Train from Oregon to LA?
 

OK, how bad would the train be from Klamath Falls to Los Angeles? It departs at 10 PM and arrives at 9PM the following evening.
Car drop offs from Oregon to California are outrageous. Flights are horrendous. But two tickets on the train are just $65 each.
We'll be in Ashland, Oregon, so hate to drive the 5 hours back up to Portland for cheaper flights. But we have plenty of time. We love train travel in Europe; is Amtrak really as bad as they say?

Has anyone ever done this? Called the twilight coastal or some such thing.

It's the Coast Starlight and it's one of Amtrak's best long distance trains. No worries. Get a compartment/bedroom if you can.

I agree. I've done the Coast Starlight several times in both directions, the most recent in October and November and I thoroughly enjoy it each time.

We took it overnight from Oakland to Eugene, then during the daytime to Seattle. I can't say that I enjoyed the overnight part at all. Cramped, airless and 'skanky' is how I thought of it. And the breakfast, only because of the guests they seated us with, was uncomfortable. I would take the trip again only if I could avoid having to (try to) sleep onboard.

Hmmm. On the website I couldn't find anything about compartments. Thought maybe they didn't have them. Admittedly sitting up all night doesn't sound great (but then, no different than flying to Europe, I guess, in fact probably more room than in airline coach?). Since it ONLY goes southbound from Oregon leaving at 10 at night, not having to try to sleep doesn't sound like much of an option. I'm not good with 23 hours of no sleep anyway.

Here were certainly a couple of vastly different opinions. More?

Use the Amtrak website and look for "roomettes," bedrooms, and "family" bedrooms. Various types of accommodations.

Without a compartment I wouldn't do it. With a compartment it's a pleasant alternative to driving or flying. Takes longer, of course.

There are some reasonably scenic bits between Seattle and Portland, then not much until you hit the Siskyous, then a l-o-n-g stretch through N. California where the scenery is pretty much the same as that along I-5 (i.e., zilch). It gets quite scenic along the coast for the last few hours before LA, otherwise calling it the "coast" Starlight is a bit misleading.

Pay attention to the schedule. Amtrak is notorious for having their long-haul trains pass through the most scenic parts of their routes in the middle of the night.

Patrick,
There's a variety of compartments from the sublime to the ridiculous. All very expensive. If you get a compartment, however, you have the use of the upper deck parlor car, where they have wine tastings and that sort of thing. It is a gorgeous, but LONG ride.

If I had to do it over again (we went both ways from L.A. to Seattle and return), I would go one way.

Like the Italian trains, or even more so with this train, delays are common, and coming in at 9 p.m. would be more of a fluke than a fact.

The compartments: there's one "family" room; one (and this is the best) handicapped room, which can be booked if no one else actually handicapped is using it; there's compartments with en suite toilet/shower; then there's the cramped, but better located (top floor) doubles, which only have room to sleep, not actually dress (the two seats turn into the lower bed).

The compartments need to be booked well in advance.

The ones most like the European sleepers are the upper level en suite compartments. I'd say, though, that they are more like the ones you'd get on the newer nachtzug trains out of Germany because they are so compact. The nachtzug trains (which we took from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and back) were not great, simply because they were so small you had to leave your suitcase with the porter. The newer Artesia trains that run between France & Italy are becoming similar in compactness (there are some of the older cars that are much better -- roomier).

I like the handicapped compartment because it's bigger -- room for a wheelchair -- and has it's own toilet behind a curtain.

With our recent (and current) rains, a lot of the tracks are being covered with sand and dirt -- we saw that last evening on our drive down the 101 from Monterey. We saw a train on the track, which runs along the 101 with a dirt hauler loaded onto one of the cars digging out dirt just south of Santa Barbara. So do check to confirm the track is cleared. It should be fine in a month or so.

We went both ways

OK, I did a phone call, and found that since we are only considering getting on at Klamath Falls, there are no compartments available. Those are reserved for those doing the full route from Seattle -- which doesn't include us. They mentioned that last minute availability is a possibility but normally they are all sold out in the height of summer (we're talking August 1st here), so if we do it, we'd probably be sitting up.
This is seeming less attractive all the time.
Meanwhile, maybe Alaska Airlines will lower their one way fares from Medford to LAX!!

What about taking the Amtrak from KF to Sacto for their posted rate of $31 and then flying to LA? You arrive early am at the sacramento station. You can then catch a SWA flight to LAX for the internet price of $39 one way. You can't schedule out on SWA for Aug yet but be the first to book and you can get the internet rate.

