Page 216 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

take us home on the detour route, through Califor- (Cue Johnny Carson) "How EX-clusive was it?"
nia's Central Valley and away from the coast. "So exclusive," I'd say, "that you can't book it in
Came the dreaded answer: "You'll have to call advance, it's open perhaps one day a year, and all
the 800 number to change your tickets." diners are guaranteed to be thrown a curve."
Good luck with that. The Amtrak telephone We were being taken on a route few on Am-
agent was flummoxed. With its detour, our train, trak ever get to travel, one primarily reserved for
the Coast Starlight, had become a ghost train. freight traffic. We looked forward to our upcoming
It apparently was not listed on her computer dinner in the diner, choosing from a menu that in-
taking the new route through the Central Valley to cluded a choice of dinner salads, steak, salmon and
Los Angeles. She couldn't do anything for us, but chicken.
we knew the train was going to LA. Around 6 p.m., the train began its climb to the
Out of nowhere, a woman appeared at our Tehachapi Pass, over the mountains, an historic
compartment, identified herself as the train man- route taken only by long freight trains connecting
ager and began her magic as she pushed into the the LA Basin with the Central Valley. Our crew said
seat next to me. She got out her cell phone and the last time they had come this way was over a
called the super-secret reservations number …. year ago.
you know, the one they never tell you about. We walked into the dining car and were given
Even then, it took a while for her to explain window seats to view the engineering phenome-
our plight and sort things out. So, unlike air travel, non known worldwide to railroad fans as the
we chatted her up. She had two master's degrees Tehachapi Loop. Slowly, as we ate dinner with wine
and had turned down administrative positions to the train snaked around a sharp curve so that the
keep riding the rails for more than 30 years. last car was looped on an edge just below the
straining engines above.
Now, we were on our way, with our trip mor-
phing from a sightseeing excursion to a real rail- The Loop is a spiral, three-quarters of a mile
fan's odyssey. long, that allows trains to travel over the pass from
the San Joaquin Valley to the Mojave Desert.
Our train was headed for the Central Valley
Trains over 4,000 feet long end up passing over
after leaving Oakland. There would be no more
itself as the train mounts and comes down the gra-
stops (for passengers, that is) all the way to Los
dient. Famous among railfans, the Loop is a Na-
Angeles, about 12 hours. But word somehow had
passed quickly to the railfan cognoscenti that our tional Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and a
state historical landmark.
streamliner would be taking this unusual route as
we saw scores of photographers positioned along We shared the view with table-mates, a
the tracks as we went by. young couple from Alaska who told us about the
Alaska Railroad, and the annual $3,000 or so just
But going nonstop didn't mean we were
about every adult Alaskan receives from the
speeding along the rails as we found ourselves
waiting on sidings and waiting for some fancy state's oil-enriched Permanent Fund, an idea that
switching in tiny Lathrop, Calif. has recently gained some national political cur-
rency.
"We aren't in Silicon Valley anymore," I said
As sundown arrived, no one aboard could say
to Sharon a bit later as I looked out the window
mid-afternoon to the adjacent freeway and the exactly when we would arrive in Los Angeles, since
this route was new ground for most of the crew.
traffic sign "Merle Haggard Blvd. next right."
Now the issue had changed: Would we be there in
But with all the disruption how could I -- a time to make our connection to San Diego?
true rail fan -- be mad at Amtrak?
By taking this route, we had been assured a
"This isn't looking good," I said to Sharon as we
seat at California's most exclusive restaurant
stopped yet again to make way for a freight train.

216 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020