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Chris Guenzler Abbreviated Story
Coast Starlight # 14 Detour Story 3/22-3/3/24 by Chris Guenzler
3/21/03 Northbound was 775 to LA, Bus to Bakersfield, then because 714
was three hours late down the valley I was bused to Sacramento.
3/22/03 # 14 came in on time as it was the 11 set turned in Oakland that
day. We ran the normal way north and I had a good day in Klamath
Falls, even getting a pic of the Amtrak Surfliner painted F-40 383
in freight service we had passed at Hotlum. 11 arrived an hour late
but we heard on Grahman's scanner who I met that a freight at Castle Crag was
having a major problem, it derailed from what I was told.
3/23/03 We sat in K Falls for 5 hours while A decision was made to
reroute as extra 112 down the Highline and a BNSF pilot engineer
was called. We left K Falls at 4:32 AM and went to the BNSF yard to get
orders which took until 5:50 AM
to do. By now it was twilight so my day was looking up. We went through
Merrill at 6:15 AM with the sun up we had views of Mt Shasta, the Lava
Beds National Monument and some absolutely unspoiled NE California
views. We made our way to Bieber, crossed the Pitt River and a
spectacular climb out up the grade. We reached Halls Flat we passed
BNSF 4504 South at 9:90 AM and at Lodge Pole met # 14. We reached
Westwood then saw Lake Almanor. We stopped in Greenville to met a
freight BNSF 747 and a smoking stop leaving there about noon. We
descended into the Feather River Canyon to Keddie a UP pilot crew
change at 1:00 PM. We ran down the Feather river Canyon passed all the
fantastic landmarks. At Virgilia we passed the BNSF 6331 East. At
Pulga where our crew died on the law arriving there at 2:50 PM and leaving
there at 4:30 PM. This was a fresh air stop with four freights passing
with UP 4560 East, UP ? West, the BNSF 4504 west from Halls Flat
earlier then BNSF 4834 East. We then travelled the rest of the canyon
under the Pulga Bridge and across the North Fork Bridge. James was
reached at 5:13 PM, Oroville at 5:46 PM and Sacramento as reached at
6:47 And left at 5:56 PM. Since I was suppose to transfer to 714 in Martinez they let me
stay on since I was connecting to a Surfliner at Los Angeles. We
arrived SLO at 5:15 AM, Simi at 9:27 AM and Los Angeles at 10:30 AM
making this my latest Amtrak trip ever but well worth it. I got home on
572 arriving 19 minutes late due to signal problems at Basta. This was
a real fantastic trip.
Complete story by Saturday night on my web site at
http://www.trainweb.org/chris
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