Amtrak Coast Starlight/dimview (# 0115)

The Amtrak Coast Starlight, the reason I was at the depot. The Coast Starlight is a long-distance train running from Seattle to Los Angeles, and running through some quite interesting scenery. I’ve tried to ride the coast route twice before but couldn’t because of various route disruptions, so I was very much looking forward to finally being able to see the route. Unfortunately, Amtrak lived up to the bad reputation that it has.

Unlike previous attempts, this time the train actually took the assigned route and the weather was clear enough to allow for some spectacular views – but the windows were so filthy that the glare of the sun off the filth made everything look very washed out and photography was close to impossible (see later pictures).

I’ve been a train buff since as long as I can remember and have tried to give Amtrak a chance, but I’m getting increasingly unwilling to give them that chance. Many of the positives about riding the train happened on this train – the interesting chats with other travelers, the friendly crews, the peeks into parts of the country not visible from the highway – but the key factor of the views just wasn’t there. This is not a critique of train travel in general, just a serious questioning of Amtrak long-distance service. The California-only trains that are joint operations of Amtrak and local authorities are much nicer and provide some very enthralling scenery, but there’s key stretches of the state that are only covered by Amtrak long-distance trains.