A few days ago I returned from my first cross country Amtrak LD trip. This was a bucket list item for me and was something that I had hoped to do for many years before finally making it a reality. Nearly 5800 rail miles plus a few hundred bus connection miles( thanks to Amtrak abandoning service to Phoenix in 1996) and now my long awaited trip is only a memory.
My trip was comprised of four rail segments and two bus segments starting with NYP-CHI on 51/Cardinal,then CHI-FLG on 3/SWC and Amtrak Thruway bus down to Phoenix. Return trip was Greyhound from Phoenix to Tucson, then TUS-NOL on 2/SL and finally NOL-NYP on 20/Crescent. I had originally booked on the LSL back in August but modified the reservations when both the LSL and CL were getting into CHI many hours late, often missing West Coast LD train connections. When Amtrak started to terminate these trains in TOL and put pax on buses to CHI I decided not to take a chance on either the LSL or CL. Besides, 51/Cardinal had established a great OTP for about 6 weeks often arriving in CHI early or on time plus Amtrak had added a second sleeper to the consist making it easier and less expensive to get a sleeper. As anyone who has ridden the Cardinal knows the food menu is very limited due to not having cooking facilities on this train--- all meals are reheated which leaves much to be desired in texture and flavor. Stay away from the omelet election for breakfast! It's texture varied from spongy to rubbery; returned it and went safe with French Toast sticks instead. The dining/cafe car combo on this train makes seating very tight but traffic was light at breakfast leaving NYP Sunday morning. It was a different story for other meals after we left WAS and more people boarded.
I had Bedroom B in car 5100 on the Cardinal which I snagged for $120 less than a roomette! It was great having a private toilet/shower/sink right in the car although you can't real turn around in the tiny shower/toilet combo. Leaving NYP on time we flew down the NEC arriving in WAS a few minutes early. However, at that time we had to wait for track crew to add eight cars to our consist before departing WAS. Two power units and a mix of six sleeper, coach and baggage cars labeled as "Amtrak Exhibit Cars" were coupled onto the front of the consist to be transported to CHI for an exhibit there. With the newly added cars we finally departed WAS a dozen minutes late and continuously lost a few additional minutes at each station along the way though out VA and WV. I had been hoping to get a twilight glimpse of the New River Gorge area had we been on time or a little bit early but those hopes were quickly dashed when we had to divert onto a siding in single track area and wait for the eastbound 50/Cardinal which was itself now running late( about 3.5 hours at that time). That cost us another 20 minutes or so pushing us back to 1 hour,19 minutes late. We continued running late into Indianapolis arriving there about 1 hour late. Four more Amtrak Exhibit Cars were then added to the rear of our consist at this station now making our train nearly 20 cars long. Despite this, we departed Indianapolis just 14 minutes late but again lost time making the run up through Indiana to CHI due to freight congestion and pretty soon we were again over an hour late at each station. However, thanks to ample schedule padding we finally arrived in CHI at 10:34 only 19 minutes late( 51/Cardinal operates 10 minutes later on Sundays).
So now I had nearly 4.5 hour layover in CHI waiting for next segment on 3/SWC. Made my way to the Metropolitan lounge where I checked my bags for a few hours and ventured out into downtown Chicago for some air and a quick lunch. Got some great shots of the Willis Tower( formerly Sears Tower) and a few tour boats on the Chicago River and then headed back to Union Station and the lounge to reclaim my bags and relax while waiting for boarding call for the SWC. The lounge is well organized and staffed with ample,comfortable seating ad provides wi-fi to catch up on emails, Facebook, etc. Although the lounge is quite busy early afternoon with so many LD trains departing seating was not an issue and since the SWC leaves later than all the other LD trains the lounge quickly emptied out after the TE,CZ and EB boarded. Upon boarding call a staffer leads us out the back door right to the track using the so-called kindergarten walk down the platform to our sleeper cars, avoiding the mass crush of coach pax waiting to board a few minutes later.
