Snowbound passengers pull together after train stranded
An Amtrak train with almost 200 people aboard hit downed trees during a blizzard and became stranded in the Oregon mountains for a day and a half, but passengers and crew banded together during the ordeal, which ended yesterday.
‘‘It was really nice to meet people pulling together,’’ passenger Tracy Rhodes, of Scottsdale, Arizona said after the train, which had been travelling from Seattle to Los Angeles, rolled back into the university town of Eugene, Oregon. Passengers spilled out, some waving their arms high in jubilation.
During the 36 hours that the train was stuck, younger passengers helped older ones contact their families to let them know they were all right, said Rhodes, who was travelling with her brother to visit their mother in Oregon. A ‘‘mom brigade’’ was formed to take care of and entertain the children, she said.
‘‘People were being very kind to each other, being friends. It restores your faith.’’
The trouble began on Monday, when the double-decker Coast Starlight train struck a tree that had fallen on to the tracks, Amtrak said, damaging a hose assembly providing air pressure for the brakes. The train was repaired enough to move forward a short distance to Oakridge, Oregon, a town 366 metres high in the Cascade Range that was dealing with its own problems – a blackout, and snow- and debris-covered roads.
Railway officials decided to keep the passengers on board instead of letting them into the town of 3200 people. As the hours ticked by, some passengers grew impatient.
The train, with 183 passengers, still had electricity, heat and food. Some people took the long unscheduled stop with a sense of humour. ‘‘The food hoarding has begun. I’m considering saving half my dinner steak and making jerky on the room heater,’’ Rhodes tweeted.
To pass the time, Rhodes and her brother browsed the internet and played games with cards they bought in the train’s cafe. Others sent images and video of passengers gazing out the windows at the snowy landscape or napping to social media.
The crew of 13 dealt with the situation as best they could. With nappies running short, a worker in the cafe improvised with napkins and safety pins, Rhodes said.
‘‘People were great. The train crew was amazing,’’ said Marsha Trujillo, from Martinez, California. ‘‘They were so professional and so kind. We really wanted for nothing except for maybe some place comfortable to lie down, and a shower.’’ –AP