This past weekend I had three days to 'disappear' and ride a train.....any train. To be precise, I had from 6:30pm Friday evening when I put my wife and daughter on a plane to Florida at the Tri-Cities, TN airport until 5:50pm Monday when I was due to pick them up at the same airport....
For old times sake, I wanted to do this trip pretty much 'on-the-cheap'.
So..... from Johnson City Friday evening I made the four hour drive to Nashville and checked in to a budget hotel (Sleep Inn - $47 prepaid) where I left a 3:45am wake-up call and turned in immediately. It was 9:45pm local time.
TIME ZONES - On this trip I set foot in all four US time zones in a mere 64 hours. To keep sane and get 'just enough' sleep, I did not move my watch away from eastern time and I did my best to maintain my normal 'eastern time' sleep cycle. For instance, 3:45am in Nashville is 4:45am to my body.....and a 4:45am wake-up is not overly brutal when I normally wake-up at 5:30am on weekdays.
NASHVILLE AIRPORT - I've parked in the lot and arrived at the terminal off the shuttle bus at 4:45am Saturday. A sign tells me that they are 'going green' by renovating with new carpet that includes recyled fiber. OK. I wish that they still had vast areas of open space with lot's of glass and light like they did when I used this airport regularly 20 years ago..... but since 9/11 lot's of space has been closed in to house the enhanced security processes and other space has been walled in to make more areas available for various vendors. It's just another airport these days. One thing unique to Nashville is that the PSA's which play over the PA periodically have now been made by various Nashville recording artists. Travis Tritt's voice may welcome you to Nashville. Another warns about unattended baggage. In the pre-dawn, I'm not fully awake phase of my day Saturday morning I had just stepped up to the urinal in the men's room and was startled when a lusty female voice booms "Hey There!...... I'm Kelly Pickering and I'd like to welcome ya'll to Nashville."
FRONTIER AIRLINES - I had never flown Frontier before and had hoped for a fierce creature like a jaguar on the tail of my Boeing Airbus. Instead, I had a Bunny Rabbit on my 5:50am flight to Denver and Penguins on my connecting flight to Sacramento. Frontier does not offer 'first class' seating BUT the first 8 or 10 rows on both aircraft I rode are spaced to provide more legroom and a higher fare is charged to 'upgrade' into the roomier seats. Other fare differentiations on Frontier determine what your fees for checking luggage or changing your flight plans will be. I carried on only a small bag and did just fine crammed into the cheap seats over the wing. Other than the animals on the tail, Frontier is just another airline which sometimes has the best rate on the particular route I'm flying. I'm driven first by whether a non-stop flight is available and secondly by best price if more than one choice is available. In this case I was also driven by flight schedule. To make this work I needed to be on the ground in Sacramento by 10:00am pacific time. One way fare was $125.00 and I was in front of the airport by 10:10am.
LOCAL TRANSIT - At 10:25am I was on the Yolo Transit bus to downtown Sacramento. Fare $2.00. By 10:45am I was stepping down at the first intersection with a light that the bus reaches in Sacramento. A two block walk past the Denny's and Vagabond Inn brought my to the Sacramento Amtrak station. Even stopping in a local (not chain) restaurant for a turkey and cheese sandwich to go I was in the train station by shortly after 11:00am Pacific time.
AMTRAK #6, the eastbound California Zephyr lugged into Sacramento about 15 minutes late at 12:02pm. Consist was two locomotives, baggage car, transition dorm, 2 sleepers, diner, sightseer lounge, and three coaches. The train was pretty close to full when we pulled out..... as in there were a few single coach seats here and there but the sleepers....including the available rooms in the transition car.....were 100% occupied.
THE SCENERY - Riding over Donner Pass and then into the desert the first day and through Utah and Colorado the second day is absolutely timeless. It never grows old. Apparantly neither does mooning the train as several dozen rafters saluted our passing through the various Colorado canyons. One did so very enthusiastically and managed to fall into the river capsizing his raft and soaking all aboard.
THE TIMEKEEPING - We were on-time by Colfax, CA and rolled into every single station (with the exception of Granby, CO) on-time or early all the way to Denver. We had extended time....5 to 30 minutes.... to stroll the platforms at Reno, Winnemucca, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, and Fraser..... also at Salt Lake City but other than glance out my window at the Capitol Building, I slept through this stop.
The fact is that timekeeping on this route is purely a matter of chance. The previous day's Zephyr passengers had encountered a bustitution between Denver and Grand Junction (Boulder on the tracks.....) with #6 of the 14th being turned at Grand Junction to become #5 of the 14th..... a train already delayed by high water around Burlington, IA. I was in the sightseer lounge shortly after 6:00am Sunday when we met that #5 descending the western side of Solider Summit running about 10 hours late.
