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So, I just booked my girlfriend and I's tickets for the Coast Starlight Re-launch on June 10. Don't have a ton of time, but still wanted to travel as much as we can on the big day!
We'll be on Train 11 in Coach from EMY-PRB on June 10 and then returning on the same day on Train 14 in a Roomette from PRB-EMY.
Will anyone else be traveling on that day?
Hope to chat with some of you on the platform or on board!
Jarrod
Posts: 82 | From: San Lorenzo, CA | Registered: Mar 2006
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I'll see you on-board, Jarrod. I will be on train #14 out of Los Angeles on June 10th, heading up to Seattle.
You probably know this already, but just in case....your train #11 from EMY-PRB is not the re-launched train. The relaunch begins with #14 out of LAX that morning.
See you on-board!
(PS: I'm flying from SFO to LAX on the morning of June 10th. As long as my flight isn't delayed, I won't miss the train. If something happens with my Virgin America flight, I'll hop on Southwest to LAX or Burbank...whichever will get me there fastest!)
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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I suppose, Mr. Smith, Mr. Branson will be peddling "I Slept on a....." T-Shirts.
The last time I saw any of such merchandise was in St. Thomas, VI.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Sir Branson's newest aircraft (A320's) that were delivered a few weeks ago have a slogan on the side (below the cockpit) that says, "My other plane is a spaceship". I think this is to promote the upcoming flights that Virgin will offer to outer space! I'm not sure how it will work, but the flights will technically be in outer space at the lowest levels---not space shuttle levels. If I could afford it, I'd be the first one to go!
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Uh-oh....three of the four Parlour Cars that were just returned to service are no longer in service! Some type of electrical problems with all three of them. Hopefully this is just a bug that needs to be worked out, and the relaunch will happen as planned. But if they plan on doing the relaunch without a Parlour Car, then I will postpone my trip, as I would have no reason to go.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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quote:Originally posted by smitty195: Sir Branson's newest aircraft (A320's) that were delivered a few weeks ago have a slogan on the side (below the cockpit) that says, "My other plane is a spaceship". I think this is to promote the upcoming flights that Virgin will offer to outer space!
Back in the 1950's, Pan American (anybody remember them?) sold tickets that would get you on the first flight to the moon. It had to be something of a gimmick, because my uncle bought one and even though he would have gone it the trip had actually occurred in his lifetime, he did not have the budget to buy it if the cost bore any resemblence to reality.
It has now been almost 40 years since we first put a man on the moon, and we haven't been back since those first trips. What has happened to our desire to explore?
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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First Mr. Smith, Amtrak obviously wants to address the problem post haste if they have yanked the cars during this 'interregnum' between restoration of service and the "launch".
Regarding Pan Am, I've flown 'em in this life IAD-LHR (KIAD-EGLL if you wish) during 1976. I thought the cabin crew was quite "paranoid" especially when one noted that I had one of their employee timetables (given to me by an FA 'friend'; I simply could not fly anyone else even if my social relationship with Nicole could only be described as "casual').
Finally Mr. Smith, sorry I forgot earlier to recognize "Sir Richard" as such. I guess if one choses to "render unto Her Majesty MegaSterling"; rather than somewhat lesser "megabucks to George XLIII", she makes one her "Knight in Shining Armour".
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I have no idea whatsoever what GBN and Smitty are talking about with Sir Richard, Nicole, or Mr. Branson. Excuse my ignorance......... I guess this is just another sign of me being "corporately/business challenged"
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sir Richard and Mr. Branson are one in the same. It's Richard Branson, and he is the head honcho of Virgin America Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, and Virgin Megastore (he is the head of Virgin Group, which has over 350 companies). The reason he is called "Sir" Richard Branson is because he was knighted by the Queen in 1999 (he is British). Maybe the name rings a bell now? He's a very well known person.
As for the other references, I must admit, I got lost too....
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Nicole was a Pan Am Flight Attendant (dual US French citzenship) with whom I had a quite casual social relationship over thirty years ago.
The posting as I submitted it appeared clear to me; evidently that was not the case.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Maybe it is an age thing. For at least this person in the post 60 crowd, Mr. Norman's post was clarity, itself.
