yarrow
Engineer
since the earlier arrival of the sl into lax the published amtrak policy has been you can occupy your sleeper until 6:30 am. the sl often arrives before 5 am. has anyone taken advantage of this policy? does the sca grumble?
staying in your sleeper til 6:30 into lax on the sl
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We got there last Oct. @ 4:30AM!!!! but they were already making Announcements about arriving into LAUS 30 Minutes Before Arrival! Our SCA was going around asking Pax if they wanted a RedCap and Generally Making it Clear he was in a Hurry to have everyone Get Off so he could Head for the House! An AU Friend Posted that his SCA was Still Asleep when the Train arrived into LAX and the Conductor had to wake him up after Pax got their own RedCaps, Detrained etc. The "Official" Policy is you can stay Aboard your Sleeper until 6:30AM but in the Real World..... :help:
Devil's Advocate
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The SCA will allow you to remain in your room. What the SCA won't do is stay off the PA or be quiet about moving things around while doing their end-of-run tasks. So, you'll probably be listening to all sorts of communication and commotion as you lay wide awake in your room at 4:45AM or whatever. If you just want to get up and get dressed then you're fine. If you want to sleep-in until a more reasonable hour then you'd better bring a cone of silence with you.
rickycourtney
Conductor
Bring some earplugs to help quiet the sounds!
What's the worst that could happen? You oversleep and they have to come knock on your door at 6:30am until you wake up!
What's the worst that could happen? You oversleep and they have to come knock on your door at 6:30am until you wake up!
the_traveler
Engineer
Even if you wanted to "sleep in", with ałl the people moving in the car, all the announcements over the PA, all the other (commuter) trains arriving and departing, all the movement on the platform, etc..., I doubt you'll sleep much. So why not just get off and get breakfast? :blush:
This past December, they let us stay aboard until 7:30AM. The train arriving 2 hours late into LAUS had something to do with that! 
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Devil's Advocate
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Until they instruct the SCA to stay off the PA and to wait until 6:00AM to start preparing the car for the yard I really don't see the point of this new feature. You can tell that someone at Amtrak HQ was sympathetic to how undesirable being kicked off the train at 4:45AM would be, but this kind of "solution" is little more than a gimmick as currently implemented. Not to mention that most of the folks on the train are being kicked off regardless.
Ispolkom
Engineer
When I took this train in January the SCA, Yvonne, told us repeatedly that we could stay in our bedroom until 6:30 a.m., but that if we were up earlier she'd be ready to help us leave the train, and that coffee would be ready when our train arrived in LA. There was an announcement made by the conductor on arrival in LA at 5 a.m., but you can't really blame the SCA for that, and we turned over and went back to sleep for another half an hour.
I'm recalcitrant, but also I'm an early riser. If anyone told me to leave the car before 6:30 a.m. I would have barricaded myself in my bedroom until that time, but frankly I'm ready to get up at 6 a.m. most mornings. Since we weren’t rousted out of bed early, we voluntarily got up and were on our way by a few minutes after 6. After all, Philippe's was already open.
That morning the only noise we heard was from other passengers who were leaving early, for whatever reason. Given that an Amtrak sleeper isn't a terribly quiet place while en route, we weren't particularly disturbed.
I'm recalcitrant, but also I'm an early riser. If anyone told me to leave the car before 6:30 a.m. I would have barricaded myself in my bedroom until that time, but frankly I'm ready to get up at 6 a.m. most mornings. Since we weren’t rousted out of bed early, we voluntarily got up and were on our way by a few minutes after 6. After all, Philippe's was already open.
That morning the only noise we heard was from other passengers who were leaving early, for whatever reason. Given that an Amtrak sleeper isn't a terribly quiet place while en route, we weren't particularly disturbed.
G
guest in the west
Guest
So what is the proper conclusion to draw here?
1. That the policy is a sham, that in reality most SCAs want you gone as quickly as possible, that the commotion is done in some part to get passengers up and out as soon as the train arrives, whether at 4:45 a.m., 5:16 a.m. or whatever, even though you wish to sleep/stay until 6:30?
