From my roomette on the Cardinal......

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Dave Van

Service Attendant
Joined
Oct 23, 2013
Messages
193
Location
Hills of West Virginia
#51 was 35 minutes late into WSS.....not to bad all things considered. To my surprise when I opened the laptop Wi-Fi was working. So I started writing as I always do and just as fast it stooped working. Came back up this morning at about 6:30.

We have made up most of the time.....the big lay over in Indy helps......so I'll see you all again in Metro Chicago.

I do look forward to SWC dining......
 
In the new Metro Lounge in Chicago. A little longer hike than the old....nice and new but missing the warm and comfortable vibe of the old place. New place, not even finished yet, is efficient if a bit sterile. Self check luggage area is a little 'different'. The old system seemed more secure.....but maybe not.

I did tell my car attended he needed to write up my room....it smelled like sewer gas....not real bad...but enough to notice....some issue with toilet. Now a few hours to kill until the SWC departs....we ended up a few minutes early!! thx
 
When we took the Cardinal from PHL to CHI on 8/7/16 we were running over 1 hour behind schedule by Huntington WV but arrived in CHI only 10 minutes late. The Cardinal seems to travel to CHI at a rather slow speed (GPS showed 45-50 MPH) but arrival time in CHI was still very good. Lots of delay must be built into the schedule.

Doubtful if we will be taking the Cardinal again; great scenery but very high sleeper prices, really beat up equipment and reheated food for a long 26 hr trip .

Its strange but all of the LD trains (CDL, CL, CZ) on our summer trip were completely sold out, yet they say that Amtrak is operating at a loss.

You will enjoy the CUS metropolitan lounge, its modern, large, comfortable and bright. It's a monumental improvement over the dingy, small basement lounge. The only things gone are the direct entrance to the train platforms and the staffed baggage room. There is an unstaffed baggage room in the entrance lobby. Although we left our baggage and laptop there, we didn't lose anything. Its fairly safe as a video camera in the room corner monitors all activity.
 
Part of it has to deal with it's a tri weekly train, the fact that it's a long ride from NY to CHI, crew changes, fueling points if needed, cost of operating over crappy railroad at best on the BB and CSX west of Indy. 50 mph for the card is a nice speed, not only for that LD train. But any of them.
 
Wife and I were in CONO BR-A CHI/NOL in '98 and sewer gas was oppressive. The SCA moved us to BR-D which was odor free. However, the SCA was very upset because the car was supposed to have been fully serviced at CHI. He showed us the scathing, vitriolic car condition report he had written, and asked if we would sign it to confirm...naturally we did. I hope his report had a beneficial result with the CHI car service crew.

I wish that Amtrak were allowed to be operated like a For-Profit company, like those I worked for. Poor performance was allowed for up to three months, but truthfully documented. If no improvement, you were out and don't let the door hit you in the butt!!!!!
 
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Consider yourself lucky to have worked for good companies. There are plenty of poorly run companies in private industry with incompetent and/or corrupt owners and managers. I worked for one company through 7 different ownerships. 2 were great, 2 were pretty good, and 3 of them belonged in jail or bankrupt (final score: 1 jail 2 bankruptcies)
 
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Just pulled out of La Junta CO. No wi-fi yesterday ...combo of my error and Amtrak. Good this am.

Boarding from the lounge to SWC was still poor at best......and because of the general stampede I saw with the zephyr loading AND with one of my prosthetic legs just a little off I took a Red Cap to the train...even this was still a scramble. They need to find a system that works.
 
Dave seems to be using the ellipsis (...) a little more informally than usual to separate actual complete short sentences but still let the writing flow (as opposed to an Ernest Hemingway style of complete but choppy sentences).

This could never be done in formal writing, but in informal writing, it can be an enjoyable read after you get used to it.

Also, for me, one of the charms of the Travelogues/Trip Reports section is the variety of writing styles people have.
 
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By trade I did a lot of technical writing. My Father was a writer but I make no claim to being one. I write for myself.....warts and all.....the questions are fine but forgive me if they do not alter the way I write!! thx

PS. The SWC #3 and #4 were both at the ABQ station today.....kinda cool, although the folks on #4 may not think so.
 
Dave seems to be using the ellipsis (...) a little more informally than usual to separate actual complete short sentences but still let the writing flow (as opposed to an Ernest Hemingway style of complete but choppy sentences).

This could never be done in formal writing, but in informal writing, it can be an enjoyable read after you get used to it.

Also, for me, one of the charms of the Travelogues/Trip Reports section is the variety of writing styles people have.
Agreed, I too like different styles for different stories.
 
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