Some Obsservations on My Last Trip

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jim55

Service Attendant
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Dec 14, 2006
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Well I try to figure a way to post photos with my trip report I thought of some of the things I noticed on my SWC Amarillo detour. First, breakfast in the diner is a must. By the time you $5-$6 yourself in the lounge, might as well be comfortable and meet some interesting folks, like Mr Sons, president of the Albuquerque Area Model RR club(Sorry don't remember the real club name). The Food, I think they have mastered the heating of the RR French Toast. As you sat at the table, coffee refills came often , but when I asked for a cup to "take with" (IL talk) it was noticeably smaller than previous cups I've had. Don't know about the lounge coffee cups as I had no need to go down there. Second, SERVICE DOGS. This was my first exposure to this policy. They are not in the same catagory or classification as a seeing eye dog according to the car attendant but are permitted on board for the"welfare of the patient". They must be Doctor validated, wear a banner like sweater that IDs them as Service dogs and be well behaved. She said Amtrak chose not to fight it for fear of litigation. This" patient " appeared to be halfway through a gender change. And last, the tracks from KCY -Amarillo were super smooth, I was in the last car, a refurbished SL1 coach.(on board upgrade attempt failed). The wheels were true, walking the isle was no problem and best sleep I've had on board. I don't know if Amtrak was speed restricted or not. Jim
 
jim55 said:
Well I try to figure a way to post photos with my trip report I thought of some of the things I noticed on my SWC Amarillo detour. First, breakfast in the diner is a must. By the time you $5-$6 yourself in the lounge, might as well be comfortable and meet some interesting folks, like Mr Sons, president of the Albuquerque Area Model RR club(Sorry don't remember the real club name). The Food, I think they have mastered the heating of the RR French Toast. As you sat at the table, coffee refills came often , but when I asked for a cup to "take with" (IL talk) it was noticeably smaller than previous cups I've had. Don't know about the lounge coffee cups as I had no need to go down there. Second, SERVICE DOGS. This was my first exposure to this policy. They are not in the same catagory or classification as a seeing eye dog according to the car attendant but are permitted on board for the"welfare of the patient". They must be Doctor validated, wear a banner like sweater that IDs them as Service dogs and be well behaved. She said Amtrak chose not to fight it for fear of litigation. This" patient " appeared to be halfway through a gender change. And last, the tracks from KCY -Amarillo were super smooth, I was in the last car, a refurbished SL1 coach.(on board upgrade attempt failed). The wheels were true, walking the isle was no problem and best sleep I've had on board. I don't know if Amtrak was speed restricted or not. Jim
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There have been many blurps on this site that the French Toast is cooked on board and is freshly made. I do believe it is one of the few things that are NOT "heated" and might explain why it was appealing.
 
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Actually the French toast comes prepackaged and precooked, and gets microwaved - the thing is, if you have a GOOD chef, he/she will then throw it on the grill so it doesn't taste like an old shoe.
 
TransAtlantic said:
Actually the French toast comes prepackaged and precooked, and gets microwaved -
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Actually if the chef is following correct procedures it does not get microwaved, it gets heated in a convection oven. And yes, the best chefs will still throw it on the grill for a few minutes.
 
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AlanB said:
TransAtlantic said:
Actually the French toast comes prepackaged and precooked, and gets microwaved -
Click to expand...
Actually if the chef is following correct procedures it does not get microwaved, it gets heated in a convection oven. And yes, the best chefs will still throw it on the grill for a few minutes.
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That is very true. Very few things on-board are micro-waved anymore. That, in fact, was the problem with the first round of the simplified dining service. The chefs were microwaving what should have been put into the convection oven and the results were as you might suspect - and as have been recorded on this forum. Not very good.
 
gswager said:
If you did go through Belen, I am wondering if SWC did stop at ABQ? If so, did the SWC train had to back up all the way to Belen? With switcher or conductor on rear of train?
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ABQ is a big stop. We went North out of Belen(West of the river) then crossed back just south of the I-25 crossing(can't tell you the town or I'll go to Indian Jail)at about a mile south of the station, we were wyed. Down by the airport or AFB is a wye but the east pt. of the wye crosses Broadway, curves south then east under I-25 and into the airport complex. Amtk#3 went only as far as necessary to clear the switches and the backed in to ABQ station with the conductor at the rear window. Jim
 
jim55 said:
We went North out of Belen(West of the river) then crossed back just south of the I-25 crossing(can't tell you the town or I'll go to Indian Jail)at about a mile south of the station, we were wyed. Down by the airport or AFB is a wye but the east pt. of the wye crosses Broadway, curves south then east under I-25 and into the airport complex. Amtk#3 went only as far as necessary to clear the switches and the backed in to ABQ station with the conductor at the rear window. Jim
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Thank you! You have answered a question many inquiring minds wanted to know. Now I will look for this wye on topozone.

Most of the line through Amarillo is now double track and the second track added recently, as in the last few years. Speed limit for the container trains is for teh most part 70 mph. Presumably Amtrak was kept to the same. At 70 without intermediate passenger stops, it should be able to meet or get pretty close to the current KC to Albq. scheduled times.

George
 
George Harris said:
jim55 said:
We went North out of Belen(West of the river) then crossed back just south of the I-25 crossing(can't tell you the town or I'll go to Indian Jail)at about a mile south of the station, we were wyed. Down by the airport or AFB is a wye but the east pt. of the wye crosses Broadway, curves south then east under I-25 and into the airport complex. Amtk#3 went only as far as necessary to clear the switches and the backed in to ABQ station with the conductor at the rear window. Jim
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Thank you! You have answered a question many inquiring minds wanted to know. Now I will look for this wye on topozone.

George
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Agreed! Many thanks Jim. :)

The possibility of a wye has been the topic of debate on several boards that I follow and no one has been able to answer that question to date.
 
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I agree with you! Finally got the answer! Now, I'll look up the New Mexico maps.

Update: I don't think my maps show complete branches of railroads. From what you gave me the description, it's pretty "far-off" of wye, not a simple one. Care anyone with really good branches of railroad and post it on this one? I know that railroad goes through Albuquerque airport/Kirkland AFB.
 
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had8ley said:
There have been many blurps on this site that the French Toast is cooked on board and is freshly made. I do believe it is one of the few things that are NOT "heated" and might explain why it was appealing.
Click to expand...

French Toast! You mean eggy bread right? :D
 
gswager said:
I agree with you! Finally got the answer! Now, I'll look up the New Mexico maps.
Update: I don't think my maps show complete branches of railroads. From what you gave me the description, it's pretty "far-off" of wye, not a simple one. Care anyone with really good branches of railroad and post it on this one? I know that railroad goes through Albuquerque airport/Kirkland AFB.
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Try Woodward and Broadway ave(southwest quadrant) google maps. Jim
 
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