Pizza Delivery to Train

Since I am taking coach on the Silver Meteor from NYP to ORL next month I am going to try to have a pizza delivered to the train at the Richmond VA Staples Mill Rd stop which is supposed to be 10 minutes. Its not that I can't afford the diner, its more of a just to say I did it thing. Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's are all within 2 miles of the station. With the Gps I think I can time it right. Anyone have any experience doing this? Or is there a better station to try this at?

Thanks.

Meat Puppet said:

Since I am taking coach on the Silver Meteor from NYP to ORL next month I am going to try to have a pizza delivered to the train at the Richmond VA Staples Mill Rd stop which is supposed to be 10 minutes. Its not that I can't afford the diner, its more of a just to say I did it thing. Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's are all within 2 miles of the station. With the Gps I think I can time it right. Anyone have any experience doing this? Or is there a better station to try this at?Thanks.

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Your biggest problem would be getting them to deliver to a train station to meet a train. We live outside of the delivery area for all of the major pizza places in Tuscaloosa, they used to meet us at a gas station near the edge of their delivery range, but now the policy is that they only make residential deliveries. Any business, school or anything along those lines has to pick their orders up in person. When all of this changed we also lost the ability for them to meet us somewhere.

Crescent ATN & TCL said:

Meat Puppet said:

Since I am taking coach on the Silver Meteor from NYP to ORL next month I am going to try to have a pizza delivered to the train at the Richmond VA Staples Mill Rd stop which is supposed to be 10 minutes. Its not that I can't afford the diner, its more of a just to say I did it thing. Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's are all within 2 miles of the station. With the Gps I think I can time it right. Anyone have any experience doing this? Or is there a better station to try this at?Thanks.

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Your biggest problem would be getting them to deliver to a train station to meet a train. We live outside of the delivery area for all of the major pizza places in Tuscaloosa, they used to meet us at a gas station near the edge of their delivery range, but now the policy is that they only make residential deliveries. Any business, school or anything along those lines has to pick their orders up in person. When all of this changed we also lost the ability for them to meet us somewhere.

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Theres 3 within 2 miles someone has to do it////

Meat Puppet said:

Crescent ATN & TCL said:

Meat Puppet said:

Since I am taking coach on the Silver Meteor from NYP to ORL next month I am going to try to have a pizza delivered to the train at the Richmond VA Staples Mill Rd stop which is supposed to be 10 minutes. Its not that I can't afford the diner, its more of a just to say I did it thing. Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's are all within 2 miles of the station. With the Gps I think I can time it right. Anyone have any experience doing this? Or is there a better station to try this at?Thanks.

Click to expand...

Your biggest problem would be getting them to deliver to a train station to meet a train. We live outside of the delivery area for all of the major pizza places in Tuscaloosa, they used to meet us at a gas station near the edge of their delivery range, but now the policy is that they only make residential deliveries. Any business, school or anything along those lines has to pick their orders up in person. When all of this changed we also lost the ability for them to meet us somewhere.

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Theres 3 within 2 miles someone has to do i.

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i would call the 3 places And talk with them in advance.

I once called a Domino's in New York from Texas to order a pizza for my daughter who was staying at a hotel near the Domino's. I paid with a credit card and didn't have any problem.

I suppose the biggest problem would be if your train arrived late.

Are you wanting it to be delivered to you in the station proper, or at trainside?

If in the station, you must let your car attendent know what you are up to. You could be left behind if you are in the station receiving a pizza. If you wanted it delivered trainside, there may be a problem with somebody without a ticket getting that close to a train.

Let me point out that I am not familiar with the Richmond station so these are questions I would have, not knowing anything about the layout.

Instead of just clearing it with the pizza places, I think you need to clear it with Amtrak. I am sure the train will not wait if the pizza person is delayed.

Speaking for myself, this would be a headache I would not want to worry about. The train food is fine.

And even with the pizza company keeping up with the train's schedule, the train could get delayed one mile from the station for some sort of reason. How long do you think the pizza people would wait for a late train?

sounds like you can order the pizza and if you miss it, won't cost you anything.

I normally pick up some pizza in DC.

We had a thread about this 3-4 years ago. Someone said they had been successful in calling from the train about an hour before the station and the delivery person was there waiting for them, pizza in hand. They had it delivered to a crew change stop so there was time to get off and complete the transaction, etc.

As for a better station to try this you could use SAS on the LA to Chicago TE. The scheduled stop is 8 1/2 hours. Plenty of time to go out to eat all the pizza you want.

I think we had this debate a while ago here.

As mentioned, the problem would be in timing the delivery.

At least around here, the delivery person might make more than one stop in a run. Therefore, the delivery person might need a 10 or 15 minute window for when they will actually show up. I am not sure Amtrak will hold the train while you wait.

And the flip side is the delivery person is on time, but the train isn't. It would not be fair for the delivery person to wait. They have other deliveries to do, and I am sure are required to return back to the store in a timely fashion.

