Recent content by crescent-zephyr

Many years ago I was in the Trans-dorm on the City of New Orleans with a single locomotive and no baggage car. I don't remember the fumes being an issue but I do remember the horn was pretty bad. I like the noises of the train but with no buffer that horn is loud!

Do they have a choice? Many government agencies have to take the lowest bid.

Well.. Acela is mostly competing with Air Travel - I don't think I've ever seen a 1st Class FA get tipped. So I don't think that role would usually get tipped.

I believe it's mostly a staffing issue. There are trains originiating from NOL, CHI, and NYP that have full service dining.

I do not think that is a correct statement. I think the vast majority of people would prefer to ride forwards in the direction of travel. As far as brightline is concerned... they should be flipping seats as well but we finally got them to take off those terrible wraps so one victory at a time...

This seems like an ADA issue... if you have to go out of your way to find someone to run the elevator, that is an inconvenience that others don't have. Seems like there could be a simple solution to this - a call button to the lounge attendant for example.

They were "true" baked potatoes. Did you ever have one?

The Carolinian used to have a dedicated Business Class attendant - I'm not sure if they still do or not. Coach and Business Class Attendants are part of the On Board Service Staff - the Conductor is part of the operations staff.

I had several amtrak waiters ask me if I wanted bacon on mine... the regular riders knew that was the best thing on the lunch menu! Of course cheese is still vegetarian so that's not unusual.

It's all regional trains so far, and yes I'm aware. What I was saying is, if there is still a dedicated BC attendant, part of their job should be to turn seats. Just my opinion of course which isn't good for much! haha.

Does the Carolinian still have a dedicated BC attendant? If so, they should definitely be turning seats as part of their responsbiity.

It really irks me that they don't at least turn the BC car seats.

I just noticed that there is no baked potatoes for dinner now. As others have mentioned - the baked potato with chili was my favorite lunch item as well. I really don't like the impossible burgers that much - I still miss the Amtrak Black Bean Veggie burgers from the good ole days so the baked...

Which is one of the reasons that railroads should be run by the government - it's part of the transportation infrustructure of the country - it shouldn't be operated like a chain of coffee shops.

And in Amtrak's case, I regularly hear announcements when all doors will not open, both on the PA, and also when the Conductors walk through before each station and they check seat tags.