posted
My family and I returned a couple weeks ago from a long but terrific trip...finally I have time to report on a few items. My full report will appear on TrainWeb in a few weeks.
The Crescent from Birmingham to WAS was a mixed bag. The route was terrific and this was our first time that way in about 5 years. The NS line through the Carolinas is smooth and allows great sleeping. The bad: Our sleeper was very warm and we were glad we had fans with us as usual. I see more and more Amtrak sleeper attendants pack travel fans and duct tape as we do. The dining car crew was pathetic! Dinner took 1 hour to arrive and they served it in backwards order...entree first, then the rolls, then salad, and finally beverage after we had to almost tackle the waiter to get his attention. Breakfast was no better. At both meals they brought meals to people who were seated after the first to arrive. Very poor!
Capitol Limited: Good trip, the family bedroom was more comfortable than some we have riden (decent a/c for one thing). The dining service was outstanding and our server Octavia was terrific as she always smiled and had a "can do" attitude. The scenery was good as always and the Cross Country Cafe was better than I expected though not the optimal arrangement.
Empire Builder: Good crew, no problems with the family bedroom, and a good server in the diner. On the second night my beef was tough and undercooked and he cheerfully replaced it with another entree. The westbound trip featured a great sunset along the Mississippi River in Minnesota, great sights in Glacier Park, and a super morning across the Cascades.
Canadian: It's impossible to beat VIA's dome cars. The drawing room in the Park car is my favorite accommodation and makes for easy access to the dome. It was great traveling on the CP line north of the Fraser River at night as the flanges really sing. Unfortunately rain spoiled the views of the Rockies but it cleared after Edmonton. The crew was pleasant but young and inexperienced. Dining food was top notch. The new 4 night schedule is tedious even for a railfan.
Lake Shore Limited: Rode Buffalo to Albany...good scenery. The dinette food was good but the car lacks any ambiance but it beat riding an Empire service train.
Train 280: Business class was excellent. The cafe attendant was great, very jovial even after a pre-dawn start at Niagara Falls for him.
Silver Meteor: Our sleeper again tended on the warm side but not near as bad as the Crescent. Dining service was good but diner 8559 is a relic...very plain and I swear I never had been in it as it has distinctive porthole windows in the end doors that reflect its SP ancestry.
General comments: All crews were solid except for the Crescent dining staff. Top performers were Octavia on the Cap Limited and Gerald the cafe LSA on # 280. The Viewliner sleepers are getting so worn in places that they look like third world equipment. If a hotel room were this worn, most travelers would avoid that establishment. Every train we rode was either early or within 10 minutes of schedule at its final terminus. Overall a great trip and, thankfully, no misadventures.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Thanks for the report---interesting stuff on a few trains I have never ridden.
Does anyone know why the Viewliners are in such ratty condition? Those cars are newer than the Superliner II's (I think), so I'm wondering why all the wear and tear and mechanical problems?
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Thanks for the great report. I'm surprised about your report on Viewliner equipment; when I took them round trip to FL this January (I was on the Meteor southbound, Silver Star twice northbound, with Carolina stopover) I was quite pleased with everything--sleepers seemed newly refurbished and dining cars were pleasant (with good staff). Of course, A/C was not a big problem then; Maybe they changed equipment for summer????
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I assume your sleepers were Viewliners, since you discuss diner 8559 as ex-SP.
I have to wonder: The Viewliner design has twice as much glass per section as did any Pullman ever built. I remember that in designing domes, all 3 manufacturers (Budd, P-S, and ACF) dedicated additional A/C support strictly for the dome.
Wonder if the Viewliner simply has an inadequate HVAC system?
Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I've also had some very nice Viewliner rooms but the ones on this trip were not so good cosmetically. There were lots of places where the doors near the sink were badly scraped. On the Crescent the circulation fans in our deluxe bedroom did not work nor did the reading lights at the head of either bed. As noted before, the a/c was poor. I'd blame the top window except the windows are tinted, we closed the curtains for the top window, and it stayed hot even at night. On the Meteor the closet just inside the door to our deluxe bedroom would not close all the way and there was evidence it had been pried open at some point which broke the latch. The light inside the closet thus remained on and would have annoyed us except that we used our duct tape to keep the door shut. In fact we taped it shut to stay until someone decides to remove the tape. On top of this, our sleeper had no hot water, a fact I discovered when I went to take a shower. All 3 Viewliner sleepers had a horrible rattle from the sliding door that allows connecting bedrooms A & B. This was fixed by placing a piece of luggage flush against that door. Because we are used to expecting issues, we had a nice trip anyway but the casual rail traveler would be put off by these issues. If there was competition, my business would surely go to the competitor.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Sounds like a great trip - that is a lot of train miles! Which was your favorite segment in the U.S. (I assume the Canadian was the best overall). i"ll look forward to your report.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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I too found my deluxe bedroom last December on the Lake Shore in need of duct tape. There were problems with the door (I could not close it properly) some lights not working, heat not working (this was winter, I guess in summer it is the AC that causes problems). Although I had hot water on my last trip, on previous trips I have had lukewarm at best. As for the door the connects the bedroom next door, it always seems to rattle on both the Viewliner and Superliner trains. I usually squish a few of the paper drinking water cups between the sliding door and the wall, that usually works. Amazing that the newest of Amtrak's sleeping cars seems to be falling apart so quickly.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I took a viewliner to New York last May and it was perfect. But to answer the question on the AC it could be that they didn't have freon (I think that is what they use to get AC cool). I remember I took a trip a while back in a car that had no AC, it took them about five hours to figure out that it didn't have freon, but once they put that in the AC worked perfectly. I think the main problem might be that some of the vents are in bad shape.
Posts: 465 | From: elgin (s-line) | Registered: Dec 2008
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To answer Palmland's question: The Empire Builder was our favorite as the sunset view of the Mississippi River was outstanding as were the views of Glacier Park and the Cascades. Having the same dining car waiter was a plus since the guy was so good and the passengers we dined with were really nice conversationalists. Had the Crescent sleeper been in better mechanical shape, that would have been second as the winding route through NC and southern VA is great for sleeping.
As for the comments by Royaltrain, it is amazing how much the Viewliners and Superliners have fallen apart as they aren't THAT old...especially the Viewliners. Good idea with the crushed cups to stop the rattles...a couple wadded up washcloths helped, too but ultimately the luggage was the best squeak stopper. Incidentally, one of those fixed chairs had been installed in the last 2 deluxe bedrooms we rode on the Viewliners. One of them folded back to the wall pretty nicely to take up less space. There wasn't one in the car we had on the Crescent.
One observation I've made about sleeper a/c is that the hallways are often colder than the rooms which relects poor a vent system. A friend has pointed out that sometimes certain rooms in the Viewliners are hot while others are cool. Neither of these were the problem on the Crescent as the entire car was hot. On the Lake Shore our sleeper started out very cool then a couple guys complained and it got real warm. I heard the car attendant fumble with the a/c controls without success until another crew member showed him what to do and it cooled off nicely again. Moral of story: Never complain about too cool a/c on the train. Put on a sweater or close the vent. Thankfully it cooled again.
Posts: 561 | Registered: Jul 2003
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