Hi Patrick, just read Suzie's suggestion about taking Amtrack from KF to Sacramento and then taking SW from Sacramento to LAX.

A good idea, however Amtrack is known for running behind schedule, so do keep that in mind.

But SW is flexable, so perhaps this might be the way to go.

Personally I would not consider taking
Amtrack from KF to LA. I have done the Portland OR to the Bay Area, what a long boring and cramped train ride.

I have had an elderly family member take Amtrak from Sacramento to Santa Barbara and almost every trip was hours behind schedule.

I'd just like to add my two cents here.
You have to remember that in your trip, all sleeping accomodations aboard Amtrak are priced at the first class rate, so any price comparisons would have to be made on a first-class to first-class basis, or a coach to coach basis. You'll notice the other rates quoted here are airplane COACH class rates. any comparison between the airplane and the train is the proverbial apples-to-oranges comparison, i. e. invalid because the two items being compared are too dissimilar to draw an accurate comparison. Also (and this is extremely important) Amtrak is a mere tenant over the rails in OR and CA. The landlord here is the Union Pacific railroad, and they are notorious in the RR industry for their hostility to any passenger trains on their tracks. Wither or not Amtrak is on time on this route depends to a considerable degree upon the landlord RR, as the landlord takes care of all of the track maintenance, and traffic control. IOW, Amtrak can be delayed by the landlord RR. This is yet another difference between the US and Europe, as many passenger lines in Europe are owned by the governemtn, and the trains are much, much, much better funded (in some cases with budgets that are 15 - 20 x the size of Amtrak's yearly budget) than the US.

The Coast Starlight is one of the best trains in Amtrak's network, but you're wise to post questions here. As another poster wrote, no worries. Just be advised that like flights and auto trips, it will have a few glitches. If you want luxury rail travel, go visit the American Orient Express web site. It will make Amtraks sleeper prices look like a bargain by comparison.

I'd also like to add that just one single trip one one train isn't broad enough to draw generalizations regarding the entire system. I've been on train trips involving travel on more than one train, where the experiences varied upon who the landlord RR was, the landlord's attitude towards Amtrak, the crew aboard the particular train, which class of travel one took, or even what the expectations of the first-time traveler were. If you can handle trips that will invariably have a few minor glitches w/o bothering you, then Amtrak is OK. Remember that auto and air trips can have their share of glitches and imperfections as well.

I actually look forward to my train trips, and I hope that your experience will lead you to do the same.

My boyfriend and I considering take the Coastal Starlight from Seattle to San Fran (Emeryville). We plan to buy multi-destination tickets and hop on/hop off at various points on the route like Portland, Klamath Falls and Mt. Shasta. What do you think?

I think that without a car at K Falls or Shasta you'll be in a train station with not a lot to occupy yourselves.

The wizards of Amtrak have also planned the timing on the Starlight so as to insure that southbound the best scenery occurs at night. Clever devils.

If you have plenty of time, Patrick, go back to PDX. Or compare Medford and Eugene for flight costs.

Gardyloo--Patrick posted this almost a year ago, his trip was this summer.

Doh.

Patrick's trip WAS last year -- however nanirolls topped this very old thread with new questions. So all of your comments would still be applicable for this new trip.

nanirolls: Your plan isn't very practical. You go through some of those places in the middle of the night. And in others - w/o a car you really can't see much except for the neighborhood right around the depot.

Ive done the Eugene -Sacramento portion of it - and I can tell you not to count on being anywhere on time - we were about 5 hours late getting back into Eugene. Sometimes you just sit and wait for freight trains to go by.
However if time is not important, its OK.
The scenery between Klamath Falls and Eugene was spectatular- had just snowed, very pretty and lots of tunnels to go through.

Yeah, I have to disagree with the poster who said they timed it for the worst scenery during daylight. The time I went south, it couldn't have been more perfect. We hit the summit of the Cascades at about sundown. It was beautiful. The trip down the Willamette Valley was great. But the segment of the trip from K-Falls to San Francisco was during night ... and is mostly boring, flat scenery.

I've never had a problem sleeping on the train (without a compartment). I loved the cross-country trip I did, and 3 nights on the train were not a problem at all.

As for the pricing on the compartments, you have to factor in that it includes 3 meals a day, as well. Expensive, still, but that lessens how expensive it is.

Patrick, You say you have time, so why not drive back to Portland via the beautiful Oregon Coast? Spend one night it Newport, rather than on the train. If that isn't possible, my choice would be to drive back to Portland on I-5 rather than spend anytime on Amtrack. HTTY