… And Back to LA on the Coast Starlight

The Coast Starlight arrived spot on time at Davis, California this morning at 6:50. We deposited our bags in our sleeping car and headed directly to the diner for breakfast. Later, along with a number of other passengers, we opted to have our lunch and dinner in the Pacific Parlour car, which is a wonderful luxurious extra for sleeping car passengers on this train.

I mention this because on the Coast Starlight there were four people serving food to passengers: three in the dining car and one in the parlour car. By contrast, there is no parlour car on the California Zephyr which brought us to Davis, and all passengers were therefore served in the diner … but by just two people.

I have no way of knowing how the two passenger loads compared, but the plain fact is, those two folks on the Zephyr were badly overworked. One, the LSA (lead service attendant) told me she was up at 5:30 in the morning and it would be 2:00 a.m. before she finished all her paperwork for the day. That poor lady had to wait on half the tables in the diner, plus take payment for meals purchased by coach passengers and for any beer or wine sold to those of us in the sleeping cars. And if her accounting was off, she personally would have to pay the difference.

I have no idea who schedules the crew for the Zephyr — I gather it’s someone in Chicago — but that just ain’t right, folks!

That said, the ride down to Los Angeles today was delightful and, if pressed, I will have to say the Coast Starlight is my personal favorite among Amtrak’s long-distance trains.

Back home to Maui tomorow.