ACCOMODATIONS - My car was one of the Superliner I sleepers that had gone through the first round of renovations at Beech Grove during the David Gunn 'State of Good Repair' era. Even that work is beginning to look worn now BUT everything functioned as it should.....toilets included. I was booked with my 20,000 Guest Reward points into the Family Bedroom of the 631 sleeper.....the one nearest the diner. It was the last room available on this train west of Denver at the time I booked my trip. I liked the size of the room and the size of the lower adult berth when made down. I had probably the best single night of sleep on a train that I have had in years. I believe that in using Guest Reward Points going forward that I will continue seeking bedroom space and leave the Roomettes for trips where I am actually purchasing accomodations.
I was nuetral on the windows. I really liked having the option of viewing the scenery from both sides of the train without leaving my room. I did miss having the full-sized windows though and in the future would give up that both-sides visibility for the larger window. I did feel a little isolated by not having a window in the door....but that was minor.
The only minus was that my room had not been cleaned well when the train was turned the night before in Oakland. We're not talking absolute filth in that the place was vacuumed and looked/smelled OK. What had been missed was emptying the garbage and cleaning the windows. I used a damp washcloth to get the little hand and nose prints off my windows and just left the garbage alone.
MEALS - Fabulous. Over the two days I was aboard I had French Toast, Steak, the Cheeseburger, and the Vegetarian Manicotti. All were improved from the early diner-light era. Salads were decent (though a little sparse), rolls were provided, ice cream is back. So was steak but I mentioned that already.
More importantly - service was very good. The staff was efficient and friendly.....not one grouch in the bunch. The only weak link was a new hire making his first trip who was clearly being trained (and trained well). The new guy was a little fumbly out of nervousness BUT he was sincerely trying hard and was incredibly nice to everyone. The experienced hand who was training the new hire even wished us good night on the way out and asked "Will we be seeing you for breakfast?"
The other on-board staff was friendlier throughout than what I have sometimes experienced. My sleeper attendant Tony was the right mix of being present at just the right time without intruding. He even dealt graciously (and continuosly) with one couple extremely combative about being booked into the handicapped room by an apparantly inept travel agent.
DENVER UNION STATION - So, who took the tracks? We backed into Union Station about 20 minutes early on the one track still there. Another couple of platforms are still standing but the tracks that were there when I visited Denver Union Station in July 2009 have been removed.
As has been discussed here before, Union Station is at the heart of a redevelopment plan for the Lower Downtown area. Exactly how this redevelopment will be executed and how it will look when it's done is still anyone's guess. The plans have changed and evolved somewhat. This uncertainty played a role (likely small) in the spring 2009 demise of the Rio Grande Ski Train.
Plans call for Amtrak to move 'temporarily' (two years, five years, maybe more) into another facility while the work surrounding Union Station is performed. I was able to eyeball the building which has supposedly been designated as the temporary Amtrak station. It's a cinder blook building last used as an electrical supply warehouse. It sits kind of even with the baseball stadium across the throat of the station trackage and across the rather busy four-lane Waweta Street from the remaining railroad track. Either a bridge over the road or walkway around a bridge abutment will have to be constructed to make this building useable as a railroad passenger terminal. The walkway around the abutment would mean probably a 75 or 100 yard walk just to reach the train BUT this isn't considerably further than the existing walk....
*** edit - **** the blog which I linked in a subsequent post notes that the walkway around the bridge abutment will be used for the baggage carts. A crosswalk with traffic lights directly across Wewatta Street will be installed to stop traffic when Amtrak passengers need to go from the waiting room to trackside.
What is of concern is that this building still has a 'For Lease' sign on it suggesting that the plan for Amtrak is not yet a 'done deal'. It is also problematic that while this building fronts a rather chic 'loft in old warehouses' neighborhood, all access to and from this facility faces away from downtown Denver and would not be a safe walk to downtown Denver as it will be cut off by a couple of highway bridges, the railroad, and a major construction site.
Maybe Ira or someone more familiar with the scene in Denver can update us on where things stand there.
Once off the train I made a brief pass through the waiting room at DUS and then out front where one cab waited..... Others would show up closer to the expected 7:18pm arrival. I hailed the on cab for a $30 ride (my one extravagence this trip) to the Country Inn 'near' the Denver Airport. ('Near' here is like 6 or 8 miles) I checked into a nice room ($79 prepaid), printed my Southwest Airlines boarding pass for my 6:00am local time flight Monday morning, and went right to bed leaving a 3:30am wake-up call. Again, this worked because I was successful in convincing myself "it's just like the 5:30am wake-up you're accustomed to."
