Ah, okay. It's a little confusing. When I went on to the Amtrak site to look at prices, I was offered both the SL and TE from Los Angeles to San Antonio. Both were the same price, so I guess it doesn't really matter which I select, or does it? I'll be fine with cold meals just on the portion from San Antonio to Dallas, as it isn't that far and we can always grab a decent breakfast before boarding the train.
While the short rib is hot, since it is heated in the bowl, the entire meal tastes like short rib. While I actually liked the flavor of the short rib but it was way too salty. I don’t think I’d have it again and no way I’d have it twice in one day or one trip.
It does if you don't want to get off the train, but when you're spending a day in San Antonio anyway, which she said they are, it ultimately doesn't.
Good point, I missed that!
Exactly. We'll travel from Los Angeles to San Antonio, spend at least one night, maybe two, then continue on to Dallas. Two nights there, and then straight through back to LA. So coming back, we won't have to move to any different car or get off the train during the layover in San Antonio?
So long as you're booked on #421 the whole way through, you will not have to do anything during the San Antonio switch. If you're booked on #421 to #1, #21 to #421, #21 to #1 or anything like that, you'd have to change trains or cars. If it just shows it as #421 DAL-LAX, you're all set.
This! Not too mention that their menu's nutritional values would make the current dining car offerings look like health food. Customer service skills and attitudes would be also be worse. IMHO of course!
Just to clarify, I would not want Waffle House running Amtrak's dining cars. When we're on vacation down south we'll usually get lunch there, if primarily because we don't have it up here, but I would not want or recommend Waffle House as part of someone's daily diet.
You do realize they can also bump (move) into TA positions, redi crew positions, as well as transfer to other crew bases around the country? Not to mention with the turnover rate in OBS as well as people transferring into other crafts (ie conductor or office or management positions) , most crew bases are always short of personnel....Very rarely are OBS personnel furloughed other than sometimes by their own choice.
That is not how Contemporary Dining has been implemented so far. What they do is convert the Dining Car to the Sleeper Lounge and serve food there or in rooms. It becomes out of bounds for Coach Passengers.
Please remember all we have, at this point, are rumors.......
Hey Tony, how's things in the Metroplex?Long time no hear from.
That would be "converting the Sunset Limited to Contemporary Dining. The Texas Eagle as an independent train is Chicago to San Antonio. There are two through cars conveyed on the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles.
You do bring up what is actually a slight benefit of implementing "fresh choices" on a Superliner train rather than a single-level. On single-levels, anyone who wants to "mingle" with coach passengers, now has to do so in the pretty dismal AmCan Lounge. And since most people are not going to want to spend much time chatting in that 85 foot trashcan, there probably won't be much mingling happening anymore. Meanwhile Superliners have the SSL, which most people already choose to spend their time in during the day. So on the TE, you'd still have ample opportunity to talk and mingle with coach passengers, even if you can't do it at meal time That said, considering the TE is 15 hours longer than the LSL, and serves more than twice as many meals, IMHO it's still by far the worse candidate for contemporary dining.
Amtrak shows it as Chicago to LA because they don't want to explain to rail novices how through cars work. The diner between SAS and LAX is from the Sunset, and even says so on the menus, so unless the SL gets the new system, you'll have full meal service west of San Antonio (and of course between SAS and NOL)
