Beyer's Byways: All aboard the Tioga Pass, your private railway car
If anyone remembers “The Wild Wild West” TV series, one of the iconic images is of the private railway car where James West and Artemus Gordon spent much of their time — what with its rich and dark leather furniture, paneled walls and elegance that made viewers want one for themselves.
“I want one,” I recall saying to my mother when I was a young lad.
“You don’t make your bed in the morning. No private railcar for you!” my mother responded (don’t ever question her soup either).
Well, I’m all grown-up now, though Laureen would argue that point, and I still do not have my own private railway car.
Then, along came an email that fulfilled my dreams — at least for an evening.
I was contacted by Norm Orfall, who wrote, “I have always enjoyed your weekly articles in the Daily Press and I own a private railroad car called the Tioga Pass. I would be happy to have you as my guest for a short ride up the Cajon Pass.”
Don’t need to ask me twice. I called Laureen and had to do some mighty arm-twisting to get her to agree to accompany me on the train ride.
“What will I wear?” she asked.
“A conductor’s hat.”
As it turned out, Norm was leading a tour of folks from Los Angeles to Chicago aboard his private car. Laureen and I would join the group from Union Station to Victorville — a 2 ½-hour jaunt that would include a yummy dinner and, no doubt, fascinating conversation.
Quickly, a dilemma emerged: How do we drive to Los Angeles, drop off our car and then return to get it?
Norm, a very smart guy, told me to take the Metrolink from Rancho Cucamonga to Union Station and leave our car at the railroad station in Victorville so we could drive home from there.
“Sounds great,” I replied. “I didn’t even know we had a railroad station.”
He politely hung up on me. These railroad guys can get touchy when you don’t know where all the train stations are.
Amtrak apparently stops a couple times a day to pick up or let off passengers near the intersection of Sixth and D streets. Who knew? Obviously, Norm did, and his plan seemed flawless. Except that I’d never ridden on a Metrolink.
“It can’t be that hard to figure out,” Laureen said.
“You’ve traveled with me before, correct?”
“I see your point,” Laureen responded after her customary eye roll.
It was rather easy. We had our son-in-law, Brandon, drop us off at the Metrolink station in Rancho Cucamonga. We then bought our tickets from the kiosk, and we were on our way.
It only cost eight bucks to go all the way to Los Angeles. Eight dollars! A person can’t even leave Starbucks for less than that.
“I wonder how far 15 bucks would take us?” I asked Laureen. She didn’t respond.
Of course, never having been to Union Station in Los Angeles before, I was totally lost.
“I’m lost,” I confessed to Laureen.
“Ask someone for directions,” she said. I didn’t respond.
Finally, a nice lady from Amtrak came up and asked if we were lost or needed help. I shook my head, but Laureen mentioned that we were guests on the private railway car, Tioga Pass.
“Oh, you don’t have to stand out here with these plebeians,” she said. “There is a VIP room for First Class passengers, and since you are riding on the Tioga Pass, you are even above the First Class.”
Perhaps I did not paraphrase that correctly, but it sounded good.
The lounge had comfy, cushioned seats, drinks and snacks. I wondered what the rest of the train-riding folks were doing outside our locked VIP glass doors.
Probably staring in.
Shelia, the head Amtrak honcho in the lounge, assured us that a “Red Cap” would come and take us to our car when the time was right.
I did not ask what a “Red Cap” was. I just hoped the person would have a red cap on so I could recognize them.
At 5:30, a man approached us and said he would take us to our car on a golf cart. He wasn’t wearing a red cap, but I believed him anyway.
We met Norm on the exterior platform of his private car. The tall, friendly man greeted us warmly.
“Please, come inside and make yourselves comfortable.”
How could we not be comfortable in this fully refurbished 1959 railway car? It was stunning, from the plush carpet to the richly stained wood walls.
The railcar was built by the Canadian National Shops in Point St. Charles in Quebec and was one of 12 ordered by the Canadian National Railroad. Originally the car had the No. 12 painted on its exterior, but that was later changed to No. 93.
I have no idea why.
It spent most of its Canadian life in Edmonton, Alberta taking various vice presidents of the railroad here and there.
“It would be like today’s CEOs traveling on their private jets,” said Brad, Norm’s son, who happened to be traveling with his father on the first leg of the Chicago trip.
The 85-foot car has a rather large lounge, a full dining room with a bar, a full kitchen and can sleep a lot of guests in private bedrooms. Huge glass windows were all around for awesome views as the train rolled through the countryside.
How safe can a railway car from 1959 be as an Amtrak train tows it at speeds nearing 80 mph?
It seems when Norm got possession of the car in 1997 from the family of the late local Barstow businessman Rutherford P. Hayes, the car underwent an extensive restoration. Not only were broken windows replaced and other cosmetic issues remedied, but all of its mechanical and electrical systems were redone to meet Amtrak’s stringent requirements.
According to www.larail.com, the Tioga Pass railcar, after going through the restoration process, which took Norm and his family over seven years to complete, is considered as good as new.
“We spent over $70,000 to restore this car,” Norm said. “But it was worth it.”
Indeed. Laureen and I sat in a couple of chairs as the train moved through Los Angeles and wound its way toward the High Desert.
Brad went into detail on the restoration process and lost me on some of the more technical details. I’m not a mechanic and never played one on TV, and I have a hard time figuring out a flat head screwdriver from the other one.
Like Norm, Brad is one smart dude. He’s a professional legal translator and speaks maybe 30 languages.
Mechanicese is not one I speak, unfortunately.
“What I want to know, actually what everyone wants to know, is where have all the cabooses gone?” I asked. “I liked waving at the guys in them as they went by.”
Norm nodded. Laureen nodded. Brad explained, “Too expensive to keep them with the technology there is now. Instead, they just installed FRED on the back of the trains, and no longer a need for a caboose.”
FRED is an acronym for flashing rear-end device (oh, the jokes I could write about that). It’s also referred to as the end of the train device, which senses if there is anything negative going on back there like brake and lighting issues, or if too many hobos are jumping on at one time.
“So, they got rid of cabooses and replaced them with FRED?” I asked.
“Yes, it was a cost-effective measure. The railroads used it,” Norm said.
Both Laureen and I could only shake our heads slowly, in sadness. Cost-effective or not, cabooses were cool.
As we were about to venture into another topic, the chef appeared and announced dinner would be served in the dining salon.
A meal of delicious salad, cioppino (a thick seafood stew), asparagus and potatoes awaited us in the dining car. It was finished off with a decadent dessert.
“Doesn’t everyone eat like this at home?” Norm asked.
“We do when I cook,” I said.
Soon though, our adventure aboard the Tioga Pass was ending. We crossed into Summit Valley and rounded toward home.
The Amtrak slowed to a stop. We found ourselves at the Victorville station sadly saying our goodbyes to our extremely gracious hosts, and they were off toward Chicago.
The Tioga Pass is used year-round for short and long trips. Norm sets up schedules and destinations, or people can provide their own desired trips. If they work out with Amtrak, with whom Norm contracts, then a fun-filled and exciting adventure awaits the train travelers.
Laureen and I will be looking up the destinations the Tioga Pass is moving onto soon.
Visit www.ridemytrain.com for more information.
Contact John R. Beyer at BeyersByways@gmail.com.