CafePress

For anyone interested, I've opened a store at CafePress with the current Siskiyou Breeze graphic.  I've put zero markup on all items because right now I think it's more important to raise awareness than raise funds.  (I may put a $1 markup on it at some later time if funding starts to become an issue.

Getting restarted

After some delays, I'm ready to resume action (however slow that may be at this point).

Mostly I'm inspired by the following item from this weekend's NARP Hotline:

An upbeat, well-attended public forum was held in Rockford, IL on Monday regarding passenger rail expansion in Northwest Illinois. Buoyed by increased state funding for downstate passenger rail service, residents of the northwest corner of the state are clamoring for a reinstatement of Amtrak’s Black Hawk, which last ran in 1982. Amtrak Vice President of Government Affairs Joe McHugh told the attendees, “If you guys want the service, it’s not, ‘Should we do it?’ It is, ‘What are the next steps we need to do to get it done?’” There are several proposals for rail service, including an extension of existing Metra service and resurrection of the Black Hawk all the way to Dubuque, IA.

If Rockford can get this kind of response, why not Corvallis or Roseburg? I think we should see if we can drum something up over the next few months.

Do keep in mind that I still believe that there are other priorities for Oregon's Amtrak service that should come ahead of the Siskiyou Breeze: increased routes for the Cascades, getting the northbound Coast Starlight to run on time, and reinstating the Pioneer. But that doesn't mean we should neglect this project; on the contrary, by increasing attention to the idea now we can be ready to show Congress, Amtrak, the Oregon Legislature, and anyone else who can make a difference that there is enough interest in the route to make it worthwhile.

Southwestern Oregon Interest

The page linked to above (click on the title) shows a trip made on Friday and Saturday, June 18-19, 1999, from Eugene to Ashland, Oregon, using the Mt. Olympus train set along the CORP rail line. I'll let the photos and their captions (both from Larry Tuttle and friends) speak for themselves, for the most part.

Even if you're not much into trains, the photography is wonderful. I particularly love this photo of the train along the Rogue River.

I do find it interesting to note that there are usable station buildings already in place in both Roseburg and Medford, and apparently in Ashland as well. I'm not really clear on whether there's a station in Grants pass, but I'm fairly sure there at least has been one in the past. (Perhaps if I get a reader from Grants Pass he or she can clarify the question.)

As I noted in my previous post, much of the travel along this segment of the route would be relatively slow. With scenery like this, the trip should still be worth it (especially since it also means you're not the one driving)!

Time and Distance: The Proposed Schedule

A comment to my introductory post made me realize that I probably should put up a few more details on how the Siskiyou Breeze will run (prospectively speaking). As it happens, about a year ago, when I first got the idea, I did a bit of research to find out the distance and approximate speeds of the tracks along these routes.

Keep in mind that my information may be outdated or even outright wrong. I'll adjust this post, or re-post from scratch, as new information comes in. Also keep in mind that these are initial times only; as track is upgraded, the times will naturally improve.

Note that, except for Tualatin, the arrival time takes into account about 5 minutes of loading and unloading at the preceding station. The travel times don't take this into account, but do take into account segments where the train might have to travel more slowly than I say.

Portland: Our starting point. Let's start at, say, 6:00 AM (the actual start will probably be a bit later, but that's a good start to make the math easy).

Tualatin: I estimate 18 miles from Portland Union Station to the juncture with the Washington County Commuter Rail, the first half of which will be shared with the Amtrak Cascades. While the top speed through here will probably be 70mph, much of the track runs through busy areas and may be slowed down a bit, so I figure 25 minutes isn't unreasonable. Time of arrival: 6:25 am.

McMinnville: I figure about another 19 miles (total of 47). The track winds a little and has a few sharp curves (including two just north of Newberg, and a bit of winding at the north end of McMinnville), but mostly just goes through Sherwood, Newberg, and Dundee, so full speed (70 mph) is likely possible over much of it. Taking both factors into account, this could be done in about 30 minutes, our time of arrival is 7:00 am.

Corvallis: The run here is all farmland, except for brief runs through Amity and Independence, and the track is almost completely straight, so a good 70 mph should be easy to obtain for most of it. I figure about 44 miles (total of 91), which should take about 50 minutes, so time of arrival becomes 7:55 am.

Eugene: Because track will have to be built between Corvallis and Eugene for this to be easily served, it's hard to tell how much track there will be. My favored idea (of the four that have occurred to me; I'll discuss them separately some other time) is to run the track from Monroe through the village of Cheshire and past the Eugene Airport, for a possible terminal there; this, I estimate, would be 41 miles, nearly all of which would be dead-straight and run at 70 mph. I figure it could be done in 45 minutes, so arrival in Eugene is 8:45 am. Total distance so far (if my numbers are correct) is 132 miles, and we've traveled two hours and 45 minutes; compare that to 124 miles and 2:35 currently scheduled for the Amtrak Cascades.

Since Eugene is a relatively major station (with possible Amtrak Cascades and Coast Starlight connections for Siskiyou Breeze riders), the wait at Eugene will be longer than usual; let's have it stay a half-hour, and leave at 9:15 am. (Note: I get the mileage from here to Dunsmuir from an old schedule someone -- I don't remember who -- scanned and sent me from a train that used to run this route about a century ago.)

Roseburg: I figure about 65 miles from Eugene to here. It winds a little, but I don't think the track is rated for anything above 40 mph, so I think I'd figure on about two hours from the 9:15 Eugene departure -- in other words, 11:15 AM.

