I recently noticed a strange passenger train in the Wine Train yard. It was a long passenger train with a dome car, sleeping car and passenger car. What is this? What’s it doing there? Who came into the valley that we don’t know about?

Erica Ercolano, director of marketing and business development for the Wine Train, knew the answer to this mystery. She told me the train is owned by GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, which leases the rights to come onto the local rail lines. The company offers seven-day trips from Denver and Salt Lake City to the Napa Valley and Bay Area. The cost of such trips start at $4,290, according to the rail company, and passengers sleep on the train and take day trips at locations along the way.

“It’s like a cruise ship on rails,” Ercolano said. The train departs and then docks for the night in various locations. This is what it was doing earlier this week at the Wine Train maintenance yard. From the docking point, the 150 passengers select among a few wine country events, such as touring wineries by bus or boarding the Wine Train for a classy, rolling luncheon.

The company, which changed names a couple of years ago, has been coming to this area by bus for eight years, but has just recently started riding the rail in and staying overnight in the Napa Valley. Previously it stayed in Oakland.

The 21-car train stays one night in the Napa Valley in each of the eight trips along this line this year. The train is set to come back again on Oct. 18 and 23.

Who is responsible for the utility poles along residential streets at the front of yards? The one at the curb between my yard and my neighbor’s yard is in extremely bad shape. After trimming away ivy about a year ago I saw that not only are there severe vertical cracks, but well over half of the inside of the pole has rotted completely away in about a two foot section of the pole a few feet off the ground.

I have talked to PG&E several times and they said it would be checked (more than one inspection happened after that with some kind of marking placed on the pole) and I was told in at least two conversations that the pole would be replaced within a few/several months, but I could not get anything definitive regarding time.

I am not a physicist, but it doesn’t take one to just look at the pole and realize how dangerous it is (I would think even a strong wind could send it down).

I talked to Jana Schuering at PG&E, and she expressed concern about the condition of the utility pole in your area, especially if it is a power pole. She said you can tell if it’s a PG&E pole because the power lines are thicker than others and are connected to the pole by conductors — which to me look like big buttons strung on a skewer — which keep energy from flowing through the wood and electrocuting anyone who touches the pole. The thick power lines need not be the only lines on a PG&E pole, the company lets other utilities, such as cable companies and cell phone services, use their setup.

Schuering said that if you find damage to or decay in a power pole, you should contact the 24-hour customer service line at 1-800-743-5000. They’ll send someone out there to repair it.

Since there’s a marking on the pole, and people came out, it sounds like there’s a plan for it and “work’s gonna happen,” Schuering said. To get information on when it will be fixed, contact the 24-hour number.

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Glad You Asked answers readers’ questions. So if you yearn for an answer to a heartfelt question, send the query to me at jdecker@napanews .com or 256-2215. I’ll find the knowledge you’re looking for and you’ll go from wistful wishing to blissful whistling in no time.