2. That you can stay on the train if your nerves are strong enough to withstand the commotion and/or you are recalcitrant enough to stand your grand and take advantage of the stated policy?
3. That you shouldn't even expect to stay until 6:30 so be a good person and don't even carp about things?
IMHO, it all fits into the pretty well-accepted picture of Amtrak's maddening inconsistency. Where are the "quality control" managers, or whatever they call themselves? We took the CONO to Chicago and the SWC to LA last month just to avoid having to come face-to-face with the reality of having to rouse ourselves at an ungodly hour no matter what Amtrak "invites" passengers in sleepers to do.
1. That the policy is a sham, that in reality most SCAs want you gone as quickly as possible, that the commotion is done in some part to get passengers up and out as soon as the train arrives, whether at 4:45 a.m., 5:16 a.m. or whatever, even though you wish to sleep/stay until 6:30?
2. That you can stay on the train if your nerves are strong enough to withstand the commotion and/or you are recalcitrant enough to stand your grand and take advantage of the stated policy?
3. That you shouldn't even expect to stay until 6:30 so be a good person and don't even carp about things?
IMHO, it all fits into the pretty well-accepted picture of Amtrak's maddening inconsistency. Where are the "quality control" managers, or whatever they call themselves? We took the CONO to Chicago and the SWC to LA last month just to avoid having to come face-to-face with the reality of having to rouse ourselves at an ungodly hour no matter what Amtrak "invites" passengers in sleepers to do.
Devil's Advocate
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Maybe the "proper conclusion" is that the schedule would benefit from a change? Maybe we keep the current schedule east of San Antonio, but after that maybe add a few minutes here, a few minutes there, and by the time you've passed through West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California you'd be arriving at a reasonable hour instead of half past ungodly. Maybe Maricopa gets burned in this case, but I'm not sure that really matters at this point.
If worse comes to worse, simply slapping in an "unnecessary" pad on a siding WB (consult with UP on where they want to "park" the train) somewhere west of Phoenix/Maricopa wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. On an awkward-hour service like this, an hour "saved" can be a bad thing, and I highly doubt that delaying the arrival is going to dissuade too many passengers from riding.
stntylr
OBS Chief
The fact is nothing is going to happen because I don't think Amtrak sees this as a problem. Remember this is the schedule they wanted. Why would they change the schedule then have the train sit for an hour out in the desert.
I've ridden into L.A. in coach at 4:30 and nobody was complaining when the train arrived.
I've ridden into L.A. in coach at 4:30 and nobody was complaining when the train arrived.
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Could the LAX arrival of the Sunset be considered in violation of the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the eighth amendment, or would that only apply if there were prisoners on board?
Seriously, there is no way I would ever take that train into LA with that arrival time. Today's train arrived at 4:42. Friday's arrived at 4:32. No one takes an Amtrak LD train for speed. Let it sit an extra couple of hours at El Paso and Tucson, and get it into LAX at 8:30 or 9. 4:30am is beyond ridiculous.
Seriously, there is no way I would ever take that train into LA with that arrival time. Today's train arrived at 4:42. Friday's arrived at 4:32. No one takes an Amtrak LD train for speed. Let it sit an extra couple of hours at El Paso and Tucson, and get it into LAX at 8:30 or 9. 4:30am is beyond ridiculous.
dart330
OBS Chief
I have this trip booked in July. Planning on taking ear plugs and turning off the room speaker. I think with the two hour time change and the early rising nature of train travel (much like camping), it won't be too horrible. I don't know that I've ever been able to sleep past 6 on a train anyways.
henryj
Conductor
Depends on where you got on the train. If you got on in a Central Time Zone, 4:30 is really 6:30 for you and 5:30 for Mountain Time. I just don't see a problem with it for anyone but the people that commute in from Palm Springs and this is not a commuter train. I have ridden this train many times and by the time we get to California I am up before the diner opens even on the old schedule. All these complaints on here are from people that never ride this train anyway. I like the 'new' schedule, which is not really new, but the timetable this train ran on for years before the UP melt down and Katrina.
stntylr
OBS Chief
What if the good people of Little Rock had the same attitude? Or Hope, ARK which fought long and hard for a train that arrives at 5:00 am.Could the LAX arrival of the Sunset be considered in violation of the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the eighth amendment, or would that only apply if there were prisoners on board?
