked if there were any trains in the western United States that I had not yet ridden yet, to which I responded the Empire Builder between Chicago and Havre, which I was doing later today. He asked what I was going to do during my layover in Chicago and I replied that I was going to Waukegan to see what was there, and he conductor wished he could see all of America as I was doing.

It was an overcast morning as we made our way over the Burlington Northern (formerly Chicago, Burlington and Quincy) Kansas City-Galesburg main line at a good rate of speed through the landscape of farms, and was what I would call typical Midwestern scenery. In a few of the fields, farmers were cultivating them which struck me as a little odd for such a cold December morning, but I realized that turning the soil so moisture from new snowfalls can seep into it seemed a good idea. We arrived at Macomb and saw the General Store, then speeding toward Chicago, the sun made a brief appearance and we went through miles of frosted fields and there was no activity of any kind, with all the crossroads deserted. After about thirty minutes of rural running, we passed the southwest side of Burlington Northern's Galesburg yard before returning to the Chicago-Denver mainline and stopping at the station in Galesburg.

On the double track main line to the east, we passed several freights in quick succession which broke up the agriculturally-dominated landscape. With the sun now risen and out, at each of the small towns I was able to have a good look at them and of the next four, Kewanee, Princeton, Mendota and Plano, I liked Plano the best since it appeared to be a nice small town. We sped to Aurora and crossed the Fox River before travelling on the middle track of the three towards the Windy City. Compared with my Metra riding yesterday, this was a high-speed run with all the commuter stops being passed, then we stopped at Naperville and La Grange Road before arriving back at Chicago Union Station on time. I walked over to the Chicago and North Western station as the cold wind was blowing cold off Lake Michigan, and since it was a Monday, purchased a round trip ticket to Waukegan.

This was the second of the three Metra-operated Chicago and North Western lines to ride and actually goes to Kenosha, Wisconsin, but since they only operate mid-day trains as far as Waukegan, settled for that this time. We departed on time and went the regular way, but after the stop at Clybourn, the train veered to the north and we passed the row houses of the north side of Chicago. I looked for Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, but never saw it and was told that, as baseball parks go, it was the shortest of them all. This train operated as if it were trolley and all eleven stops came in quick succession with names like Wilmette, Winnetka and Glencoe. The countryside began to open up and I saw Lake Michigan in the distance then the further north, the better the views became and by the time we reached Lake Forest, I had a clear view of of it. We stopped at Great Lakes, the site of the Great Lakes Navy Base then within five minutes, we arrived at Waukegan where I detrained for some cool Illinois lake air before reboarding and choosing a seat on the inland side for an uneventful ride back to Chicago.

I took the semi underground route back to Union Station and went to the food court for a late but most fulfilling lunch then returned downstairs and for the first time, went to the north waiting area used for the Hiawatha Service and the Empire Builder. I asked the conductor where I would board the Empire Builder and he pointed to door but said not to move there until the train arrives as it was not scheduled to depart on time. Our departure time came and went then after about fifty minutes, the Empire Builder arrived and was ready for boarding.

Even boarding a late train is a wonderful experience and I was looking forward to my first trip on the Empire Builder and thus, the first ride through Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, the latter a state I had never been to before. It was also going to be new mileage from Rondout to Havre. USA Today's weather page showed very cold temperatures across the northern plains, another reason why I was excited as this would be it will be my initial true winter experience on a train.

My seat was located on the part of the train that goes through to Portland, while the main section travels to Seattle; the train splits in Spokane. My coach was only half full but the car attendant said that down line boarding projections showed I would be able to have my own set of seats all the way to Vancouver, Washington. After a mere eight minutes of boarding, we departed Chicago Union Station to start my 2,251 mile journey and tonight the train would be on the tracks of the former Milwaukee Road (Soo Line) to the Twin Cities and Burlington Northern to the West Coast. I was following the same route I rode earlier today when I went to Fox Lake as far as Rondout, but this train only made a single stop at Glenview.

