We had no trouble sleeping in the Deluxe Room. Woke up in Arizona the next morning to learn that during the night a dining car employee had lost consciousness and lapsed into a coma. He had to be taken off in an ambulance and placed into intensive care in a hospital somewhere in Arizona. It didn't really matter under the circumstances, but this had led to another hour's delay, so as we left Tucson the train was 1.5 hours late.

Somewhere after Benson, AZ, the toilets in our entire car stopped working. We'd paid a bundle for a toilet in the deluxe room not to mention a sleeping space larger than a coffin. Things got rather smelly in a hurry. From this point on, the car attendant more or less disappeared. Perhaps he preferred to ride in the adjacent car, and who could blame him. He assured us, when we finally located him somewhere in the train, that the problem would be fixed in El Paso.

Meanwhile, the dining car staff was understandably quite upset about the sudden loss of one of their own, and this was compounded by the quick proliferation of unhappy campers as this train grew steadily later. I had my scanner on the two UP road frequencies, and the detailed track switching, speeds, and time schedules being read to the engineer were the most complicated I've ever heard. Worst was that just about every freight train required that the Amtrak #2 stop dead in one forsaken spot after another, while we watched the prairie dogs watch us and everyone waited for the red signal to finally clear or the freight train to finally show up 20 minutes later so we could move again.

We were 3 hours late getting into El Paso. The Amtrak mechanical division gave our toilets a look, but couldn't do anything because the train was being waved out of the station by the dispatchers who were impatient to get it over a stretch being worked on so the UP could close it for several hours. Therefore it was either wait the rest of the day or stink. They chose stink. Probably a good idea.

By this point, the dining car was becoming a rather unpleasant place itself. One funky, tatooed, biker chick lost it at the steward, who had indeed been abusing passengers pretty much from Arizona on. They got into a shouting match right in front of everyone. Later on, a passenger screamed at a waiter who hadn't brought something or other, then stormed out of the diner.

We were then promised that the toilets would be fixed in San Antonio. They were not. There was a lot of running around and shouting into radios connected to getting the Texas Eagle cars switched out, but no attention for our potty.

It was pretty much stop and go the rest of the way to New Orleans. The toilets stunk worse and worse, the power failed at one point, and the attendant disappeared pretty much for the rest of our trip.

We stopped in cane fields, rice paddies, swamps, and all manner of places with no names except on railroad maps. Finally, we made it into New Orleans at 1:40 AM, or 5 hours late.

Later on, we found out that the train had finally reached Orlando 8.5 hours late, and that this was far from abnormal for #2 eastbound. I don't think they ever fixed the toilets, but I'm not sure on that last one.

If any newcomers are reading this thread, don't let one passenger's bad experience influence your own travel decisions. Your trip on the Sunset Limited might turn out absolutely fine. Yet on the very same day, someone riding on the Empire Builder might arrive at their destination sixteen hours late, vowing to never ride Amtrak again.

It's simply the luck of the draw. For me, that's part of the adventure.

quote:

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Originally posted by royaltrain:
Did Zowie receive any sort of compensation from Amtrak for this terrible experience?

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Amtrak says they'll issue some kind of credit.

As in the Mr Zowie late of the Gilbert B Norman memorial Forum?

Great review, even if not good news.

IIRC, the straw that broke the camel's back for the 1970 Act creating Amtrak was the unacceptable service on the Sunset Limited, courtesy of the Southern Pacific.

30 odd years later ... some things never change, even if the corporate offices moved from 1 Market Center to Dodge Street in Ommyhaw.

The Southern Pacific legacy is clear on this run. We don't want passenger and you can't make us.

My thoughts.

John

quote:

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Originally posted by dilly:
If any newcomers are reading this thread, don't let one passenger's bad experience influence your own travel decisions. Your trip on the Sunset Limited might turn out absolutely fine.
It's simply the luck of the draw. For me, that's part of the adventure.

[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 05-29-2003).]

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Our train left Tucson about an hour late, and eventually arrived at Jacksonville about 4-1/2 hours late. Fortunately the Silver Star was late too, (We had a 3 hour scheduled layover) and at the station when we arrived. We arrived at D.C.'s Union Station at about 7:00 PM, a little later then the 11:00 AM scheduled arrival.

The trip home was more timely, via Chicago on the Capitol Limited and the Texas Eagle. On the last morning of the trip the toilet took a number of attempts to flush. A little later I noticed a warning light blinking downstairs on a panel indicating "Holding Tank Full". Consulting with my wife, we decided to protect our environment by using the facilities in the other cars. A tank truck was on hand at El Paso to empty our load. We arrived back home in Tucson within 1/2 hour of schedule.

Looking back, we had a good trip, and met a quite a few interesting people. The only thing I'd do differently if I were planning the same trip would have been to schedule an overnight stop instead of a 3 hour connection to avoid any anxiety about missing the connection.

#1 failed HEP 3 hours off LAX, train was a greenhouse (and a smelly one at that), but they decided to make a dash for LAX since we were already 5 hours late. Otherwise journey was fine.

#2 a couple of hours late NOL - ORL.

#2 under an hour late LAX - SAS.

#22 3 hours late SAS - Dallas.

#22 under an hour late Dallas - CHI.

Experiences otherwise pleasurable! It has to be done, just factor in delay time for connections (don't do connections same day).

I think the Eagle usually has the shortest consist.

That sleeping car wasn't the Louisana was it. I had that car on my last eastbound Southwest Chief trip and it's been running around like that for over a year, http://trainweb.org/chris