EUGENE, Ore. — An Amtrak Coast Starlight train arrived in Eugene, Ore., Tuesday morning after it was stranded near Oakridge for more than 36 hours.
The train left Seattle for Los Angeles on Sunday morning. It struck a tree on the tracks near Oakridge around 6 p.m., an Amtrak spokeswoman said. None of the 183 passengers and crew members was hurt.
The train sustained some damage and weather conditions continued to get worse. Amtrak said it kept passengers on the train because electricity was out in Oakridge, which only has two small hotels, and roads were blocked by more than a foot of snow and debris.
Oakridge is about 40 miles southeast of Eugene.
Passengers had food, heat and toilets on the train.
Union Pacific crews worked overnight Monday to clear the tracks, which allowed a Union Pacific locomotive to reach the train and start towing it back to Eugene early Tuesday morning.
The train left Eugene and headed north. It made a brief stop in Portland on Tuesday afternoon and then headed to Seattle.
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Passengers said the experience stuck on the train was difficult, but it could have been a lot worse.
"It was not a bad experience. I had fun. That's sad to say, but I met a lot of good people, and saw some new perspectives. It was an interesting experience," Rebekah Dodson said.
"We were fed. We were warm. We had water. We had bathrooms," Emilie Wyrick said. "I had all these amazing people to hang out with. It could have been so much worse."
Wyrick said the toughest part of the ordeal was not knowing what was going on.
"They did a decent job of taking care of us, but understandably they didn't make any promises about time frames or anything," she said.
Wyrick said passengers came together to help each other.
"Someone played the ukulele for kids last night to help them get to sleep, and everyone was sharing whatever they had to help people get through, you know, making diapers out of napkins and safety pins," Wyrick said.
The Red Cross arrived at the Eugene train station to feed passengers.
Customers will be given “refunds and other compensation as appropriate,” according to Amtrak CEO Scot Naparstek.