I sat in the lounge car which gave a much better view of the countryside on this very late afternoon and by the time we crossed into Wisconsin, I was having my new state drink while we travelled through the darkness of night. I had a 5:30 dinner reservation which came all too soon and had a thick cut of prime rib, which arrived as we entered Milwaukee, and departed the hometown of the Bucks of National Basketball Association and Brewers of Major League Baseball an hour and twenty minutes late. After finishing dinner, I returned to the lounge car and waited for Tunnel City, where there is a single tunnel. We passed through Portage, Wisconsin Dells and Tomah then about fifteen minutes later, I saw the snowy landscape rise and as if on cue, the train plunged into the tunnel. We followed the streams downgrade to our final stop in Wisconsin of La Crosse right before we crossed the Mississippi River into Minnesota, where I had a welcome to Minnesota drink before returning to my coach seats to sleep as the train paralleled the western shore of the Mississippi River towards the Twin Cities.

12/21/1993 When I awoke the following morning, the train was crossing the Red River of the North and entered North Dakota, stopping in Fargo. We left two hours late so the entire trip across the state would be in daylight. The countryside was snow-covered and the sky a low hazy overcast and I was glad to be on a nice warm train, which was kicking up the snow as we travelled directly north to Grand Forks, where the station is located on a curve to the west of town. The snow and the clouds mixed and obscured the views, the station stops were about an hour apart and are all small wheat-growing towns of the northern plains.

While we had been traveling on the Burlington Northern since Minneapolis, we were now on the former Great Northern main line; this railroad was built by James J. Hill who dreamed of a line from the Twin Cities to the Pacific Coast and steamship lines to the Orient. His dream came true and because of his efforts, this opened up traffic to and from the Orient. In 1929, he started a new train to represent what the Great Northern stood for and named it the Empire Builder, which became one of the most excellent passenger trains in our country's history and its name lives on in the Amtrak era.

Rugby is an agricultural center and is also the geographical center of North America. Located just a mere fifty miles from Canada, it gives you an idea of just how wide our neighbour to the north is, and after I had crossed it by train, that idea was forever in my mind. Approaching Minot, I saw a set of tracks coming in from the southeast and just outside of town, saw a Soo Line freight on its way to Portage and Canada. We arrived at Minot, a servicing stop, so we would be here for fifteen minutes. The crew announced that the outside temperature was minus five degrees and if you were going outside to bundle up. I detrained with two goals, to photograph the train and to buy a newspaper, so walked to the front of the train

I did not expect to see the F40PHs covered in thick icicles but with the low temperatures and wind chill, it proved just how cold it was last night. I grabbed a newspaper and returned to the warmth of the train as we continued across the frozen landscape to our final stop of Williston in this state, then a little under thirty minutes later, crossed into Montana, through which we would travel the rest of the day. We were following the Missouri River and my mind turned to the journeys of Lewis and Clark who explored this new frontier just as I was doing today. We were now running two-and-a-half hours late after meeting a freight train with the countryside becoming undulating hills as we started to cross the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Our new conductor pointed out the sights as the afternoon went then we stopped at Wolf Point and I looked out at this town because I always wondered what was here. It proved to be what I had thought, a typical northern Plains wheat-growing town.

We departed west into clearing skies and about forty-five minutes later, I saw a big "G" on the hillside which meant we were arriving in Glasgow, known to fossil hunters as one of the best places to practice their art in North America. Almost sixty miles west, we came to Malta where we met our eastbound sister train then about ten minutes west of there, we passed the location where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed the Great Northern, getting away with nearly $70,000. We lost the last of the daylight as the train continued to speed west then down the line, the public address system came alive with the story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians' attempts to flee to Canada but were hunted down by the United States Army. It was near here Chief Joseph spoke his most famous words, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

I went to the dining car and had a dinner of beef shishkebob as we arrived in Havre, ending my new mileage on this route. Great Northern 4-8-4 2548 was on display and decked out in Christmas lights, which was a very nice scene while dining. We were running three hours late upon departure into the Montana night then I returned to my coach seat and fell asleep, thinking that to see the Rockies you ought to take this route either westbound in June or eastbound most days of the year.

12/22/1993 I awoke in Spokane and we were still three hours late but that would enable me to travel the entire route from Spokane to Vancouver in daylight. In addition, it was not as cold and since the track was in good condition, perhaps we would make up some time. I walked up two cars to the lounge car in our shortened Empire Builder and found it deserted since the Seattle section had already left. We departed in broad daylight and it was a clear cool morning as we proceeded west out of town, crossing Latah Creek on a very high bridge where the junction with the line to Seattle was at its west end; we took the line that led to Vancouver and went through the canyon to Cheney, where the grades of the abandoned lines from the 1970 merger of Great Northern into Burlington Northern were still visible. The countryside had turned to rolling hills, all dormant from the winter's cold and we passed just to the north of Sprague Lake. We then travelled through a landscape called Rattlesnake Flats and near Hatton, crossed under abandoned grade of the former Milwaukee Road and followed the Esquatzel Coulee to Pasco, where I detrained for a newspaper.

