Pat Harper
Lead Service Attendant
We arrived in NOL early, had a pleasant wait in the Magnolia Room and got to meet some folks from the UK as well as Australia. Several people were going only as far as Memphis, while others were going all the way to CHI.
I managed to get a pic of the Pullman cars that were piggybacking on the CONO (which, btw, is referred to as "the City" by locals).
I actually spoke to one of the workers on the Pullman section, asking him if they were piggy-backing, and he said "Yes."
We weren't able to go into that part of the train, though, but I did notice they had their own dining car and sleepers, as well as a coach car. As far as I know there wasn't anyone boarding those Pullman cars, so evidently they're still being used for training purposes.
Once in Chicago, we had a long layover before our trip on the Lakeshore Limitied. Not long after we arrived, Joe Hess arrived on the Pere Marquette, and we walked to a local eatery for lunch (not Lou Mitchell's as I was waiting for our return trip to eat there. About 2-3 hours after our arrival in CHI, my hubby realized he had left a set of keys on board the CONO in our sleeper. A report was filed in Passenger Relations, and he was able to board #59 that evening before they started boarding, but the keys were not there. We were hoping someone would have turned them in before we left on the LSL, but no one did.
We got to board the LSL a bit early, but since we were traveling coach, we didn't get to participate in the "Welcome Aboard" reception for sleeper passengers. We did get to board before other coach passengers, however, since we are both senior citizens. I got to ride in the trolley out to the train. Interesting ride, as the people across from me were Amish and didn't speak to me at all. Hubby walked to the train and I think beat the trolley!
We got seated in one of the cars with other people getting off in either Syracuse or one of the stops before that, as well as others getting off at Penn Station. Our seats were in the front of the car by the door going to the next car. Although we had lots of foot room and extra room for bags, it was a noisy part of the train, what with people going and coming through those doors. The doors near us were on the path to the cafe car, while the doors at the other end were on the path to the dining car. Both times I went to the cafe car to get coffee, and both times it was either not open yet or closed.
Dining car opened for breakfast at 6:30, and I was able to eat there and take breakfast back to our coach car for hubby, who was having one of his gout attacks. Also, we got good news! Not long before we arrived in Syracuse, hubby got a call from the lost & found in Chicago. It seems they had finally located his keys, and called hubby for a description of them before ascertaining they were indeed his keys. They us that they would put the keys in an envelope, then a box, and ship them to the Syracuse baggage claim for us to pick up on Saturday before we leave. What a relief! Our house key was in that set, and it is the only one we had because I had lost mine and haven't taken the time to make a duplicate.
Geez..after a night in coach, I was ready to check on upgrading our tickets on the return trip. I did not wait until we were on the train back to Chicago, and it was a good thing I didn't, because when I called Amtrak from the hotel today, the agent told me they had one roomette left. Even though we had to pay the difference between our reserved coach seats and the roomette, I felt it was worth the added expense just to have a place to stretch out and to be able have breakfast without shelling out extra cash as well has having access to all the coffee I want. All I have to do is exchange our tickets upon arrival at the station here in Syracuse.
I think that covers it for now. Will write about our return trip when we have arrived back home.
I managed to get a pic of the Pullman cars that were piggybacking on the CONO (which, btw, is referred to as "the City" by locals).
I actually spoke to one of the workers on the Pullman section, asking him if they were piggy-backing, and he said "Yes."
We weren't able to go into that part of the train, though, but I did notice they had their own dining car and sleepers, as well as a coach car. As far as I know there wasn't anyone boarding those Pullman cars, so evidently they're still being used for training purposes.
Once in Chicago, we had a long layover before our trip on the Lakeshore Limitied. Not long after we arrived, Joe Hess arrived on the Pere Marquette, and we walked to a local eatery for lunch (not Lou Mitchell's as I was waiting for our return trip to eat there. About 2-3 hours after our arrival in CHI, my hubby realized he had left a set of keys on board the CONO in our sleeper. A report was filed in Passenger Relations, and he was able to board #59 that evening before they started boarding, but the keys were not there. We were hoping someone would have turned them in before we left on the LSL, but no one did.
We got to board the LSL a bit early, but since we were traveling coach, we didn't get to participate in the "Welcome Aboard" reception for sleeper passengers. We did get to board before other coach passengers, however, since we are both senior citizens. I got to ride in the trolley out to the train. Interesting ride, as the people across from me were Amish and didn't speak to me at all. Hubby walked to the train and I think beat the trolley!
We got seated in one of the cars with other people getting off in either Syracuse or one of the stops before that, as well as others getting off at Penn Station. Our seats were in the front of the car by the door going to the next car. Although we had lots of foot room and extra room for bags, it was a noisy part of the train, what with people going and coming through those doors. The doors near us were on the path to the cafe car, while the doors at the other end were on the path to the dining car. Both times I went to the cafe car to get coffee, and both times it was either not open yet or closed.
Dining car opened for breakfast at 6:30, and I was able to eat there and take breakfast back to our coach car for hubby, who was having one of his gout attacks. Also, we got good news! Not long before we arrived in Syracuse, hubby got a call from the lost & found in Chicago. It seems they had finally located his keys, and called hubby for a description of them before ascertaining they were indeed his keys. They us that they would put the keys in an envelope, then a box, and ship them to the Syracuse baggage claim for us to pick up on Saturday before we leave. What a relief! Our house key was in that set, and it is the only one we had because I had lost mine and haven't taken the time to make a duplicate.
Geez..after a night in coach, I was ready to check on upgrading our tickets on the return trip. I did not wait until we were on the train back to Chicago, and it was a good thing I didn't, because when I called Amtrak from the hotel today, the agent told me they had one roomette left. Even though we had to pay the difference between our reserved coach seats and the roomette, I felt it was worth the added expense just to have a place to stretch out and to be able have breakfast without shelling out extra cash as well has having access to all the coffee I want. All I have to do is exchange our tickets upon arrival at the station here in Syracuse.
I think that covers it for now. Will write about our return trip when we have arrived back home.
