Planes, Trains, And Buses

Background: Originally published June 28, 2006.

PLANES
     The first B17 that landed at the Roseburg airport was during the summer of 1992. I was happy to see a "flying fortress" touch down in Roseburg. But I was sad that it was too late for my father to see, who had passed away six months earlier. At least my dad, who had been a B17 tail gunner in World War II, had the chance to see a B17 several years earlier at Eugene's Mahlon Sweet Airport.
     Since 1992, B17s from the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force ("Sentimental Journey") and from the Collings Foundation ("Nine-o-Nine") have flown into Roseburg several different years. Earlier this month, Nine-o-Nine and "Witchcraft," its sister B-24 "liberator" from the Collings Foudation, arrived in Medford for a two-day visit.
     A Collings official told me it costs $4,000 per hour, per plane, to keep Nine-o-Nine and Witchcraft in the air. While both planes are impeccably cared for with spare parts to keep them running another 15 years, officials don't know how much longer they'll have enough money to keep their living history museums in the air.
     The decision on which airports to visit is often based on public demand and support for the historical planes. People interested in learning more about the aircraft, or soliciting the organizations to return to southern Oregon, can contact the groups below:

B17 Sentimental Journey
Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force
2017 North Greenfield Road
Mesa, Arizona 85215      (480) 924-1940

B17 Nine-o-Nine and B24 Witchcraft
The Collings Foundation
P.O. Box 248
Stow, Massachusetts 01775    (978) 562-9182

TRAINS AND BUSES
     The same day the vintage WWII aircraft were in Medford, an Amtrak motor coach rolled into town. Officials from the Medford Chamber of Commerce, Rogue Valley Transit District, and the California Department of Transportation held a ribbon-cutting to celebrate their new bus-to-rail service. Much to my chagrin, I discovered afterwards the "new" service had actually been up and running during the previous two months!
     The new Amtrak motor coach is plush, at a cost of more than $400,000 per bus. The bus departs the downtown Medford RVTD terminal at 8:10a.m. After stops in Ashland, Yreka, Weed, and Dunsmuir, the bus pulls into the Sacramento Amtrak depot at 3:55p.m.
     Initially, I was somewhat puzzled as to why someone would ride a bus for nearly eight hours in order to catch a train, especially when the Amtrak depot at Dunsmuir is much closer than Sacramento. My memory recalled Amtrak's Coast Starlight runs from Seattle to Los Angeles, making stops in Eugene, Klamath Falls, and Dunsmuir.
     The Cal-Trans official explained to me the Coast Starlight passes through Dunsmuir in the middle of the night, making it unattractive for people to make bus connections. But the bus service leaves Medford early in the day, connecting with Sacramento's "San Joaquin" train with its great departure time of 4:25p.m.
     So I asked what destination does the San Joaquin train serve out of Sacramento? Answer: The inland valley down through Fresno ending at Bakersfield.
     So people will ride a bush nearly eight hours from Medford, simply to board a train that dead-ends in Bakersfield? What about people who want to travel all the way to Los Angeles? Answer: They can get of the train at Bakersfield and board ANOTHER Amtrak motor coach bush over the "grave vine" pass down into Los Angeles.
     At this point, I had to ask the Amtrak official who was present, why didn't people simply board the Coast Starlight at Sacramento and ride it all the way along the coast via Oakland, Santa Monica, and into Los Angeles? Answer: To go from Sacramento to Los Angeles, the Amtrak motor coach bus option from Bakersfield was quicker than riding the Coast Starlight from Sacramento to Los Angeles.
     I now have a greater appreciation as to why there is no passenger train service through Roseburg, Grants Pass, and Medford. Interestingly, the Cal-Trans official told me 70 percent of their train passengers in the San Joaquin valley utilize the Amtrak motor coach service, which connects to 200 communities around California (and now two communities in Oregon: Medford and Ashland). Time will tell if southern Oregon residents respond the same way as their California neighbors, and utilize the new Medford to Sacramento motor coach.
     For those who don't, the Coast Starlight can still be boarded at Eugene, Klamath Falls, or Dunsmuir....as long as one doesn't mind boarding it in the middle of the night. But I don't see why people should mind that? I still have vivid memories of my parents waking me at 3:00 in the morning in Oakland, so that we could meet family members at the Portland airport arriving on an early morning flight.