We crossed the Columbia River and this part of the journey was one of my favourite on the entire Amtrak system, the former Spokane, Portland and Seattle, north bank route of the Columbia River. I saw where the Snake River joined the Columbia River almost doubling in size and across it was a Union Pacific freight train on its way to Hinkle, Oregon. The usual barge traffic was on the river while we ran along under the canyon's cliffs then travelled south until the river bent to the west and we entered the Columbia River Gorge. We passed under US 395 connecting Oregon with Washington, the first of the bridges under which we will travel that serves that purpose. In each siding were freight train awaiting our passage so they could continue to their destinations.

The river through the gorge was actually a series of lakes due to the dams and the first one was John Day Dam, which spanned the width of the gorge and the railroads were relocated on either side away from the river. We passed through our first tunnel of the morning and arrived in Wishram then continuing west, passed the junction of the Inside Gateway, Burlington Northern's line to northern California, then passed the Dalles Dam with its salmon ladders. To the southwest, Mount Hood was the most visible I had seen and dominated the landscape above the river, a spectacular sight of one of the most beautiful mountains in the country. We passed through the orchard areas of the Gorge, stopped in Bingen-White Salmon and across the river, I saw the trains of Union Pacific speeding, one behind the other, putting on quite a show. The Gorge which had been mostly desert up to this point but changed to a more rainforest environment then we passed under the Bridge of the Gods and the final dam of our westward trek, the Bonneville Dam. We entered the last of the tunnel areas, passing Beacon Rock across the river from Multnomah Falls, then went through the longest tunnel of the day, Cape Horn Tunnel before exiting Gorge as the countryside widened with lumber interests along the tracks. The river also widened and we travelled through the outskirts of Vancouver, Washington before we reaching the depot located in the middle of the railroad's wye, where I detrained two hours and five minutes late.

I stored my bags in the baggage room then walked to the park where Spokane, Portland and Seattle 2-8-2 539 was on display, then walked to The Crossing Restaurant made out of railroad passenger cars. I ordered a sirloin sandwich which was prepared excellently and had a round of drinks with lunch then returned to the Amtrak station and waited for the Coast Starlight and my journey home.

Train time came and went with a rain shower taking the place of the arriving train. The drawbridge over the Columbia River was open and as well as watching trains, you can also watch the boatson the river; it is truly an interesting spot and beats waiting in Portland. An announcement was made that the Coast Starlight departed Seattle an hour and thirty minutes late due to head-end power problems so I returned to watching the boats on the river and the trains switching in the yard as an added diversion. The time passed quickly and then there was a headlight in the distance as the Coast Starlight arrived.

Once everyone boarded, the train crossed the Columbia River into Oregon and I found a seat and had my ticket collected. I was in the coach with the local passengers going to the Rose City, but it was light today so still had my choice of seats, the advantage over boarding in Portland. I walked up to the lounge car before the attendant closed for Portland and went upstairs finding a seat just as we were crossing the Willamette River then travelled along the waterfront where the head-end power went out and stayed that way for the next hour. We arrived at Portland but I found the view of the station tiresome so returned to my coach which was now full and an elderly woman from Chemult was my seatmate. During the delay, the steward passed through the train handing out dinner reservations, so I chose 5:45 PM in order to eat before the crossing of the Cascades. My new seatmate and I talked for a while before she decided she needed a nap, so I offered her my little pillow and the seat, which she accepted, and I returned to the lounge car.

We departed and crossed the Steel Bridge then met our northbound counterpart, also running off the advertised schedule. We passed the waterfall and power plant on the Willamette River then gained speed as we trekked down the Willamette Valley, after which it became dinner time so I walked forward and enjoyed a New York strip steak at a nice leisurely pace, followed by a return to the lounge car as we travelled south to Eugene under the cover of night. While there, the train's interior turned dark again and for the next two hours, we sat in front of the Eugene station with the diner unable to serve passengers due to lack of power and I was very glad I had eaten early. The Billy Squire song "In the Dark" was playing in my mind and its lyrics had a special meaning tonight.

