5 replies to this topic

[amtrakwolverine]

Pulled a all nighter and left the house about 4:30Am and walked the mile to the bus stop. bus was on time getting me to the station at 5:35AM. Train was on time arriving into royal oak but then a few miles we came to a stop for a couple minutes before continuing slowly before picking up speed around the CN intermodel yard.Once the cafe opened up after dearborn I had a turkey and swiss and diet Pepsi. Once the train left Kalamazoo we did get up to 110MPh for awhile. After running at 110 we had to stop to let sister train 350 pass before we could cross over then we had issues getting a green single from dispatch.
I believe we were still on Amtrak rails at this point.

The closer we got to Chicago we ran into some traffic that put us about 40 minutes late. This woman in front of me was not happy and making a big deal over it saying that the reservations should have said Amtrak does not own the rails and has to stop for all trains and that the train is late but the reservations said nothing etc. she also went on to say it´s a union thing and there doing it on purpose that they´re milking it etc. She said this was the worst trip and was never going take the train again etc saying If I wanted to get into Chicago at 6pm I would have taken the 10 o clock train but then I probably wouldn't get in until midnight. The train finally arrived around 12 noon were I met shanghai Misty and hessjm outside the metro lounge. We went and toured 2 sets of displays. one was the anniversary train has it had the dome on it. the other set was all private cars from the Pullman experience. After the tour dick left to meet is brother.

Joe and misty and I ended up finding oldtimer and his wife sitting at a table at this bar type restaurant. We talked for awhile about Amtrak the lounge attendant tim who was on shift today. About 2:40pm me joe and misty went to the food court. I got 1 polish hotdog and a large pop. We then went and boarded the Hiawatha service to glenview and ate our food court food on the train.Arrived into glenview on time then had a 15 minute wait for the return train.

The return train was on time but we were late getting into chi due to track work that limited us to 1 track. We were about 12 minutes late into CHI but everyone made there train. The waiting room was crowded with allot of train departing or loading with pax at once. My train 354 departed on time from ch. arrived into royal oak 14 minutes late then had to wait about a hour for a cab since dispatch had none in the area but told him I would late since I used them before. arrived home about 2am.

[Shanghai]

Good report Kevin. It was good to see you in Chicago.

[Ben_G]

Did you by any chance get to sample that chicken dish they were handing out in the great hall ?

[thully]

Interesting trip - that must have been tiring to pull an all-nighter and walk a mile to take a 4:30am bus! I personally don't drive, so I always have to take public transit to the station (or if not, cab it or have someone take me/pick me up). However, there aren't any buses in Ann Arbor before 8AM on weekends - so if I wanted to catch 351 (or come back on 354), I'd have to cab it or have someone take me to the station. At least they have earlier buses in Royal Oak...

I was also there that weekend in CHI - though I did Megabus and flew back that day to squeeze a few more hours out of my trip. Figure I'll be going back in June, though I'll likely take the usual Friday 355/Sunday 354 next time. May also want to do 350/355 ARB-PNT-ARB sometime soon- I want to see the part of the Wolverine I've never seen...

1337741695[/url]' post='368891']
Pulled a all nighter and left the house about 4:30Am and walked the mile to the bus stop. bus was on time getting me to the station at 5:35AM. Train was on time arriving into royal oak but then a few miles we came to a stop for a couple minutes before continuing slowly before picking up speed around the CN intermodel yard.Once the cafe opened up after dearborn I had a turkey and swiss and diet Pepsi. Once the train left Kalamazoo we did get up to 110MPh for awhile. After running at 110 we had to stop to let sister train 350 pass before we could cross over then we had issues getting a green single from dispatch.
I believe we were still on Amtrak rails at this point.

The closer we got to Chicago we ran into some traffic that put us about 40 minutes late. This woman in front of me was not happy and making a big deal over it saying that the reservations should have said Amtrak does not own the rails and has to stop for all trains and that the train is late but the reservations said nothing etc. she also went on to say it´s a union thing and there doing it on purpose that they´re milking it etc. She said this was the worst trip and was never going take the train again etc saying If I wanted to get into Chicago at 6pm I would have taken the 10 o clock train but then I probably wouldn't get in until midnight. The train finally arrived around 12 noon were I met shanghai Misty and hessjm outside the metro lounge. We went and toured 2 sets of displays. one was the anniversary train has it had the dome on it. the other set was all private cars from the Pullman experience. After the tour dick left to meet is brother.

Joe and misty and I ended up finding oldtimer and his wife sitting at a table at this bar type restaurant. We talked for awhile about Amtrak the lounge attendant tim who was on shift today. About 2:40pm me joe and misty went to the food court. I got 1 polish hotdog and a large pop. We then went and boarded the Hiawatha service to glenview and ate our food court food on the train.Arrived into glenview on time then had a 15 minute wait for the return train.

The return train was on time but we were late getting into chi due to track work that limited us to 1 track. We were about 12 minutes late into CHI but everyone made there train. The waiting room was crowded with allot of train departing or loading with pax at once. My train 354 departed on time from ch. arrived into royal oak 14 minutes late then had to wait about a hour for a cab since dispatch had none in the area but told him I would late since I used them before. arrived home about 2am.

Edited by thully, 23 May 2012 - 01:01 PM.

[amtrakwolverine]

Did you by any chance get to sample that chicken dish they were handing out in the great hall ?

I didn't get the chance. Anyone else try the chicken?

Interesting trip - that must have been tiring to pull an all-nighter and walk a mile to take a 4:30am bus!

Actually I had to leave at 4:30AM The bus comes at 5:12am. if I have luggage I'll call a cab to the station but If I'm just going for the day or weekend then I just bring my laptop and overnight bag and take the bus to save $20.

[MistyOLR]

I hear you on the saving money part. If I can arrange things well enough, that's why I'll take 302/22 instead of 300 to CHI. I can take a cab to just over the STL county line, then take 40x directly to the station from there. That saves me about $20, $25 there. (I forget an exact amount offhand, it's been a bit since I've taken an exact "house-bus stop-STL" trip without a side trip in the opposite direction to work to pick up my check first).

But yeah, was good seeing you and all the others at CHI. All else failing, see ya there to connect to PHL in October.