 Dunsmuir, CA | Coast Starlight | Chemult, OR  |
Klamath Falls is an Amtrak station in southern Oregon for the Coast Starlight and the one crew change stop between Sacramento and Portland. Those crews are based in those respective cities so a van from a nearby hotel, the Oxford Suites, (which says Airport pick-up, not Amtrak pick-up) meets every departure, which is also the only fresh air/smoke stop of any decent length between Sacramento and Portland. Eugene is a very brief stop and Amtrak is known for leaving passengers behind there. The station has received continuous Amtrak service since it's creation in 1971 and it seems to have always been a crew change point.
The depot is a small stone single story building built by the Southern Pacific in 1916 on the edge of this town of 20,000 people at 4,099 feet. The architecture is perfectly fitting for a nice snowy winter day when I stepped off the Coast Starlight here. Inside the depot is a small waiting area with wooden benches for a ticket office with baggage service. Hours are split since the northbound train passes through in the morning, and the southbound in the afternoon: 7:30 to 11:00am and 8:30 to 10:00pm. This leads out to two tracks that can platform on the edge of the city's rail yard, these are just strips of concrete (the yellow stools are defiantly needed here), one on the closest track to the depot (fresh snow covering the track) and the other on the next track (where my train came in) connected to the depot with numerous concrete grade crossings. North of the depot, in the surrounding parking lot alongside the train tracks is the now ubiquitous wheelchair lift enclosure. There are also modern signs along the platform but a few old pointless arrow ones are still on the walls of the depot. An modern interesting feature is the modern square post-sign rising from the ground next to the depot which says Klamath Falls and Amtrak's contact information. At the southern end of the platform is a small non-descript yellow buliding used by the Union Pacific Railroad. The station is along the side of a freight yard towards its northern end.
Photos 1-24 taken on 29 February, 2012, 25-59 on 27 June, 2013