The British propensity to throw around titles before and letters after their names can appear somewhat ostentatious to an American and embarassing also when stuck with having to do likewise when working in their world. They will not hesitate to list every college degree they ever got from Batchelor's up and then professional association memberships as well. One of my favorites was "MICE" after a persons name. The meaning? Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers. There was also "FICE" if you had achieved the rarified level of "Fellow" in the ICE.
IAD = International Airport Dulles LHR = London Heathrow (Airport)
MegaSterling: For a long time the British currency was called the "Pound Sterling" as in for Sterling Silver. (Was there ever a Pound Gold?)
George XLIII is George the 43rd for George Bush, the 43rd president.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Reading a memoir from a Navy captain during WWII, who was stationed at Iceland commanding a submarine patrol squadron and had to interface regularly with his opposite numbers in the Royal Navy, who likewise affected the habit of placing every conceivable string of letters after their names. After a few months, this captain began signing his correspondence "Daniel Gallery, DDLM". And he waited.
Presently, one of his British colleagues ventured to ask what exactly "DDLM" meant. He replied, "Oh, it's our equivalent to your KCB"—Knight Commander of the Bath; a very high British honor.
The Brit was suitably impressed, but still puzzled. "Forgive me," he asked, "but what, exactly, do the letters stand for?"
Captain Gallery replied, "Why, they stand for 'Dan Dan the Lavatory Man!'"
-------------------- --------Eric H. Bowen
Stop by my website: Streamliner Schedules - Historic timetables of the great trains of the past! Posts: 413 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by smitty195: Sir Richard and Mr. Branson are one in the same. It's Richard Branson, and he is the head honcho of Virgin America Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, and Virgin Megastore (he is the head of Virgin Group, which has over 350 companies). The reason he is called "Sir" Richard Branson is because he was knighted by the Queen in 1999 (he is British). Maybe the name rings a bell now? He's a very well known person.
As for the other references, I must admit, I got lost too....
Sir Richard also owns Virgin Trains, one of the many passenger rail operators in Britain. Just recently we had a delightful trip from Scotland to London on one of the Pendolino tilting trains.
Posts: 216 | From: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jul 2000
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Thanks a lot, Smitty and Mr. Norman!! But I remain "corporately challenged".............
It's like my titles -- I am both a "PG" and a "CPG" -- the "PG" is a Professional Geologist certified by the State of Florida, and the "CPG" is a "Certified Professional Geologist," certified by a national organization, the AIPG -- American Institute of Professional Geologists (which has a local chapter called "Florida Association of Professional Geologists").
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by George Harris: The British propensity to throw around titles before and letters after their names can appear somewhat ostentatious to an American and embarassing also when stuck with having to do likewise when working in their world. They will not hesitate to list every college degree they ever got from Batchelor's up and then professional association memberships as well.
I think that's stereotyping us somewhat! I don't actually know of anybody personally who is both titled and uses those titles. I could use AIRSE (Associate of Institute of Railway Signal Engineers) after my name but I don't (not least because nobody outside the signalling industry know what it means). I could put BSc(hons) but I don't.
Geoff M. AIRSE BSc(Hons) MRF (Member of RailForum)
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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As an aside, Dan Gallery wrote several books that are good for a lot of chuckles. Perhaps this should tie into the thread on books to read on the train.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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quote:Originally posted by smitty195: Uh-oh....three of the four Parlour Cars that were just returned to service are no longer in service! Some type of electrical problems with all three of them. Hopefully this is just a bug that needs to be worked out, and the relaunch will happen as planned
FYI: I was in Chicago and saw Parlour Car "Sonoma Valley" in the Amtrak Maintenance Yard. There were several workers around it but in the few seconds I saw it as we went by, I have no idea what type of work may have been going on.
Andy
Posts: 120 | From: Arizona | Registered: Mar 2007
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I too, get lost in some of the post in this forum and others and for that reason I pass this on to all. I have had it on my desk for years and have always had fun with it. Sorry, but the autor is unknown.
It goes . . .
"When promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable philosophical and psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your verbal evaporations have lucidity, intelligibility and veracious vivacity without rodomontade or thespian bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous propensity and sophomoric vacuity."
"In other words, don't use big words!"
Enjoy.
Joe
Posts: 85 | From: Finger Lakes Region of NY | Registered: Jun 2008
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