Back in The Day... when Amtrak still accepted private cars, I was part of a group of SoCal Model Railroaders & Foamers who paid ( maybe ??? ) $50 Dollars apiece to ride The Native Sun from Los Angeles to Oakland. This was a bare bones deadhead move to position the car for a Reno trip. Though the train was otherwise a SuperLiner consist, the rear brakeman rode in the Sun, enjoying the scenery and ( rumor had it ) an Adult Beverage or two. At this time Espee still had the old hotbox detectors that required a visual " Highball " from the caboose ( or PV - such as the case may be.)
Upon arrival at Oakland 16th Street Station, the PV was cut off and spotted beside 16th Street Interlocking. The tower operator was kind enough to let us use the lavatory in the ground floor of the tower. The next day we were all on our own for a return to SoCal; Andy & I rode the San Joaquin & Bus back to LAUPT; to this day the only time I've ridden through the valley by train.