Grants Pass: This segment of the track winds more than any other, except possibly the segment just south of Ashland. Most of it winds alongside mountain streams, which gives really incredible scenery but slows the train down considerably. Between this and the last report I have on the track condition, though, I doubt the speed could exceed 30 miles per hour anywhere along here except near the two main cities. The mileage I have figured for this is 58 miles, and I'd expect about two hours fifteen minutes to run it, so figure on arriving at 1:30 PM.

Medford: The 28 miles of track from Grants Pass to here isn't bad at all in terms of winding, with a few kinks along the way (mainly just east of Gold Hill) but nothing like the preceding segment. Still, from what I understand the track isn't rated for very high speeds, so I think I'll assume an average speed of 50 mph. I think I'd figure on 40 minutes of travel time, putting the train here at 2:10 pm.

Dunsmuir: The track here runs through the city of Ashland, the main part of the Siskiyou Mountains, and California farmland, for a total of 87 miles. The Ashland and farmland track is straight to moderate, but the Siskiyou Mountain tracks have several sharp turns and even a serious hairpin just a few miles past Ashland so the going along there would be relatively slow -- probably 30-40 miles per hour. I think we can figure on two and a half hours along this segment, putting this in at 4:45 PM. (Compare to 12:35 AM for the Coast Starlight).

Redding: The current schedule for the Coast Starlight puts mileage from Dunsmuir to Redding at 57 miles, and allows an hour and 45 minutes for travel. I see no reason to argue, so arrival here would be 6:30 PM (compare to 2:21 AM for the Coast Starlight).

Chico: Same story as Redding, but with different numbers. Published distance is 75 miles; published time is an hour and a half; from the above time, the train would arrive at 8:00 PM (Cf. 3:50 AM).

Sacramento: Ditto. Published distance is 84 miles; published time is two hours and 45 minutes. Arrival time is 10:45 PM (Cf. the Coast Starlight's 6:35 AM).

Overall this is a decent beginning schedule for the run. Once the route is established some of the track can be upgraded to improve the timing, and perhaps a second run could be added just between Eugene and Sacramento (to better facilitate connections in the latter city), but I think this should be fine for starters.

The start of an idea....

The idea started when I learned that the city in which I live, Corvallis, is the largest city in Oregon (outside the Portland Metropolitan area) with no passenger train service of its own.

I also became frustrated when I tried to book a train or bus to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. I couldn't, as Amtrak doesn't go at all and Greyhound doesn't have good connections from Corvallis. I didn't want to drive the mountains again like the only other time I went, so I didn't go.

To make a long story short, the overall idea for what I'm calling the Siskiyou Breeze is a daily corridor service between Portland and Sacramento, using Talgo trains to make the entire trip without the need for overnight cars. This would require only two full train sets (not counting backup equipment and other similar necessities), one leaving Portland early in the morning (say, 6:30) and arrive in Sacramento late at night (about 11:30), while the other does the reverse in the same time frame.

The stops, at least at first, would be as follows:

Portland: Any good train route needs a large city as an anchor at each end; Portland would be the north end. The initial train would be leaving too early in the morning and arriving too late in the evening to make any connections with other trains (other than Max, the local light rail system), but at least it gets you there -- and a second run of the train (see below) could be arranged to make the connection.
Tualatin: This city is on the list mostly because the track intersects here with the track for the upcoming Washington County Commuter Rail, which will run from Beaverton to Wilsonville (and possibly to Salem). I'm not sure how practical a station located at that crossing would be, but if it can be done it can make for some really nice connections, especially on the morning runs.
McMinnville: If selected, McMinnville would be the smallest city between Portland and Eugene with a train station. It would also serve the general rural area nearby, including Newberg.
Corvallis: As I said, this is currently the largest city outside the Portland Metropolitan Area without a train station.
Eugene-Springfield: This is the only station between Portland and Sacramento in common with the Coast Starlight, and is here for several reasons. The most compelling is that this is where the tracks intersect. More usefully, this location could be used for connections between the Siskiyou Breeze and the Coast Starlight/Amtrak Cascades.
Roseburg: The largest city south of Eugene, Roseburg is a natural stop.
Grants Pass: Interestingly, the run between Roseburg and Grants Pass is the part of this entire run where the most ridership interest has been seen. It's interesting because it's also where the track curves the most, meaning the train would be relatively slow.
Medford-Ashland: Medford is another city in this area where strong interest has been shown in a rail station. There also is a regular local bus route between here and Ashland, the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. (If the OSF traffic becomes too much for the local buses, Ashland is also right on the tracks and could have its own station.)
Dunsmuir: This station is also on the Coast Starlight route, but only at rather obscene hours. The Siskiyou Breeze would be going through Dunsmuir at very sane hours.
Redding: See above, though slightly less so.
Chico: Ditto.
Sacramento: This would be the southern anchor city for the route. As in Portland, it would have to leave too early in the morning and arrive too late in the evening to make connections with other routes, though in this case all that would be needed to fix that would be a speeding up of the tracks along the route -- or, possibly, a reinstatement of the old Spirit of California overnight route to Los Angeles.

Eventually a second run could be added to the north half, running from Eugene to Portland in the morning and back in the evening, to allow for connections to the Empire Builder, Pioneer (if advocates are successful in bringing that route back), and Washington State stops of the Amtrak Cascades.

The biggest barrier in the route, in my opinion (other than getting the responsible governmental bodies to go along with it at all), is the route between Corvallis and Eugene. I'll cover that in a separate post.