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My wife Twyla and I recently rode the Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle from Maricopa (near Phoenix) to Chicago and back. We spent a total of six days and five nights on-board trains.
Overall, the service was excellent. It was the best Amtrak trip we have been on.
Our car attendant on the eastbound Sunset Limited, Cynthia, was hard-working, and polite. The dining car crew did a good job. We were paused for a few hours in the middle of the night in Arizona, supposedly because a train ahead of us hit and killed a person. Other than this, we were relatively on time.
Our car attendant on the northbound Texas Eagle, Steven, did an excellent job. The train ran relatively on time the entire way, and the dining car crew with Flavio, and Yolanda were friendly and did an excellent job.
When returning home, we were glad to see that the same crew, with Steven, Flavio, and Yolanda were with us again. We took a different non-stop route to Saint Louis due to track work. It ended up being mostly through cornfields at 40 miles per hour. After Saint Louis we caught up to the schedule and arrived in San Antonio on time.
On the westbound Sunset Limited, our car attendant was virtually non-existent. He helped us when we left the train in Maricopa, but other than that, I hardly ever saw him. We put our beds away ourselves since he was not there to do it. There was no ice, juice, or bottled water put out. We went into his room and got it out ourselves.
I had bought a scanner a few weeks earlier. Smitty195 and Geoff Mayo had given me some advice on this forum. I really enjoyed listening to the scanner, and heard quite a number of conversations, in addition to track detectors and various railroad orders. After Steven, our car attendant learned of my scanner, he would ask me questions about how the train was doing, or as to what was happening. I thought that was an interesting twist. A woman was thrown off the train for smoking marijuana in the restroom, among other things. I heard all about the various problems with her on my scanner
We were always called to the diner at the time of our reservation (rather than hours later, as has happened in the past). All choices on the menu were available in all of the diners at all of our meals. There were few problems. This was also the first Amtrak trip I have been on where all of the cars matched each other with the same paint scheme. I was glad to hear announcements explaining why things were happening. In the past, we would wait on a siding for an hour, and nobody would let us know what was happening.
Overall, it was an excellent trip.
Posts: 446 | From: Phoenix, Arizona | Registered: Jul 2000
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Hooray! I'm glad to hear that all went well, and that you were able to tune in and listen to the action on the scanner. I am VERY pleasantly surprised to hear about your experiences in the diners. One of my biggest complaints is that they are always "out of" whatever it is that I want to order. It sounds like they have finally fixed this problem! Whew....so nice to hear positive things like that.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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We took a different non-stop route to Saint Louis due to track work. It ended up being mostly through cornfields at 40 miles per hour. After Saint Louis we caught up to the schedule and arrived in San Antonio on time.
Mr. Konstantin, trust you enjoyed your C&EI routing (now UP), which is on many a railfan's "to do list" around these parts. The routing is prompted account the on-going upgrade of the GM&O - the existing Amtrak routing - to handle HSR, which means "higher speed rail' (110mph maybe) in this case. Nevertheless, it does represent a tangible improvement funded in part by the "$8B for HSR" provisions under ARRA '09.
Presently to ride locally CHI-STL, you are likely looking at a "bus-tee-toot" for much of your journey. Last September, I had occasion to ride the line and was "bus-tee-tooted" STL-SPI. Hopefully, the traveling public will see these inconveniences as a "no pain, no gain" situation, or to quote a New Haven Railroad ad from the past "A Penalty for Progress".
Finally, from Pana IL to St Louis, the C&EI had trackage rights with the New York Central so you were riding the route of the Southwestern Limited and The Knickerbocker. Also, I guess it could be said that The Eagle became The Meadowlark as that was the name of the C&EI's train as far as Findlay Jct.. However, their named CHI-STL train was the "Silent Knight", but be it assured, that even predates me.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Mr. Norman, it was interesting to read about the Meadowlark and section of track I rode on. I must say, it was not too enjoyable. Going 40mph over bumpy track in a flat area where trains normally go about 80 just felt way too slow. It seemed like we were just dragging on all afternoon long. However, it was interesting to go a different route. The funny thing was, our car attendant did not know we were going a different route. I told him that I had read about it on the internet just before our trip started.
Normally we would eat dinner on the diner early. On the last evening of our trip, we made reservations ratrher late, at 7:30pm, since we knew we would be awake until about 2:00pm, after detraining around midnight. We ended up being the last group for dinner that night. Even though it was the last dinner before the train arrived in Los Angeles the next day, they still had everything available. I really have to give all of our ding cars high marks for their quality of service and food.
Posts: 446 | From: Phoenix, Arizona | Registered: Jul 2000
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Mr. Konstantin, I'm surprised to learn that you found the C&EI route to be bumpy. Possibly that observation was made upon your experience over the ex-NYC Findlay Jct to St Louis, but Chi- Thebes is the major routing used by UP to access Chicago from the Southwest. While KC-Chi is a routing on which they have trackage rights over the BNSF into Chi, the number of trains they may route is quite limited. After the "Higher Speed" project is complete on the GM&O (existing Amtrak routing), UP may well have limitations imposed over both frequency and timing of traffic routed over such.
Should I find myself up for a joyride this year (which I doubt insomuch as I have had two Amtrak journeys - LOR-SFA Feb, CHI-DET-CHI Apr - to get somewhere because I had reason to do so), CHI-STL over the C&EI would be top priority. However, "I've heard' that local CHI-STL passengers ticketed on 21-22 can find themselves "bus-tee-tooted" all the way.
disclaimer: author holds long position UNP
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I rode a Sunset train that was diverted onto freight-only trackage in the So Cal region several years ago and I, too, noticed how bumpy and uncomfortable the ride was. I kept expecting the captain to illuminate the FASTEN SEAT BELTS sign at any moment. I remember seeing one passenger thrown against a window in the Lounge as the train hit a rough spot in the tracks, even though we were doing about 20mph.
I wonder how much of the freight-only trackage in America falls into the "bumpy/rough/slow" category, compared to passenger tracks. Speaking as someone who would like to see more passenger train service available, if most of the tracks that are currently freight-only are in bad condition, it shows why creating new passenger corridors can be a complicated and expensive process.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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Possibly if a better "handle" can be made regarding just where Messrs. Konstantin and Vincent encountered the respective rough trackage, someone such as Mr. Resor, with his ready access to such material, could identify the FRA class trackage and authorized speeds for either class of train.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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My diversion was near the end point in Los Angeles. We were switched onto BNSF tracks which caused us to miss the stop at Ontario, but we were able to stop at Pomona.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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