I must say it was quite a difference boarding the bi-level Superliners compared to the single level Viewliner sleeper cars.I had roomette 5 in car 0330 on the SWC on the upper level.Although it took some adjusting not having the private toilet/shower/ sink facilities that I had on the Cardinal, the superior view from the upper level on the Superliner more than made up for it. As did the wider menu choices in a real full service dining car that could actually cook the food right on board the train. Boarding in CHI at 3:00 PM meant the first meal on the SWC would be dinner and I must say the Amtrak Signature steak was awesome. In addition to great food and much better staffing in the dining car( Cardinal diner/cafe had one poor soul to seat people, take orders and serve food by himself) I met some truly amazing folks from all over the world on that train. My neighbor in roomette 3 was heading home to Brisbane,Australia after having flown in for his niece's wedding. He wanted to relax on the train going all the way to LAX before facing a grueling 15.5 hour flight back to the land down under. We became good friends and would dine together for the rest of the trip. He even had me try the Australian staple Vegamite, some sort of yeast based spread used on bread and sandwiches. I thought it tasted like salty axle grease but as he said," you Yanks need to acquire a taste for it mate". I doubt that i ever would.
There were few operating issues or delays and we never were more than and hour late at any point in the trip. Scenery was the best after leaving Colorado and entering New Mexico and Arizona. Highlights were going over Raton Pass and catching sight of the snow covered peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains off in the distance with antelope and longhorn cattle roaming free. We arrived in Flagstaff about 23 minutes late and true to the padding built into the schedule, despite being nearly an hour late departing Fullerton, the SWC arrived LAX 2 minutes early.
Skipping ahead to the return trip after riding Greyhound from Phoenix to Tucson( Amtrak claims Maricopa to be the gateway to Phoenix but there is NO transportation available other than private taxis at a cost of $100+) waited to board 2/SL at TUS heading to NOL. This was the worst part of the trip in either direction as the train did not arrive in TUS until 12:20 PM. Actual arrival was scheduled for 8:28 AM so it was nearly 4 hours late getting in to Tucson. I had expected to get some breakfast on board but was lucky to get a lunch reservation. As Tucson is an extended service stop we did not depart until 1:05 PM exactly 3 hours, 50 minutes late. Freight rail congestion was the culprit and the most maddening moment occurred when a 4 power unit freight pulling 170+ cars stopped right inside the Tucson station for more than 40 minutes with our Amtrak train waiting right behind it. We could see the blue outline of the Amtrak engine waiting off in the distance but all we could do was wait. On this train I had roomette 13 on the lower level in car 0230.I was not happy with a lower level roomette but all the uppers had been sold so it was that or ride coach for 36 hours. It was nice having the shower and most of the toilets right there plus very little traffic walking back and forth as on the upper level roomette. However, the downside was not having the great view you get from an upper level seat plus having to climb the stairs up and down every time I went to the dining car or the observation car.With two bad knees I won't let the happen again. Next trip I will be sure to book the upper level only.
This train continued to lose more time all through Arizona and New Mexico culminating with a 4 hour, 35 minutes late departure from Deming,NM. I was truly disappointed when we rolled into El Paso at 7:36 PM 4 hours late only to find that the burrito lady had given up waiting for the train and left for home. The platform was deserted with not a single vendor there; had been hoping to buy some trinkets at that stop.As It was now totally dark outside as we went though Southwest Texas I was suddenly reminded of a quote for other bloggers stating that this part of the SL from ELP to SAS was nothing but mile and miles of just miles! At that point I was glad that there was not much scenery to miss, watched a movie on my Kindle Fire and retired for the night. Had breakfast next day in SAS and found out that we had recovered 2 hours and were now only 2 hours,36 minutes late. Since we were due in NOL at 9:40 PM I was hoping to cut even more time off that lateness before arriving in New Orleans. With a 7:00 AM train back to NYP the next morning I didn't want to get to NOL after midnight. We ran the same 2.5 hours late the rest of the way through the rest of Texas and into Western Lousiana right up the to penultimate stop in Schriever,LA. But once again, thanks to schedule padding we pulled into NOL at 11:17 about 1.5 hours late.
