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My wife and I recently completed a marathon train trip. During the trip we visited friends and relatives in CA , CO, and KS. Rather than a full trip report, in the interest of not boring all, here is a brief recap of the highlights (and a few lowlights). But overall, Amtrak did a good job.
Day 1- Crescent ATL-WAS. We skipped a late dinner in the diner as we would have many more opportunities for Amtrak cuisine. For those boarding the Crescent in Atlanta, there was a very good Mellow Mushroom pizza place a block or two from the station on the same side of the busy street. They had excellent beer as well so we were well prepared for the trip. Our SCA was efficient if lacking in personality. The next morning the highlight of the trip was the beautiful countryside of northern Virginia, best seen from the dining car. Our arrival was about 25” early. Everything worked in our bedroom. A contingent of Amtrak ‘suits’ were on the train, one of whom I knew from a prior life.
Day 2/3 – Capitol WAS-CHI. With a full day in Washington, we spent our time in the ‘Newseum”. A four year old 6 story modern building in the Mall devoted to the news. Interestingly it’s all private funding – guess the fourth estate wants to keep its independence. Highly recommend this and it had lots of interactive exhibits as well as the radio tower from WTC and a section of the Berlin Wall. It also provided a great view of the Capitol from the terrace level.
After stocking up on wine, we boarded the Capitol. Our sleeper was on the rear for some reason, but a bonus for those who enjoy the rear window. Our dining car LSA, Judith, was the best on our trip. The Capitol diner is a cut above the rest with ‘china’ and seemingly more waiters. Good food (a delicious pork tenderloin) and good company. We were fortunate in that our tablemates throughout the journey were all very interesting with great stories to tell. I wonder if they ‘profile’ passengers when seating them with others or if it’s pot luck. Because it was still mid summer, we had great view on the climb up Sand Patch after leaving Cumberland. We had another OT arrival into Chicago.
Day 3/4 – Texas Eagle CHI-San Anotonio (in the LA sleeper). A trip through Chicago wouldn’t be complete without an enjoyable lunch with our esteemed Mr. Norman at Miller’s. Feeling full and content we boarded our sleeper. It would be the rear car after St. Louis where an extra coach and the private car ‘Cimarron River’ were dropped. It had been on a Chicago excursion and was returning to home base. It was formerly a Frisco RR 14-4 sleeper used on their ‘Meteor’. The train was packed throughout the trip and the passengers in our sleeper turned over twice – 18 off and 14 on at St. Louis and then another almost complete turnover in Texas cities. Seeing progress on the St. Louis ‘higher speed’ line, the new station in St. Louis and the interesting Texas towns (including the Heartland Flyer in Ft. Worth) made this our most interesting segment. This was certainly helped by probably the best SCA I’ve seen on Amtrak, Toni. He never stopped working, always checking on passengers and very enjoyable personality (I will contact Amtrak about him). We were on time into San Antonio.
Day 5/6 – TE/Sunset San Antonio-LAX. While we were in the through the sleeper, the crews and most passengers changed at San Antonio where we connected with the Sunset. I stayed awake for the switching in San Antonio. Didn’t know Amtrak had the wherewithal but they managed a pretty slick switch move to keep our car on the rear of the train. We arrived heading east with our sleeper on the rear and the Sunset of course arrived heading west. Our entire train was then pulled through the station, dropping our car near the switch, and then shoving the LA coach onto the rear of the Sunset after setting over the rest of the TE to another track. Our car was then switched in behind the coach from Chicago.
The ride across the hill country of Texas was fascinating, as always. We saw very few freights until near El Paso. Our SCA after San Antonio, was sadly lacking in the finer points of her job. Toni had warned us that we might be a little disappointed if we got one of the newer employees. She tried, but was basically clueless about helping with luggage, LA occupancy until 6:30, and we saw little of her. Another annoyance was the incessant P.A. announcements she made that were repeated by the LSA in the diner, and Vinny in the lounge. We must have heard a dozen or two stentorian announcements about the ‘rules’ on Amtrak. I longed for a switch to turn off the speaker. We were early into LA at about 5am. After being comatose for a while we found some coffee and then staggered off to Phillipes for breakfast. I’m not sure what I expected, maybe ‘foamers’ in a loud dining room with bad food, but it was great. The place felt ‘authentic’ with lots of locals, the service was friendly, and we OD’d on cholesterol.
Day 6 – Starlight LAX-SBA. Feeling revived, we headed back to the station where Ernie, our redcap, did a fine job of getting us first on the train, about 45” before departure. Oh, Traxx is now open for Starlight passengers. In the bar area (across the hall from the dining area) they had OJ and more coffee plus a helpful Amtrak employee. While we had a short trip, it was so nice to again be in the PPC with our excellent attendant, Greg. We did manage a great Greek chicken salad before SBA arrival. I do wish those CCC cars could be adapted for PPC use on other Amtrak feature trains, like the EB and CZ. A pleasant morning ride into SBA had us close to on time and enjoying that pleasantly cool city when it was in the usual high 90’s back home. After resting there for a day, we continued our journey to friends up the coast and then back into the mountains, but that story can wait for another day.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Great report. Ernie the Redcap at LAX is the one who took care of us on our recent CS trip. He loaded our bags on the train while we got a snack and then came back for us later. We didn't even need Traxx.
-------------------- Vicki in usually sunny Southern California Posts: 951 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Aug 2006
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Did you have Toni Westfield or Westerfield as you car attendant? If so he is outstanding. We have been riding with him 3 times around the turn of the century and all 3 times were excellent.
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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Great meet-up, Mr. Palmland and Miss Mary.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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