Though, a lot can be forgiven when you pre-pay both for the pizza, and that $100 tip.

stntylr said:

As for a better station to try this you could use SAS on the LA to Chicago TE. The scheduled stop is 8 1/2 hours. Plenty of time to go out to eat all the pizza you want.

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I don't think the Silver Meteor stops there anymore. h34r:

Keep in mind that if the train arrives late, it will not always stay the full ten minutes.You could be left on the platform with your pzza but no train.

Meat Puppet said:

Theres 3 within 2 miles someone has to do it////

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Don't count on it. A couple years ago I was out at a shopping center, and while in Borders got hungry. There was a Papa Johns in the parking lot, which did delivery only--not even take out. I phoned them to ask if I could order a pizza and pick it up, since I happened to be there. Absolutely not, they said. Ok, how about if you deliver it to me at the door to Borders? Absolutely not, they said. How about if I drive my car over to your building, and you walk it out to me? Absolutely not, they said. Give us a residential address, that's the only way we can deliver your pizza.

The restaurant wasn't allowed to have customers (non-employees) inside because they weren't licensed to be that sort of establishment, and the residential-only delivery policy is a company-wide safety policy to protect their drivers. I would not be surprised if other pizza chains have similar policies in place now as a response to this incident as well as less tragic crimes against delivery drivers.

I think you should only attempt this if you promise to buy enough pizza for everyone on the train....

A few years ago on a frigid January Sunday, I was riding the old Three Rivers between Pittsburgh and Newark, NJ. The train arrived in Pittsburgh over 4 hours late, and the Pittsburgh passengers were rather irritated.

When our train arrived in Greensburg 45 minutes later, a Domino's delivery guy was standing on the platform holding a stack of 10 pizzas. The crew announced that everyone on the train was welcome to free pizza in the cafe car as an apology for departing so late.

In no time at all, the train was filled with happy passengers.

wayman said:

How about if I drive my car over to your building, and you walk it out to me? Absolutely not, they said. Give us a residential address, that's the only way we can deliver your pizza.

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What if you say OK, my address is... and give them their own store's address?

I have worked long enough with computers to know that if their sales program requires an address, to give it an address. Arguing with the computer that a required input field really should not be required gets you no where.

wayman said:

Meat Puppet said:

Theres 3 within 2 miles someone has to do it////

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Don't count on it. A couple years ago I was out at a shopping center, and while in Borders got hungry. There was a Papa Johns in the parking lot, which did delivery only--not even take out. I phoned them to ask if I could order a pizza and pick it up, since I happened to be there. Absolutely not, they said. Ok, how about if you deliver it to me at the door to Borders? Absolutely not, they said. How about if I drive my car over to your building, and you walk it out to me? Absolutely not, they said. Give us a residential address, that's the only way we can deliver your pizza.

The restaurant wasn't allowed to have customers (non-employees) inside because they weren't licensed to be that sort of establishment, and the residential-only delivery policy is a company-wide safety policy to protect their drivers. I would not be surprised if other pizza chains have similar policies in place now as a response to this incident as well as less tragic crimes against delivery drivers.

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Wow, that's amazing. I regularly get pizza and other deliveries to commercial establishments here in Burlington. When I worked at the airport we regularly ordered food for delivery between flights and never had an issue with any of the places we called, be it pizza or wings or Chinese or whatever else we wanted. When flights were delayed substantially, management would order 25-30 pizzas for our plane's passengers so they could at least stay fed while they waited, and Dominos never gave us an issue. I've ordered pizza to the office that I work at now, late at night, on a Saturday (was working through an immense technical issue - it was a bad week...) and didn't have an issue.

Now granted, almost all the places I order from are local establishments, not franchises or chains. So I'd try and find a place like that if you wanted to try and pull this off.

That being said, this would have to be timed very precisely to get it to work. For one, I'd tell the pizza delivery place exactly what you're trying to do. Make sure they know when the train will get there, and preferably have them there a few minutes early (I'd upfront offer to tip a little extra for this). Pay in advance for the pizza, also. I don't know anything about the stop in RVR. Do they regularly let pax out and on the platform during the stop? The platform seems accessible from the parking lot (at least based on Google Maps) so that doesn't seem to be an issue. If they regularly let pax out and if the train is on time, and if the delivery guy is willing to get there a minute or two before its scheduled arrival and wait, you can probably pull this off. If one of those factors doesn't work out, the delivery guy will end up enjoying a nice pizza at your expense.

RVR is generally a smoke stop, unless a train is very late and even then they'll often still let people out for a very quick puff as it's also a crew change point for many trains. So a passenger can usually get out onto the platform.

The platform however cannot be accessed directly from the parking lot. The only access is via the station itself, and they generally check for tickets, so the pizza guy would not be able to get out to the platform. That would mean that you'd have to meet him at the fence where they block off access to the platform or even go inside the station to meet the delivery person. The later starts getting real risky with only a 10 minute window. And make sure that you bring your ticket stub with you, as you'll need that to prove you're on that train and regain access to the train.

