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My First Experience With Amtrak's Pacific Parlour Car 11/27-12/1/1997

I still had one more series of tickets from the autumn colours trip and that was going to be used for a round trip to Eugene, Oregon to see Carol in Cottage Grove. We met on the northbound Coast Starlight when I went to Seattle to ride the Mount Baker International in 1994 and had kept in contact by letters and telephone. The day before I was going to leave, my friend Bruce Fenton, decided that he had enough of Southern California and wanted to move. He visited and asked if he could ride north with me, which I said was fine as we always had wanted to take a train trip together. We went to Santa Ana and found the only space left on the train was a lone sleeping car, for which Bruce paid cash and I had my ticket switched to the room so we would be riding together. This suddenly became my first opportunity to ride the new Pacific Parlour Car service on the Coast Starlight.

A bright and sunny Thanksgiving Day morning found me back at the Santa Ana station where I met Bruce, along with his parents, who had come to see us both off. The bi-level train of California Cars arrived a few minutes late and we both found a pair of seats for the journey to Los Angeles then I went to the café car where Linda Paul served me a cup of tea and I purchased a pack of chocolate chip cookies. Bruce and I enjoyed our ride and we arrived on time and detrained to a waiting Coast Starlight.

The Pacific Parlour Car is a first class lounge car that operates exclusively on Amtrak's Coast Starlight between Los Angeles and Seattle and is is open only to passengers carrying a sleeping car ticket, the only dedicated lounge space and food service car outside of the Auto Train. It was also one of the last pieces of equipment built before Amtrak’s creation that the company still used in regular revenue service, other than the fast-disappearing Heritage dining and baggage cars. It features many amenities including a library, dining area, bar and theater. Amtrak owns five of these cars, which were built by the Budd Company as hi-level lounge car in 1956 for the Santa Fe Railway.

Bruce and I boarded the 1430 car and found Room 14 on the lower level, which suited me fine. After we settled in, we went to explore the Pacific Parlour Car which had been modified at Amtrak's Beech Grove Shops near Indianapolis a and rebuilt. I had actually ridden in this car on the Sunset Limited and it certainly did not resemble what I remembered. Back then, it was all tables with a bar in an enclosed area at one end of the car on the upper level.

Near where we entered was a glass cabinet containing books and games then we walked in and found large plush lounge chairs, two on the right and four on the left. On the right was a warming table that had fresh pastries and muffins then beyond that were the stairs leading to the movie theater on the lower level. Walking further in, we came to the remaining tables which had tablecloths and a vase with ferns and a rose. At the far end of the upper level was the wooden bar where which the Pacific Parlour Car attendant worked. It was an incredible car.

Bob and I went downstairs to look at the theater, which was an enclosed room with a large screen television, a great sound system and theater-style seating and I was eager to watch a film. With our tour complete, we went upstairs where I had a cup of tea to go along with my cinnamon rolls then enjoyed our snacks as people were still boarding before we returned to our room to await departure.

Back in the room, the Coast Starlight departed on time and a few minutes later, the conductor came and took our tickets, followed by the train chief, who impressed with the extent of my travels. Bruce and I then went back to the Parlour Car where we enjoyed the features and the view while playing Monopoly. We stopped at Glendale before travelling through the San Fernando Valley and the tunnels that led us to Simi Valley before proceeding west to Oxnard and the Pacific Ocean at Ventura. We had lunch upon our departure and I had beef burger as we reached the water's edge then for dessert, I enjoyed a caramel ice cream turtle cake. The two of us returned to those comfortable chairs as the Starlight cruised the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Above Gaviota, we left Highway 101 for the journey to Point Conception and across Vandenberg Air Force Base then made our way north to San Luis Obispo, where we detrained for some fresh air. After our departure and crew change, wine tasting was offered in the Parlour Car but of course I did not partake and enjoyed the climb over Cuesta Grade instead then visited the Superliner lounge car for just a few minutes to see if I knew the attendant.