After a quick night's sleep in a nearby hotel less than 1/2 mile from Union Station it was time for the last segment heading back home on 20/Crescent. The Magnolia Room that is supposed to be available for sleeper pax was closed for renovations so can't provide any comments on it.After boarding the Crescent I settled into roomette 6 in car 2011 for the trip back to NYP. I must say that the majority of sleeper rooms were vacant all through Mississippi and Alabama all the way up to Atlanta where a large crowd boarded filling most of the rooms. Surprisingly, we had pax boarding as far north as Lynchburg and Charlottesville occupying roomettes even though they were only traveling about 6-7 hours on the Crescent. I guess some people just wanted their privacy for that part of the trip.
The Viewliner roomette was now back to single level cars and has a private toilet and a unique fold down sink with the drain at the back of the sink so the water drains out as you fold the sink back up. As a solo traveler having the in room toilet was great but i could see an issue for two people who might want privacy using the facility requiring one person to step outside the room. This was a fairly uneventful trip with unremarkable scenery other than crossing Lake Pontchartrain causeway leaving New Orleans. That is truly a sight to behold and is worth riding the Crescent all by itself.We played tag with a few freight trains along the way falling an house behind schedule all the way from Atlanta up through SC and NC but still got into WAS on time and arriving back home in NYP 19 minutes early.
For a city boy born and raised in New York this was a trip that was well worth waiting for and will be forever etched in my mind. The experience was everything I had hoped it would be and more from the scenery to all the great people that I met and some truly dedicated on board service personnel including Tom, Freddie( both 30+ year veterans), Candy and Grady( who let me take photos from the back of the baggage car leaving NOL crossing the causeway). It will be something I look forward to doing again on a different route next time,perhaps CZ to Emeryville, Coast Starlight to Seattle and EB back to Chicago. All I can say is " All Aboard".
My trip was comprised of four rail segments and two bus segments starting with NYP-CHI on 51/Cardinal,then CHI-FLG on 3/SWC and Amtrak Thruway bus down to Phoenix. Return trip was Greyhound from Phoenix to Tucson, then TUS-NOL on 2/SL and finally NOL-NYP on 20/Crescent. I had originally booked on the LSL back in August but modified the reservations when both the LSL and CL were getting into CHI many hours late, often missing West Coast LD train connections. When Amtrak started to terminate these trains in TOL and put pax on buses to CHI I decided not to take a chance on either the LSL or CL. Besides, 51/Cardinal had established a great OTP for about 6 weeks often arriving in CHI early or on time plus Amtrak had added a second sleeper to the consist making it easier and less expensive to get a sleeper. As anyone who has ridden the Cardinal knows the food menu is very limited due to not having cooking facilities on this train--- all meals are reheated which leaves much to be desired in texture and flavor. Stay away from the omelet election for breakfast! It's texture varied from spongy to rubbery; returned it and went safe with French Toast sticks instead. The dining/cafe car combo on this train makes seating very tight but traffic was light at breakfast leaving NYP Sunday morning. It was a different story for other meals after we left WAS and more people boarded.