Seriously, there is no way I would ever take that train into LA with that arrival time. Today's train arrived at 4:42. Friday's arrived at 4:32. No one takes an Amtrak LD train for speed. Let it sit an extra couple of hours at El Paso and Tucson, and get it into LAX at 8:30 or 9. 4:30am is beyond ridiculous.
How about everyone in Ohio that wants to ride an Amtrak train? Would you like it if Amtrak just stopped its trains at night and only arrived in the daytime?
That's what Rocky Mountaineer does with its long distance passengers. You get on in the morning, have breakfast, then lunch and then get off and check into a nice hotel for dinner. Next day back on for breakfast and lunch and then off at the destination.What if the good people of Little Rock had the same attitude? Or Hope, ARK which fought long and hard for a train that arrives at 5:00 am.Could the LAX arrival of the Sunset be considered in violation of the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the eighth amendment, or would that only apply if there were prisoners on board?
Seriously, there is no way I would ever take that train into LA with that arrival time. Today's train arrived at 4:42. Friday's arrived at 4:32. No one takes an Amtrak LD train for speed. Let it sit an extra couple of hours at El Paso and Tucson, and get it into LAX at 8:30 or 9. 4:30am is beyond ridiculous.
How about everyone in Ohio that wants to ride an Amtrak train? Would you like it if Amtrak just stopped its trains at night and only arrived in the daytime?
MrsFSS and I did that a few years ago and it was great. Of course, a bit more pricey than Amtrak.
MikefromCrete
Engineer
The Rocky Mountaineer is a very expensive tourist train, not a means of transportation, so there's a big difference.
OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
I'm usually not one to get up early but when I'm on the train I'm usually up by no later than 6:30 and often have been meowing at the Diner door waiting for it to open for breakfast. Whenever I've come into LA on the Sunset, just the excitement of coming into LA has me up and ready to go, especially if I'm, connecting with the Starlight. Plus I'm looking forward to "breakfast" at Philippe.
yarrow
Engineer
i too like to be out and about early and to have the time between trains to look around. the point of the original post was, however, has amtrak made a policy just because it looks good on paper but is not an actual option?
OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
When I was last on the Sunset the SCA did announce the night before we were welcome to remain onboard until 0630 but everyone was up and ready to get off by the time we hit the bumper just past 0530. So I am guessing while the SCAs are well aware of the policy, how they handle it seems to be subject to personal interpretation along with the trend of the passengers.
fairviewroad
Engineer
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Not to turn this into yet another tipping thread, but why would an SCA try to rush people off the train? Wouldn't
this just be an automatic way of losing a tip? There's no way in Amtrakdom that I'd tip an SCA who showed an
inkling of trying to separate me from my paid accommodations before I was required to leave.
this just be an automatic way of losing a tip? There's no way in Amtrakdom that I'd tip an SCA who showed an
inkling of trying to separate me from my paid accommodations before I was required to leave.
calwatch
Lead Service Attendant
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Since I get off the SL in Pomona I am stuck being awake in the middle of the night anyway, and get my real sleep at home. In addition to accounting for the UP delays of the past (and of the future once freight traffic picks up again) Amtrak also wanted to avoid the Metrolink rush beginning in the 6 o'clock hour. Thus this poor option.
Turning of the room speaker (can that still be done in Superliner sleepers?) probably won't do much good, as the speakers in the hallways are QUITE LOUD, so if the conductor makes an all-train announcement, you will hear it unless you are an especially sound sleeper or have some really efficient ear plugs.
I've heard the Metrolink rush comment before and I'm not sure that rationale really flies. The SWC arrives at 8:15 AM every day...in the middle of the "rush". How long does the arriving train (SL or SWC remain at LAUS before moving to the yard? That move certainly occurs during a high traffic time on the West Bank LIne of the River Sub. Both trains, I believe, tend to be put on the higher number tracks when they arrive at LAUS anyway.
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