Off into the night the Coast Starlight finally went and I had the lounge car to myself as the train started its climb into the Cascade Mountains. I had never seen the Starlight this quiet and the mood inside was just like the snow outside, quiet and still. With all the craziness and events I had witnessed on this train over the years, an incredible moment was occurring with just the train, the snow, the mountains and me and I was in tune with my surroundings. It was a feeling I hope every person is able to experience once in their life.

The train twisted and turned up Southern Pacific's Cascade crossing and even in total darkness, its sounds made the climb impressive. We reached the top of the grade at Cascade Summit and I descended to the lower level of the lounge car then upon my return upstairs, watched the train pass Odell Lake followed by miles of forest in total silence. I walked up to my seat just before Chemult and said goodbye to my seatmate then curled up to go to sleep, thinking of the great day I had and wondering what tomorrow would bring.

12/23/1993 Waking up on a bright sunny California morning, the train was in the Sacramento Valley and we were crossing the Feather River, followed by the former Western Pacific (Union Pacific) before stopping in Marysville. The bad news was that we were over four-and-a-half hours late, so there was little chance of seeing daylight coast views in southern California, but on the bright side, I was being able to see the area through which the train normally travels through at night in daylight. We departed Marysville and crossed the Yuba River then followed California Highway 65 through Lincoln and the slightly rolling hills to Roseville. The conductor came through asking if any of us going to Los Angeles would rather detrain at Sacramento and take the bus/train/bus combination to Los Angeles to save time, as well as to get us there earlier. Almost all the passengers took him up on the offer, but I decided to stay for the long haul since I wanted to see how this journey was going to end.

We arrived at Sacramento and my coach emptied out, leaving me as the only Los Angeles passenger then upon our departure, we passed the California State Railroad Museum before crossing the Sacramento River into West Sacramento, then out across the Yolo Bypass and into Davis. Leaving there, the Starlight made excellent time flying through Dixon, Fairfield, past the United States Navy Mothball Fleet, over the Benicia drawbridge and into Martinez then from there, we followed the waters to San Pablo Bay leading us to Richmond with a brief stop before we high-balled to Oakland, our servicing stop this late morning.

I was most surprised to see Cotton Belt GP40M-2 7281, nee Missouri-Kansas-Texas 221 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969 on the point of our train. We departed Oakland at 11:30 AM by proceeding through the West Oakland yards followed by street-running through Jack London Square then rolled by the home of the Oakland Atheltics, which was the former home of my beloved Raiders. It was then lunch time so I had a hot dog, chips and a drink and we passed the salt plant on the bay, through the ghost town at Alviso and at Santa Clara, saw the San Francisco 49'ers practicing and wondered if they would win the Super Bowl this season. By San Jose, we remained four hours late then on our way south, I enjoyed the Coast Line through Gilroy, Pajaro Gap and Watsonville, across the wetlands to Castorville and into Salinas. I felt very tired so decided to nap and forgoed the exciting scenery of the Salinas Valley. Within minutes, the gentle rocking motion of the train put me to sleep.

I awoke just as we were passing through Paso Robles and at the next siding, we met our sister northbound train running late, but not as late as us. We descended Cuesta Grade in the very late afternoon sun and arrived at San Luis Obispo at a brilliant red sunset. There was a problem watering the dining car so we lost another half an hour, but at this point, nobody cared and everyone in the lounge car was making new friends so we had an early Christmas party, and to say the holiday spirits were flowing was an understatement. As the train travelled along the California coast in the dark, we were all singing Christmas carols and I was finally in the Christmas spirit.

The next thing we knew, the train had reached Santa Barbara and many passengers detrained. The lateness of the hour had caused the lounge car to empty leaving me looking at the Pacific Ocean at night, reflecting on this excellent trip that was fast coming to an end and all the people I had met. Oxnard came and went as we travelled up the Simi Valley, where it was announced that for those few of us travelling south of Los Angeles, buses would be waiting trainside. As we entered the San Fernando Valley, I returned to my coach seat to pack up.

12/24/1993 At Glendale, midnight came and with it the start of Christmas Eve and we arrived at Los Angeles Union Passenger Station at 12:15 AM, four hours behind schedule. I walked down to the end of the platform and boarded the bus for a non-stop journey home to Santa Ana. As I walked home in the darkness of the night, a warm Santa Ana wind was blowing me to my bed and the end of another Amtrak adventure.

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