Celebrities & Politicians on Amtrak?

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Ive seen plenty in last 5 years or so in the Was lounge. I sat down once and it was Henry Kissinger next to me. Exchanged hellos, chatted briefly and that was about it. He had a group with him. Al Sharpton and a big group. He is very small. Newt Gingrich, Jesse Jackson came in with an interesting looking group and went into the small conference room and left after about 20 minutes headed towards a train I presume, Greta Van Susteren and shes very tiny also. A few Senators that I go...who is that? All headed north as their trains were called.
Im wondering if anyone in the conference room could understand what the hey Jesse Jackson was saying.
 
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Why would a celebrity ride in coach?
And why would they know anybody in coach?
Now, a politician might ride in coach to project an "everyman" image.
Lots of Politicians ride in First Class, but "work" the Train and Plane by visiting up and down the aisles.

Celebrties tend to stay in their First Class seats since they don't want to be bothered.
 
I wish I could recall his name but the older white haired star on the "Soap" series on television got on with a lady in Los Angels and they rode to Las Vegas, they ate in the dinner with the other passengers and played cards with other passengers in the lounge. Way way back I was seated on the Southwest Chief with a member of the Bush Beer Family, in the diner. It was very interesting as he loved trains and hated to fly. He treated me like he would a good friend. On the Acela about 5 years ago Senator Liberman boarded the 1st class car bound for New York from Washington. We got to say hello to him as we stood waiting to be boarded.
 
So is it safe to say, most celebrities and politicians ride the NEC and not the LDs? ;)

It has been posted that John Madden did travel on the long distance trains. (He disliked flying.)

Given the hassles at the airports as compared to boarding an Amtrak train in the NEC, why would one fly?
 
Richard Mulligan. Tremendous comedic actor, especially on that quirky show, Soap.
I wish I could recall his name but the older white haired star on the "Soap" series on television got on with a lady in Los Angels and they rode to Las Vegas, they ate in the dinner with the other passengers and played cards with other passengers in the lounge. Way way back I was seated on the Southwest Chief with a member of the Bush Beer Family, in the diner. It was very interesting as he loved trains and hated to fly. He treated me like he would a good friend. On the Acela about 5 years ago Senator Liberman boarded the 1st class car bound for New York from Washington. We got to say hello to him as we stood waiting to be boarded.
 
As a former state legislator, I prefer to ride the train for a couple of reasons:

1. I am able to visit with people in the lounge and discuss topics that are important to them with out being rushed.

2. The seats are more comfortable.

3. The tray table are large enough to allow me to work on a laptop computer. *Bonus there are power outlets!

4. Amtrak’s customer service is much better than the airlines

5. I dislike the way TSA treats some of the passengers, even so call VIP.
 
I wish I could recall his name but the older white haired star on the "Soap" series on television got on with a lady in Los Angels and they rode to Las Vegas, they ate in the dinner with the other passengers and played cards with other passengers in the lounge. Way way back I was seated on the Southwest Chief with a member of the Bush Beer Family, in the diner. It was very interesting as he loved trains and hated to fly. He treated me like he would a good friend. On the Acela about 5 years ago Senator Liberman boarded the 1st class car bound for New York from Washington. We got to say hello to him as we stood waiting to be boarded.
Richard Mulligan, maybe?
 
I ran into Dan Akroyd of SNL and Ghostbuster fame in the Chicago Yard once. His car was parked a track over from the one I was with. That was an interesting night.
 
Whoopi Goldberg on what is now the Southwest Chief. Former Amtrak President Paul Reistrup on the Broadway Limited, with whom I had an hour-long convo on a Le Pub-style club car. "E.M. Frimbo" on the Rio Grande Zephyr. Johnny Mathis on the Coast Starlight.
 
While not exactly what the OP wanted I'm going to share this story anyway.

I had a friend that grew up in Raton NM in the 40's. In those days air travel was costly and unreliable. So all the movie stars traveling from LA to New York City would take the Southwest Chief. The Chief would stop in Raton to change crews allowing the passengers to get out and stretch their legs a bit. The number one source of entertainment in Raton in those days was going down to the train depot and see who was who on the train that day. He said it was a rare day that they did not ID at least one movie star. On some occasions that see the entire cast of a current movie get off during a publicity tour.
 
While not exactly what the OP wanted I'm going to share this story anyway.

I had a friend that grew up in Raton NM in the 40's. In those days air travel was costly and unreliable. So all the movie stars traveling from LA to New York City would take the Southwest Chief. The Chief would stop in Raton to change crews allowing the passengers to get out and stretch their legs a bit. The number one source of entertainment in Raton in those days was going down to the train depot and see who was who on the train that day. He said it was a rare day that they did not ID at least one movie star. On some occasions that see the entire cast of a current movie get off during a publicity tour.
Think you mean the Super Chief which was Santa Fe's Crack Train and favored by the Stars!
 
Think you mean the Super Chief which was Santa Fe's Crack Train and favored by the Stars!
Yep, and Santa Fe never ran a train called the Southwest Chief. Santa Fe's "tribe" of Chiefs consisted of:
The Chief
The Super Chief
The San Francisco Chief
The Kansas City Chief

The Super Chief/El Capitan is one that continued to be operated by Amtrak after May 1, 1971. Santa Fe revoked Amtrak's right to use Santa Fe's trademarked Chief name after service degraded around 1974, IIRC. Amtrak then renamed the train to the Southwest Limited. In the 80s after the introduction of the Superliners, Santa Fe relented and allowed the train's name to be changed to the Southwest Chief.

The Southwest Chief is arguably the Super Chief's descendant, but unfortunately is nothing like it.
 
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Never seen anyone famous on the train, even though my trips all go through the NEC. But I always sequester myself back in the Quiet Car and bury my nose in my book.

The closest I ever came to a celebrity encounter while traveling was seeing Whitney Houston (surrounded by security and assistants) at the Atlanta airport.
 
While not exactly what the OP wanted I'm going to share this story anyway.

I had a friend that grew up in Raton NM in the 40's. In those days air travel was costly and unreliable. So all the movie stars traveling from LA to New York City would take the Southwest Chief. The Chief would stop in Raton to change crews allowing the passengers to get out and stretch their legs a bit. The number one source of entertainment in Raton in those days was going down to the train depot and see who was who on the train that day. He said it was a rare day that they did not ID at least one movie star. On some occasions that see the entire cast of a current movie get off during a publicity tour.


My Grandparents used to live in Raton. After my Granddad passed away, my Mamma moved to Denver to be around family.
 
It has been posted that John Madden did travel on the long distance trains. (He disliked flying.)

Given the hassles at the airports as compared to boarding an Amtrak train in the NEC, why would one fly?
Two hours dealing with the TSA and 4 hrs. in the air, opposed to two full days riding the rails is one reason.
 
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If I saw a celebrity or politician on the train, unless they were obviously interested in being approached, I would leave them alone. They could probably use some personal quiet time. But then I stick my nose in the patternless crossword if there's no scenery outside, so that's just me.
 
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