Trip Report: The Great “Rail” Journey of April 2008

by Ted & Sylvia Blishak

Day 1 of 26.    Monday, April 7, 2008.

We begin our journey not at the Klamath Falls Amtrak Station, which has been closed since the end of January, but at Klamath Falls’ Kingsley Field Airport.   We are not going to catch a flight to Portland,  rather we are going to rent a Hertz car to drive to California, and are going to pay  a small fortune to do so, $670.00  for four days use of a plain Jane model Ford Expedition, which we will drop off in Oakland.    

It is very unusual for us to start a trip from Klamath Falls in a rented automobile, but there has been no Amtrak service in Klamath Falls since the massive slide of January 19 closed the Union Pacific Railroad at Frazier, high up in the Cascade Mountains, closing this former Southern Pacific main line between Chemult and Eugene.

Since that incident, the Coast Starlight has been a coach-only daylight train between Los Angeles and Sacramento.   Passengers wishing to continue north board a red-eye motorcoach, leaving Sacramento at 12:15am and arriving into to Portland 12 hours later, with connections available to Seattle and intermediate points on the Cascade trains.  The motorcoach route follows I-5 via Ashland and Medford, (which have never had Amtrak service), but bypassing Klamath Falls, which is on the route of the Coast Starlight.   The Klamath Falls Amtrak Station is closed for the duration. 

Although we have an Amtrak ticket returning from San Jose to Klamath Falls on May 2, we cannot help but wonder if we will ever see the Coast Starlight in Klamath Falls again, so we have a backup car rental reservation.  If the Union Pacific knows when they will have the line reopened, they are not letting on.  Amtrak is accepting reservations for service beginning April 21, but insiders at the National Rail Passenger Corp. say that it would take a miracle to have the line opened for the May 10 National Train Day event, and are guessing that June 10 would be more realistic.   

When picking up our one-way rental from Hertz at our airport, we were advised by the agent there that we were lucky to have booked a one way rental out of Klamath Falls at any price, as they are swamped with customers who would ordinarily have taken the train.  The Coast Starlight has always been popular year-round.   With current high gasoline costs, the lack of Greyhound service, and flights limited to three daily Horizon Air departures to Portland, the Coast Starlight is sorely missed.   Could not something have been done to maintain the Coast Starlight during this emergency?  (See Sidebar for what might have been done.)

The price of gas was $3.50 when we left Klamath Falls. Right across the border in California it was $4.00.  Every time we have an election we Oregonians are told that we have the most expensive gas in the country because we must, by law, let a station attendant pump it.  "Vote to pump your own gas, the prices will go down!" is the erroneous claim.  It is always more expensive in California and we like full service.

Ted filled up in Yreka, CA, our first stop, and was caught up in an endless loop of error messages on the gas pump display because he had swiped his credit card on the wrong side.  An attendant came out to reset the recalcitrant machine so he could fill his tank, spilling gasoline down the side of the left rear fender in the process.  Gas pump challenged!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 8, we descend into the Klamath River Canyon to begin our journey to the California coast.   The Klamath River has recently been designated a part of the National Wild and Scenic River system, and we are anticipating this 150 mile drive through the wilderness. 

Update 4/9/08:
This just arrived from the National Association of Railroad Passengers.org:

Effective with the northbound departure of train #14 from Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 15, and the southbound departure of train #11 from Seattle on Wednesday, April 16,

• Amtrak will operate a full-service Coast Starlight between Los Angeles and Klamath Falls, OR.
• A bus bridge will operate between Klamath Falls and Eugene (stopping in Chemult).
• A connecting coach-and-café train will operate between Eugene and
  Seattle.
• All of the above will carry local passengers in both directions.
• Thruways between Klamath Falls-Medford and Chemult-Bend-Redmond will be
  restored.
• The Klamath Falls-Pasco Thruway connection to the eastbound Empire Builder
  will also be restored. (The westbound connection is made at Portland.)

The Pacific Parlour cars (for sleeper passengers) are undergoing renovation for the relaunch of the Coast Starlight and are not scheduled to operate. Amtrak has not announced a decision on when to relaunch the Coast Starlight with upgraded amenities, but signage in certain stations advertise a"mid-2008" relaunch (previous literature had advertised May 10 as the relaunch date).

Union Pacific continues to make progress on rebuilding the railroad and limited freight train service has resumed. UP has not committed to a date for allowing the Coast Starlight to use the route as the mountain is still unstable.