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES - I use them when they meet my criteria of 'non-stop flight best available fare' which in this case was $99. I neither love nor detest Southwest which places me squarely in the minority. I do like that they operate 737's with more legroom than other budget airlines I've flown..... Allegiant and now Frontier spring to mind. I suspect I will use Southwest more often in the future now that they have announced plans to add Greenville, SC to their route map in 2011. My flight would drop me off in Nashville before continuing on to Raleigh. Through passengers were admonished not to leave the plane in Nashville with the remark "We do love you BUT we will leave you."
Back in Nashville I used the restroom without Kelly's intrusion and lit out towards Johnson City to meet my family who arrived from Orlando one hour late aboard Allegiant..... the one late conveyance I encountered throughout this adventure.
And it was an adventure. Just the thing I needed as our school year hits the home stretch..... to plan and execute a near-ludricrous itinerary for a simple Amtrak joyride is pretty exhilerating. Particularly given the potential disaster that a missed connection or another boulder on the tracks in Colorado could have caused. Amazingly, my #6 of the 15th seems to be about the only #6 to make it through in the past week. More service disruptions are showing for the 16th and 17th. I would have loved a night at the Vagabond and a day to poke around Sacramento. I would have loved a day to explore Denver's light rail..... but the time wasn't there.....the California Zephyr was thing and I found it to be surprisingly decent. Amtrak has demonstrated improvement in areas which they can control and they deserve some credit for that I think. As for myself, I'll contiue to jet about and ride trains BUT I'll not try to cram so much into so little calendar space again any time soon..... I don't want to tempt fate!
RR4me Member # 6052
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David, thanks for the report. I enjoy all the reports, but this seemed kind of special, what with the three days to get it done feel and the necessary tight connections that all worked out! I hope the Denver project works out in the end. Union Station there is one of my favortites. Your experience prods me to do a trip soon.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Here is a link to a blog that I found on another forum regarding the DUS redevelopment....
It sounds as if the extra tracks just came out last weekend.
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I looked at the artist's rendering of the completed project in the aforementioned blog. I cannot tell for sure, but it sure looks like they intend to block the view of Union Station, much like the double-decker freeway in San Francisco blocked the Ferry Building until the Loma Prieta earthquake. I hope I've interpreted this incorrectly.
palmland Member # 4344
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David, thanks for the detailed trip report. It's always good to see a train ride through someone else's perspective. It does sound like Amtrak is getting its act together in terms of on board service, equipment and on time performance. Let's hope it continues as the improving economy puts more freight back on the rails.
In reading the Blog you mentioned, it does sound like they still intend to have the temporary station in place, but now not til the fall. I was disappointed to hear the tail tracks are being removed this week. I assume those were the last vestiges of the direct connection to points south of Denver. Isn't anyone thinking about what they do 5/10 years from now when a connection will be needed?
RR4me, I think the rendering you are referring to is what is now the rear of the station, but it is difficult to tell. My take on all the renderings at the official project website is that the front of the station will be little changed. Maybe someone can confirm.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Palmland, you are correct in that the renderings in question are from the rear of the station and the view of the building is going to be framed very narrowly by high-rise buildings on either side of a what appears to be a two or three block long pedestrian mall. The appearance from the front will not be changed significantly other than some of the asphalt may become green space.
The new light rail station will be at one end of this mall, the five track commuter rail platforms (where the current platforms are) will be at the other.
The track arrangement will be five stub-end tracks behind the existing building. The tail track was the last vestige of any direct access to points south.
sojourner Member # 3134
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David, Thank you so much for your report. It was amazingly timed, and wonderfully detailed. I am currently in the middle of a western trip too & will report back when I get home.
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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Notelvis, kudos for the detailed report. It is delightful to read again that Amtrak's on-board crews seem to have been to charm school. The last three times I rode the LD trains (all this year) the improvement was visible across the board.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Thanks Henry -
Sojourner, is the California Zephyr part of your plans on your curent trip?
notelvis Member # 3071
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Shamelessly bumping my own thread...... I've been using this one for quick access to the link to the blog about the construction project at Denver Union Station....
notelvis Member # 3071
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Another shameless bump......
I need to keep the link to the Denver blog earlier in this thread near the top for another couple of weeks..... then I can mark it as a favorite on my new office computer that should be installed by July 15.
amtrak92 Member # 14343
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Great report. I love how you did it in a review style.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Thanks 92....... I wasn't fishing for new reads but I'll not look a compliment in the mouth!!!
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