I had Bedroom B in car 5100 on the Cardinal which I snagged for $120 less than a roomette! It was great having a private toilet/shower/sink right in the car although you can't real turn around in the tiny shower/toilet combo. Leaving NYP on time we flew down the NEC arriving in WAS a few minutes early. However, at that time we had to wait for track crew to add eight cars to our consist before departing WAS. Two power units and a mix of six sleeper, coach and baggage cars labeled as "Amtrak Exhibit Cars" were coupled onto the front of the consist to be transported to CHI for an exhibit there. With the newly added cars we finally departed WAS a dozen minutes late and continuously lost a few additional minutes at each station along the way though out VA and WV. I had been hoping to get a twilight glimpse of the New River Gorge area had we been on time or a little bit early but those hopes were quickly dashed when we had to divert onto a siding in single track area and wait for the eastbound 50/Cardinal which was itself now running late( about 3.5 hours at that time). That cost us another 20 minutes or so pushing us back to 1 hour,19 minutes late. We continued running late into Indianapolis arriving there about 1 hour late. Four more Amtrak Exhibit Cars were then added to the rear of our consist at this station now making our train nearly 20 cars long. Despite this, we departed Indianapolis just 14 minutes late but again lost time making the run up through Indiana to CHI due to freight congestion and pretty soon we were again over an hour late at each station. However, thanks to ample schedule padding we finally arrived in CHI at 10:34 only 19 minutes late( 51/Cardinal operates 10 minutes later on Sundays).
So now I had nearly 4.5 hour layover in CHI waiting for next segment on 3/SWC. Made my way to the Metropolitan lounge where I checked my bags for a few hours and ventured out into downtown Chicago for some air and a quick lunch. Got some great shots of the Willis Tower( formerly Sears Tower) and a few tour boats on the Chicago River and then headed back to Union Station and the lounge to reclaim my bags and relax while waiting for boarding call for the SWC. The lounge is well organized and staffed with ample,comfortable seating ad provides wi-fi to catch up on emails, Facebook, etc. Although the lounge is quite busy early afternoon with so many LD trains departing seating was not an issue and since the SWC leaves later than all the other LD trains the lounge quickly emptied out after the TE,CZ and EB boarded. Upon boarding call a staffer leads us out the back door right to the track using the so-called kindergarten walk down the platform to our sleeper cars, avoiding the mass crush of coach pax waiting to board a few minutes later.
I must say it was quite a difference boarding the bi-level Superliners compared to the single level Viewliner sleeper cars.I had roomette 5 in car 0330 on the SWC on the upper level.Although it took some adjusting not having the private toilet/shower/ sink facilities that I had on the Cardinal, the superior view from the upper level on the Superliner more than made up for it. As did the wider menu choices in a real full service dining car that could actually cook the food right on board the train. Boarding in CHI at 3:00 PM meant the first meal on the SWC would be dinner and I must say the Amtrak Signature steak was awesome. In addition to great food and much better staffing in the dining car( Cardinal diner/cafe had one poor soul to seat people, take orders and serve food by himself) I met some truly amazing folks from all over the world on that train. My neighbor in roomette 3 was heading home to Brisbane,Australia after having flown in for his niece's wedding. He wanted to relax on the train going all the way to LAX before facing a grueling 15.5 hour flight back to the land down under. We became good friends and would dine together for the rest of the trip. He even had me try the Australian staple Vegamite, some sort of yeast based spread used on bread and sandwiches. I thought it tasted like salty axle grease but as he said," you Yanks need to acquire a taste for it mate". I doubt that i ever would.
There were few operating issues or delays and we never were more than and hour late at any point in the trip. Scenery was the best after leaving Colorado and entering New Mexico and Arizona. Highlights were going over Raton Pass and catching sight of the snow covered peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains off in the distance with antelope and longhorn cattle roaming free. We arrived in Flagstaff about 23 minutes late and true to the padding built into the schedule, despite being nearly an hour late departing Fullerton, the SWC arrived LAX 2 minutes early.
