Day Twenty-six: We set an alarm so we would be early for the train today. (We did not want a repeat of Chicago's mess.)  We drove Joy to work at the downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library, just across the street from the car rental office. They drove us to the station where the redcaps took our checked bags. We waited inside until the conductor came to give out boarding passes. I went outside the station and checked out the extra tracks on which were parked some of the cars we had seen near Glacier Park a few days ago. The smell of bacon cooking was almost too much to take. What fun it must be to be on a private car. Soon it was boarding time: we checked into our sleeper, bedroom C in the car "Kansas", the first sleeper in front of the Pacific Parlor car. The consist was two engines, one baggage car, a transition sleeper*, three regular sleepers, the Pacific Parlor Car, a diner, a lounge, three coaches and then three private cars on the end of our train. After settling in, we adjourned to the parlor car for a continental breakfast of fruit, Danish, cold cereal and coffee (the diner would not be open until lunchtime).

The trip into Portland was uneventful: we were running on time, the radio was on and "no defects" was the standard call. In Portland a switcher pulled in behind us: the crew watered the train and did the regular service stop routine. I did not see them pull the last private car off the train, but when we crossed the Columbia River Bridge it was not on the rear end -- we now had only two private varnish cars. We had been delayed by freight traffic on the other side of the bridge and were now about twenty minutes or so late. I love to watch the industrial areas of the towns as we passed and Portland was no exception: we passed Brooklyn Yard and some short line engines on various sidings along the way. As the countryside turned rural, Mary napped with her feet on my lap. I was sort of sleepy myself, the hypnotic rhythm of the rails and wheels lulling me. I did notice some wisps of smoke outside the window of our car and figured the train must be passing a fire along side of the tracks.  The smoke got heavier and finally I could not see out the window. During this time I heard someone on the radio say "Highball the roll by" (which means "go ahead"). Then the radio was silent and the air conditioning stopped. The lights had gone out too, but since it was the middle of the day I did not notice that fact. I quickly moved Mary's feet and unplugged the radio. The conductor was telling the engineer to stop the train as the power had failed somewhere onboard. It seems the connector cable between the transition sleeper and the first regular sleeper had blown out. The HEP** was down all over the train.

We stopped and the conductor told us over the PA that we had to check the train for safety reasons. After a quick check,the conductor decided to take the train to its next stop: Albany, OR. In Albany we were allowed to leave the train, and I checked out the trouble. The cable was separated from the plug at the end.  They tried to fix the problem, but finally decided to switch out the transition sleeper and put it at the back of the train. We moved to the end of the Albany yard and proceeded to do this relatively easy task. After two hours, it was finally done and we had clearance to leave the yard and go on to Salem. This task was complicated by the fact that the first sleeping car's electrical plug was also damaged. They had hoped to just remove the Transition car, but in fact had to move the first sleeper as well. The private cars on the rear had to be dropped and the sleepers put back on the train and then the private cars were re-attached. Our power problem did not seem to affect them, as they had generators independent of the HEP from our train. The Transition car had no electricity, but I believe that the sleeper car was finally OK.  We were now about three hours late. This changed the visible scenery along the route as well as postponing dinner service. Our five-thirty reservations now became seven PM ones. They did move people through the diner quickly, but the way they handled it you really did not seem rushed. We were given our dessert in the parlor car. One of the dining car waiters was ill at dinner time so the parlor car attendant substituted for her. This was done so smoothly that the disruption was hardly noticeable. What a difference from the Empire Builder crew. We raced on into the night and I awoke once or twice, but not enough to get up and look out the windows.

* The transition sleeeper is an old Santa Fe car which has been outfitted as the crew's quarters. it is called a transition car because the door on the head end is lower than the door at the rear. This allows the crew members access to the baggage car usually just in front of this sleeper.

** HEP or Head End Power. 480 volts AC that runs the lights and air conditioning through out the train is supplied by the locomotive on the front of the train and is sent car to car via a large cable.