Something sort of similar to this happened to me a year or two ago on my daily Davis - Sacramento commute. On the return, I boarded the rear car of an after-hours Capitol Corridor train and went into the bathroom. I went to my seat for 12 minutes, went downstairs and waited for the doors to open at Davis so I could get off, and waited, and waited . . . this was not uncommon, as the doors are not reliable on these cars and frequently one doesn't open and occasionally both. I went to the other end of the lower level and found these door wouldn't open either. I ran upstairs so I could use the doors in the next car, but found the car door to the next car was also locked. I tried to get someone's attention in the next car. A few people looked up, bewildered at the man waving his arms in the next car, but it was too late and the train began moving west.

I realized now my car was empty and had been taken out of service. I kept trying to signal people in the next car, but the few who saw me probably couldn't make sense of what I was trying to convey. One person finally got it and went forward and got a crew member. He unlocked the door and let me into the next car.

I felt sorry for the guy. He felt terrible and couldn't stop apologizing. He said he only opened the doors for a moment and immediately closed the doors on the rear car, searched the car, and then locked it. Apparently in that moment I'd jumped aboard and into the bathroom, which he didn't think to check as he didn't think anyone had boarded. I came out and just thought my car was empty, not locked.

He let me off the train at Suisun, and 'wrote me a note' to the conductor of the returning train so I could get back to Davis without paying for a ticket. My 13 minute commute turned into a nearly two hour commute that evening.