Skipping ahead to the return trip after riding Greyhound from Phoenix to Tucson( Amtrak claims Maricopa to be the gateway to Phoenix but there is NO transportation available other than private taxis at a cost of $100+) waited to board 2/SL at TUS heading to NOL. This was the worst part of the trip in either direction as the train did not arrive in TUS until 12:20 PM. Actual arrival was scheduled for 8:28 AM so it was nearly 4 hours late getting in to Tucson. I had expected to get some breakfast on board but was lucky to get a lunch reservation. As Tucson is an extended service stop we did not depart until 1:05 PM exactly 3 hours, 50 minutes late. Freight rail congestion was the culprit and the most maddening moment occurred when a 4 power unit freight pulling 170+ cars stopped right inside the Tucson station for more than 40 minutes with our Amtrak train waiting right behind it. We could see the blue outline of the Amtrak engine waiting off in the distance but all we could do was wait. On this train I had roomette 13 on the lower level in car 0230.I was not happy with a lower level roomette but all the uppers had been sold so it was that or ride coach for 36 hours. It was nice having the shower and most of the toilets right there plus very little traffic walking back and forth as on the upper level roomette. However, the downside was not having the great view you get from an upper level seat plus having to climb the stairs up and down every time I went to the dining car or the observation car.With two bad knees I won't let the happen again. Next trip I will be sure to book the upper level only.
This train continued to lose more time all through Arizona and New Mexico culminating with a 4 hour, 35 minutes late departure from Deming,NM. I was truly disappointed when we rolled into El Paso at 7:36 PM 4 hours late only to find that the burrito lady had given up waiting for the train and left for home. The platform was deserted with not a single vendor there; had been hoping to buy some trinkets at that stop.As It was now totally dark outside as we went though Southwest Texas I was suddenly reminded of a quote for other bloggers stating that this part of the SL from ELP to SAS was nothing but mile and miles of just miles! At that point I was glad that there was not much scenery to miss, watched a movie on my Kindle Fire and retired for the night. Had breakfast next day in SAS and found out that we had recovered 2 hours and were now only 2 hours,36 minutes late. Since we were due in NOL at 9:40 PM I was hoping to cut even more time off that lateness before arriving in New Orleans. With a 7:00 AM train back to NYP the next morning I didn't want to get to NOL after midnight. We ran the same 2.5 hours late the rest of the way through the rest of Texas and into Western Lousiana right up the to penultimate stop in Schriever,LA. But once again, thanks to schedule padding we pulled into NOL at 11:17 about 1.5 hours late.
After a quick night's sleep in a nearby hotel less than 1/2 mile from Union Station it was time for the last segment heading back home on 20/Crescent. The Magnolia Room that is supposed to be available for sleeper pax was closed for renovations so can't provide any comments on it.After boarding the Crescent I settled into roomette 6 in car 2011 for the trip back to NYP. I must say that the majority of sleeper rooms were vacant all through Mississippi and Alabama all the way up to Atlanta where a large crowd boarded filling most of the rooms. Surprisingly, we had pax boarding as far north as Lynchburg and Charlottesville occupying roomettes even though they were only traveling about 6-7 hours on the Crescent. I guess some people just wanted their privacy for that part of the trip.
The Viewliner roomette was now back to single level cars and has a private toilet and a unique fold down sink with the drain at the back of the sink so the water drains out as you fold the sink back up. As a solo traveler having the in room toilet was great but i could see an issue for two people who might want privacy using the facility requiring one person to step outside the room. This was a fairly uneventful trip with unremarkable scenery other than crossing Lake Pontchartrain causeway leaving New Orleans. That is truly a sight to behold and is worth riding the Crescent all by itself.We played tag with a few freight trains along the way falling an house behind schedule all the way from Atlanta up through SC and NC but still got into WAS on time and arriving back home in NYP 19 minutes early.
For a city boy born and raised in New York this was a trip that was well worth waiting for and will be forever etched in my mind. The experience was everything I had hoped it would be and more from the scenery to all the great people that I met and some truly dedicated on board service personnel including Tom, Freddie( both 30+ year veterans), Candy and Grady( who let me take photos from the back of the baggage car leaving NOL crossing the causeway). It will be something I look forward to doing again on a different route next time,perhaps CZ to Emeryville, Coast Starlight to Seattle and EB back to Chicago. All I can say is " All Aboard".
Wife and I have traveled those routes and it brought back great memories of those adventures.