We made our way up the Salinas Valley and had dinner at the first seating, where I had an excellent beef tenderloin and more turtle cake for dessert. Afterwards, I went to the Pacific Parlour Car theater on the lower level and watched Michael Jackson and Diana Ross in "The Wiz", which I really liked then had a night cap of ginger ale, much different from my drinking days. Once back in the room, I made it up and Bruce was in the lower bunk and myself in the upper as we departed Oakland and proceeded into the California night.

11/28/1997 Waking up short of Dunsmuir, it was a quick walk to the Parlour Car for a cup of tea before pancakes for breakfast in the dining car as we climbed out of the Sacramento Canyon. A beautiful sunny and clear northern California morning had Mount Shasta standing out high above the train. This section was one of my favourite on the Starlight's route and this time, I was enjoying it from one of the comfortable Parlour Car chairs. The train made its way into Oregon and I enjoyed the outside air at Klamath Falls, then we rode the Parlour Car to Chemult and over Cascade Summit, taking in the views from both sides. We descended to Oakdale before running past Lookout Point Reservoir, which was the lowest I had ever seen, then made our way to Eugene, where Bruce and I detrained and I was given an umbrella as a parting gift. It was a excellent first experience riding the Coast Starlight's Pacific Parlour Car.

As we walked away from the train, a man walked up to us, flashed his Drug Enforcement Agency badge and asked our names, which we gave without hesitation. Since Bruce had paid cash for his ticket, that alerted the DEA who were on the lookout for people paying for large purchases with cash since they maybe trafficing drugs. He wanted to take us somewhere to check our luggage, but I insisted he check it with a whole train of witnesses. As he did, the train chief, carrying another umbrella for Bob, said, "What are you doing? Chris is one of our best passengers!" The agent finished and let us leave and I was naturally quite upset over this whole situation. Bruce and I parted company as Sage, one of Carol's friends, who had come to pick me up, did not know what to make of what he had just seen.

Bruce's take on the whole above incident: "First off, I believe that was is a terrible way to run a business by singling out people who are smart enough to never start using a credit card, and then assuming that because they choose to pay for things by means other than credit, they must be criminals. Had I the means, I would have filed a discrimination lawsuit against Amtrak, including the train chief and any and all Amtrak employees that may have been responsible for this fiasco (i.e. violation of my civil rights). What you may not know is that I saw the train chief gleefully pointing at the two of us as the DEA agents came up to the train. I vowed right then and there to never ride on Amtrak again and that is a vow I will never break".

Sage drove me down to Cottage Grove, where I spent time with Carol and the highlights were Main Street in Cottage Grove, which was in the parade scene in "Animal House" and her taking me along the Rails-to-Trails that once was the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railroad made famous in the film "Emperor of the North." We also walked through a forest in the rain which might have been one of the most peaceful things that I had ever done. We watched a little football my last day as Carol was a big Denver Broncos fan and I am life-long Oakland Raiders fan. Sage drove me back to the station where I waited for the southbound Coast Starlight.

Since I was only travelling to Sacramento this segment, I was boarded into an empty coach and after settling in, went to the dining car for a repeat of the great beef tenderloin dinner and enjoyed the near-empty lounge car for the climb over Cascade Summit and watched the film again then turned in after Chemult and slept all the way into California.

It was that favourite bus-train-bus combination to get me back to Los Angeles and a San Diegan to Santa Ana. The Thruway bus filled up and it was a quick trip to Stockton, where during my wait, I picked up a copy of USA Today. Train 712 arrived on schedule and I was off south down the San Joaquin Valley and had an on-time journey to Bakersfield, where I boarded the first Thruway bus to Los Angeles. The ride up the Grapevine was fine, but coming down the south side, the brakes began to fail so our driver pulled off the road and radioed the following buses to stop and pick up his passengers. This made for one of the most interesting bus trips yet over the Ridge Route and we arrived at Los Angeles late, but since San Diegan 782 was not leaving for thirty minutes, I still had a ride to Santa Ana without a long wait.

Up on the platform, I was greeted by Conductor Woody Lambrith and his assistant conductor, D.D. Carlson. The train came in from Santa Barbara and I chose a seat in the Amcafé, we departed on time and fifty minutes later, I detrained in Santa Ana, ending a very interesting journey.

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