Hi-ball through the hills: Stop #1 - Portland, OR

Didn't find much open Wi-Fi on this route - west coasters are more concentrated so they secure their routers. Posting after the fact.


March 15, 2007 12:30pm


"Hi-ball" is the go-ahead that the conductor gives the engineer to get the train moving. Think it has something to do with the old semaphore style signals that were changed out when Edison invented the light bulb. Not sure, read a lot of railroad stuff lately.

Train #11, the Coast Starlight, has an additional bi-level lounge car for first-class passengers: The Pacific Parlour. These lounges were built in the early 50's and were inherited by Amtrak when they took over in 1971. They are well kept and are quite fancy by Amtrak standards. We were greeted with a rolls, coffee and juice when I boarded in Seattle.

We arrived in Portland roughly on time.