Keeping The Magic Of Train Travel Alive

Apr. 13 - KGO (KGO) -- The golden age of train travel may be gone, but don't tell that to a group of volunteers in the East Bay. As hosts at a local Amtrak station, they give their time and passion to help make the experience of rail passengers a pleasant one.

On this busy Friday morning at Amtrak's Emeryville station, staff is scrambling to deal with the aftermath of a fire that destroyed part of the rails in Sacramento the night before.

So volunteer station hosts like Greig Pirie and Ed Oakes have their hands full helping passengers navigate the delays and detours.

There are about 40 station hosts spread out among Amtrak stations from Sacramento to Fresno.

Not all days are as dramatic as this one, but they relish helping passengers, and sharing their own love of the rails every day.

The station host volunteer organization was founded six years ago by Doras Briggs.

Doras Briggs, station host association: "I thought you know we really ought to have people in the stations that can answer questions when the staff are too busy like today, the staff were really under pressure."

Briggs loves everything about trains and train travel. She was hooked from her first ride as a young child.

Doras Briggs: "Waterloo from Cedar Falls."

ABC7's Heather Ishimaru: "Iowa?"

Doras: "Iowa."

Heather Ishimaru: "Do you remember the year?"

Doras Briggs: "I was five years old, that's close enough."

From her condo directly above the Emeryville station, she keeps a close eye on the trains

Heather Ishimaru: "You now live in a condo right over the tracks, right?"

Doras Briggs: "That's right."

heather ishimaru: "Why is that? Why did you choose that location?"

Doras Briggs: "Oh because it's so handy. Takes me all of two or three minutes to get down to the station you know."

Pirie is the association president. He loves helping people and, yes, sharing his love of the whole train experience.

Greig Pirie, Station Host Association: "Like on Saturdays when I'm there so many people are there and they've never ridden a train before, it's their first ride."

Amtrak couldn't pay for better ambassadors or advocates. Briggs thinks Amtrak gets a bad rap from people who don't appreciate trains. Her favorite part of the experience - the people she meets.

Doras Briggs: "If they want to know what this country looks like they've got to get on a train. you can't tell from way up there - what do you see? Sure, you see the mountains and such but you don't get a feeling, and most of all you don't meet wonderful people like you do on the train."

And so we salute Doras Briggs, Greg Pirie, and the volunteer station greeters, for their service in promoting rail travel.

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•