I personally would not try this. And if I was to even consider doing such a thing, I'm not sure that Richmond would be the place that I'd try this.

Even if you call "a few miles from the station" and the train is on time, what if (and I hope it doesn't happen) the train hits a car or person before it arrives - and finally arrives 3 hours late? :huh: Should the pizza delivery driver have to wait for those 3 hours? :huh:

the_traveler said:

Even if you call "a few miles from the station" and the train is on time, what if (and I hope it doesn't happen) the train hits a car or person before it arrives - and finally arrives 3 hours late? :huh: Should the pizza delivery driver have to wait for those 3 hours? :huh:

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Well, if the train is only, say, a mile away, and is involved with an car accident at a crossing, just call the pizza shop and change delivery locations. Just give them the cross road name, and tell them to look for all the flashing red lights.

Guest said:

the_traveler said:

Even if you call "a few miles from the station" and the train is on time, what if (and I hope it doesn't happen) the train hits a car or person before it arrives - and finally arrives 3 hours late? :huh: Should the pizza delivery driver have to wait for those 3 hours? :huh:

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Well, if the train is only, say, a mile away, and is involved with an car accident at a crossing, just call the pizza shop and change delivery locations. Just give them the cross road name, and tell them to look for all the flashing red lights.

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But when a train is in an accident such as being discussed, they won't let the passengers off the train!

MrFSS said:

Guest said:

the_traveler said:

Even if you call "a few miles from the station" and the train is on time, what if (and I hope it doesn't happen) the train hits a car or person before it arrives - and finally arrives 3 hours late? :huh: Should the pizza delivery driver have to wait for those 3 hours? :huh:

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Well, if the train is only, say, a mile away, and is involved with an car accident at a crossing, just call the pizza shop and change delivery locations. Just give them the cross road name, and tell them to look for all the flashing red lights.

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But when a train is in an accident such as being discussed, they won't let the passengers off the train!

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And if you were not from the area (and didn't have GPS), how would you know if the car was hit at 15th Ave, North Road or Route 117 - so you could tell the pizza shop where to go? :huh:

Meat Puppet said:

Since I am taking coach on the Silver Meteor from NYP to ORL next month I am going to try to have a pizza delivered to the train at the Richmond VA Staples Mill Rd stop which is supposed to be 10 minutes. Its not that I can't afford the diner, its more of a just to say I did it thing. Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's are all within 2 miles of the station. With the Gps I think I can time it right. Anyone have any experience doing this? Or is there a better station to try this at?Thanks.

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I would say check with the conductor before your station arrival,call the pizza place to see how much lead time you need to have it hot and waiting and as has been said be sure the train doesnt hit an idiot

which the soouth is famous for :lol: !!!This happened to us in North Carolina on the Crescent but luckily the Pizza

place was across the street from the crossing and the SA got the pizzas that several folks had ordered since

as has been said you cant get off the train in case the Duke of Hazard decides to try SBT(suicide by train!!!!! :lol: )

Bon Voyage!!!!BOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the_traveler said:

And if you were not from the area (and didn't have GPS), how would you know if the car was hit at 15th Ave, North Road or Route 117 - so you could tell the pizza shop where to go? :huh:

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Meat Puppet started this all, with the premise of having a GPS.

rnizlek said:

Wow, that's amazing. I regularly get pizza and other deliveries to commercial establishments here in Burlington. When I worked at the airport we regularly ordered food for delivery between flights and never had an issue with any of the places we called, be it pizza or wings or Chinese or whatever else we wanted. When flights were delayed substantially, management would order 25-30 pizzas for our plane's passengers so they could at least stay fed while they waited, and Dominos never gave us an issue. I've ordered pizza to the office that I work at now, late at night, on a Saturday (was working through an immense technical issue - it was a bad week...) and didn't have an issue.
Now granted, almost all the places I order from are local establishments, not franchises or chains. So I'd try and find a place like that if you wanted to try and pull this off.

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I'll second rnizlek. Perhaps it's because the cities we live in aren't major crime centers, but I have things delivered to my office virtually every night and have NEVER had ANYONE say they couldn't do it. Because we're located inside the airport, I usually just tell them "[name of business] at the airport," but some of them absolutely require an address...so I like to have fun with them and give them our address and suite number and then wait while their driver tries to figure out where the heck they are. (Yes, I suppose I'm kinda mean that way...but it seems like appropriate payback for the stupidity of their systems...)

But regardless, I've NEVER heard of any requirement to only deliver at residences--even from Papa John's, so it can't be a systemwide policy as was mentioned above (unless our local Papa John's is in violation of that policy). I'd say we order from local establishments about 80% of the time, though, and perhaps more, so my experience with chains' delivery policies isn't as comprehensive.

To the OP: if you do want delivery, you'll probably have better luck making special arrangements like checking on the arrival time and meeting the train (and probably get better food, too) if you use a local establishment. Use Urbanspoon, Yelp, Tripadvisor, or other review sites to find these places.